RealGM

Mmmmm...Look who's on the injury report....is this the beginning?

Trae needs 26 points to bump up to 19/game and 13 ast to bump up to 8/game. Would love to see him end the year over 19/8. IF he could somehow go on a tear and avg about 32/game over the last 7 he'd finish at 20/game. Not expecting that but it would be cool if it happened.

Portland Trail Blazers at Atlanta Hawks Preview

The Blazers looks to make it six in a row when they visit the Hawks in Atlanta

The Portland Trail Blazers continue their four-game road trip in Atlanta. The Blazers may have lost some of their stars to injuries, but that has yet to translate to losses on the court. They kicked off the road trip by beating the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday—their first game without center Jusuf Nurkic. The win brings Portland’s winning streak to five games.

What to watch for

• Slowing down Trae Young: The Hawks rookie guard has become a dangerous offensive weapon in the second half of the season. Before the All-Star break Young was having a solid, but not necessarily spectacular rookie season, averaging 16.9 points and 7.6 assists per game on 40.6 percent shooting from the field and 31.2 percent from three. In the 17 games since the All-Star break, however, he’s putting up ridiculous numbers for a rookie: 25.8 points and 9 assists while shooting 45.4 from the field and 40.5 from three (on 7.1 attempts). He has also gotten to the line more, upping his free throws per game from 4.4 before All-Star weekend to 7.1 after.
  
  
• The Collins matchup: Both Atlanta and Portland picked big men named Collins in the 2017 draft. So far Atlanta’s John Collins has been the better pick. He’s averaging 19.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game for the Hawks. Portland’s Zach Collins has not shown anything close to that level of productivity offensively, but he has become a solid defensive player. With Nurkic out, Zach Collins will need to step up on both ends of the floor. He scored 13 points against on the Bulls on Wednesday (his second double-figure scoring game in a row).
  
  
• Defending the three-point line: The Hawks make the fourth most three-pointers in the league (12.9 per game). Everyone in their starting lineup is capable of hitting from deep including big men Dewayne Dedmon (38.1 percent on 3.4 attempts) and John Collins (35.5 percent on 2.5 attempts). Since the All-Star break, they are shooting and hitting even more often. They are putting up 41.7 and hitting 15.7 per game (good for a 37.7 percent rate). Only the Houston Rockets have attempted and made more three-pointers per game than the Hawks have in that time.

Blazer's Edge

Last time these teams met:

We better not lose this game with the Blazers missing Nurkic and McCollum. Lilliard and Kanter aren’t a good PNR defending duo as far as I know. As long as we keep Kanter off the glass Trae and Johnny eat.

I know TP been shooting well lately but I still rather have him day-to-day. He’s the common denominator in all our worst lineups. His floor game stats were great for him last game (4 FTs, 5 boards, steal and block) but it’s the Pels. Much rather have Kevin or Bembry match up with the gritty Harkless.

Jamaaliver wrote:

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Him and C.J. killed us in Portland but we didn't have John

Everything is awful!

Everything WAS cool, being part of the team. But if you’re on the Portland Trail Blazers, even rolling into State Farm Arena trying to extend a five-game streak with a win against the Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Northwest in PTL), you’re not exactly living out a dream right now.

With Damian Lillard making a low-key MVP run (first 11 games this month: 28.1 PPG, 8.5 APG, 48.8 FG%, 42.7 3FG%, 90.7 FT%), the Blazers were making a late-season surge, hoping to sew up another first-round homecourt spot. They were looking ahead to a reasonably mild road trip (at Chicago, here, at Detroit and at Minnesota). And once they returned, guard C.J. McCollum was expected to be back after rehabbing a brief knee strain injury.

On Monday night, Portland was about to win eight of their previous nine in the closing seconds by fending off Brooklyn, in front of a raving Moda Center crowd, with sharp-shooting Seth Curry at the line shooting the game winning free throws. Except he missed the first of two, ushering in a first overtime. Then Blazers coach Terry Stotts sat Jusuf Nurkic, who just sank two free throws to put Portland back up by two, in the closing seconds of OT. The Nets managed to get an offensive rebound and a layup with seconds remaining to force a second overtime. Then, disaster truly struck.

Players freeing frantically off the court can be a fun scene, after a teammate executes a great mixtape-style play or hits a big buzzer-beater. Not so much, when a player collapses after suffering a fractured tibia and fibula. The Bosnian Beast’s crumpled leg adds him (back on)to the long and wretched list of untimely, often catatstrophic, Blazer injuries.

In this faster-paced league, it’s hard to pinpoint many 275-plus-pounders thriving out on the floor. Yet Nurkic, already a fan favorite and a thorn in the side of many opponents, was out here living his best career (9th in NBA for Defensive BPM, 4th among starting centers for DRPM; career-highs of 15.6 PPG, 52.3 2FG%, 10.4 RPG, 3.2 APG). The critical stopgap for a defensively unsound starting unit, Nurkic was preparing to help Portland (47-27) make amends for getting bounced in the first-round by the lower-seeded Pelicans in last year’s playoffs. Then, this happens.

Stotts and the Blazers understand, though, that if there is a time to hang their heads low and play the what-if games, there will be plenty of time to do that in the offseason. For now, the goals to continue overachieving and hold off the offseason's arrival are in front of them.

Even despite a subpar shooting effort from Lillard (3-for-12 FGs, 11 points and 7 assists), Portland had very little trouble with a lifeless Bulls team in Chicago on Wednesday, committing just 8 player turnovers in the game. But the back-to-back road games in Atlanta and playoff-hungry Detroit will better test the Blazers’ post-Nurkic resolve.

Portland GM Neil Olshey attempted to shore up the Blazers’ frontcourt depth last month, albeit more so to relieve Nurkic and Al-Farouq Aminu of excessive floor time, not to replace them outright. Skal Labissiere was acquired from Sacramento before the trade deadline, sending out Caleb Swanigan in a deal intended to jumpstart the careers of slow-starting low-first-rounders. Enes Kanter was picked up shortly after his buyout deal with the Knicks, and he supplants Nurkic on the top line. But a lot of the growth that the team needs, in order to be more than first-round playoff fodder, must come from players that were already on the roster.

The seven-foot-one Meyers Leonard (nine blocks in his past 89 appearances; 21.8 D-Reb%, down from 24.7% last season, as per bball-ref), unbelievably in his seventh NBA season, has to emerge and begin looking the part of an NBA center. A fellow seven-footer, Zach, has to begin showing why Portland thought he was the best available Collins (25 minutes vs. CHI, most since January 9 vs. CHI, 13 points, 2-for-3 3FGs) when he was taken 10th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Nurkic’s 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists, as well as McCollum’s triple-double (28 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), were instrumental in the Blazers keeping a game Hawks squad at bay when these teams met in Rip City back on January 26. Portland needs reserve guard Evan Turner to be the same secondary playmaker he was against the Bulls (8 assists, 1 TO on Wednesday), and for Curry to stay focused and hit open shots (20 points, 4-for-7 3FGs vs. CHI). Their offense will be essential if Lillard (91.0 FT%, 3rd in NBA) gets bottled up and struggles to draw trips to the foul line.

With a chance for Atlanta (27-48, 3 more wins than last) to extend their winning streak to four games, the Hawks’ backcourt and forwards come into tonight’s action reasonably healthy. The exception is Taurean Prince (doubtful, sore foot), who likely kicked some furniture after watching Dallas flub the entire second half last night in Miami.

While Trae Young (33 points, 12 assists at NOP on Tuesday) and Lillard are likely to cancel one another out offensively, how effectively the Blazers keep John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon more in foul trouble than feasting on the offensive glass will determine whether they’re focused more on victory today than on dealing with Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond tomorrow.

The Blazers have precious little time to sit around feeling sorry for themselves. Their upcoming opponents won’t show much pity for their plight, either, especially not next month. Maybe you’ve stepped in mud, but act like you’ve got some new brown shoes.


Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3

Via ESPN Insider Bobby Marks, Nurkic would be due a $1.25 million contract bonus if the Blazers get to 50 wins on the season. Marks added the Blazers' projected tax bill would go up an extra $2+ million due to the bonus.



~lw3

Never heard of a contract bonus for team win totals. Sounds like a good way to create animosity between teammates.

Prince is out.

Nurkic going down killed these guys for the playoffs.. Fill bad for RIP city.

jayu70 wrote:

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I was hoping to see Tank commander Blaze in there starting.. sit John next game as well

Baze wins Jason Collier Award!

Looking like Blazers not missing a beat so far.. shooting lights out

Damien Dame on fire.

Trae Young is a devastating offensive weapon. I honestly didn't expect this in his first season.