Game Thread: Hawks @ Blazers -- 11/10

[Jamaaliver]

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Atlanta Hawks Preview

The Blazers host the Hawks on Sunday. Can Portland get its firsts home win of the season?



The season hasn’t gotten off to the start that the Portland Trail Blazers hoped it would. Portland has not yet won on their home court, going 0-3 at the Moda Center. Injuries continue to hurt the Blazers, the latest being Rodney Hood and Skal Labissiere.

What to watch for:

• Can anyone besides Damian Lillard step up? Portland’s All-Pro point guard deserves no blame for the team’s slow start. After scoring 60 points on Friday, Lillard is averaging 33.3 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting. The Blazers need someone else to step up and help carry the burden on offense. CJ McCollum has not been shooting well, just 38 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from three. New additions Kent Bazemore (37.5 percent) and Mario Hezonja (32.7 percent) have not been able to get into any offensive rhythm either. Anfernee Simons has played well with increasing responsibility. The 20-year-old may need to step up even more—unless Lillard goes for 70.
  
  
  
• Slowing down Trae Young. Atlanta’s second-year guard has improved in his sophomore season. After averaging 19.1 points on 41.8 percent shooting his rookie year, Young is currently averaging 25 points on 47.7 percent shooting. His three-point shooting has improved significantly as well, up to 39.3 percent from 32.4 last season. With John Collins out, Young and Jabari Parker are the only Hawks players averaging double figures. Slowing down Young (who is also averaging 8.1 assists) goes a long way to slowing down Atlanta’s offense.
  
  
  
• Some missed homecomings. Sunday would be Evan Turner’s first game back in the Moda Center since Portland traded him for Kent Bazemore. Unfortunately, Turner will miss the game with some Achilles pain. Former Blazer Allen Crabbe, whom the Hawks acquired from the Nets this offseason, will also miss the game. Kent Bazemore will have his first chance to go up against the team he spent the past five seasons playing for. Portland needs Bazemore to play well. So far this season the Blazers have won when Bazemore has scored nine or more points and lost when he has scored eight or fewer.

Portland -- SB Nation

[Jamaaliver]

The Baze Gaze revisited:

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[Jamaaliver]

Who's left to play in this matchup?

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[ducler]

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[DirtybirdGA]

To the first question in the first tweet, yes probably so..hard to believe they're 0 for home.

[shakes0]

really looking forward to Trae vs Dame. Really not looking forward to the rest of the Hawks vs the rest of the Blazers. This one is gonna get ugly.

[jayu70]

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[lethalweapon3]

Anybody crazy enough to do a deep dive into the annals of the Squawk’s dusty “NBA Trade Ideas” forum will find a LOT of Kent Bazemore mentions. Yes, they were often posted immediately after one of his infamous Headless Chicken plays while in uniform for the Atlanta Hawks. But the threads would also reflect our understanding that Baze, thorns and all, possessed significant NBA value.

We didn’t stop posting ideas for Bazetrades over his five seasons in town, even after Kent wisely inked that four-year, $70 million deal in Atlanta’s pivotal (not so much because of him) 2016 summer of free agency. It was a deal that, at one time, would once render a moderate NBA talent immovable.

Yet, Baze would not hesitate to catch-and-shoot an open jumper. Baze, to the extent it would be possible in his case, would hike up his shorts and get into a defensive stance, determined to force an offensive threat into an ill-advised pass, a deflection, a well-contested shot, or an offensive foul. Baze would do what he could to keep spirits up along the bench. Those elements, unlike the BazeGaze, were of grand worth to many NBA clubs, and astute Hawks fans suspected as much.

A starting fifth-man, or a high-end reserve, hauling in 18 or 19 million smackeroos per year as he prepares to reach 30 years of age? That would be a no for most dawgs. But some might bite if their teams have a highly price-tagged player to dump, or if a swap could get themselves out of salary cap Hades in a year or two.

I’m sure there were many Bazetrade ideas, because I posted more than my share of them. But I had another strategic carrot to dangle. It was essential, in my role as armchair GM, to woo Baze to teams in NBA markets that had the most eccentric denizens. My last failed attempt, “Laissez Lin Baze Temps Roulet?”, tried to get Kent and Jeremy to Aintsville in 2018, an idea gained probably after catching one of Dr. John’s records playing on alt-radio.

The more flair that fans accept as part of everyday life, the more that Bazemore’s peculiarities would serve as a sweetener in a trade deal. And the only thing better than the late Dr. John’s vibe, in my mind, would be the late Dr. Jack’s pizzazz.

I can find few better marriages of player and fans, respectively, than Kent Bazemore and the frolicking followers of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Hawks kick off their 8-day, 5-game West Coast road trip (9 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Northwest) in the town that was meant to have a Baze Craze.

The people who know me, know well, that I know weird when I see it. At least from the first time Bill Walton stepped a giant foot in this town, Blazers fans have grown to accept that there will be times when their first major pro franchise would be competitive, and times where it would be run-of-the-mill. But they will accept no time in which the players they root for would be dull or, worse, normal.

Kent just got there a few months ago, and already there he is, at the Blazers’ annual Fan Fest, holding up a trophy.  He is not a guy that is going to win league-wide honors for player of the year, or month, or week, or hour. What the pride of Bertie, NC (10.4 career PPG, 3.8 career RPG in ATL) will do is collect a closetful of honoraria for his civic engagement and local philanthropy, when he is not on an NBA court giving it everything he thinks he’s got. He just left this town with the 2017 Phoenix Award, the City of Atlanta’s highest civilian honor, and a 2019 Jason Collier Memorial Trophy from the Hawks for his community service.

He’s good people, through and through. And he’s weird, and comfortable in his weirdness. In this Oregon town, that’s perfect. On and off the floor. I defy you to come up with a better fit for misfits than the one Baze was traded to, acknowledging that Evan Turner was goofball enough.

Hassan Whiteside? Professional podcaster CJ McCollum? Mario Hezonja? That’s just for starters (not kidding, those are starters, in Whiteside’s case until Jusuf Nurkic returns from his 2018 leg injury). Zach Collins (shoulder surgery, out for four months)? Rodney Hood (questionable, back injury)? Anthony Tolliver? Skal Labissiere (questionable, sprained ankle)?

There’s no need to map it out for you. They’re just weird birds, man! Enough oddballs to set up a billiards tournament. You know there that there is no mold that could reasonably reproduce any of these cats on an NBA roster.

Maybe the most on-the-mark typecast of a player the Blazers have in their rotation is the guy who does all he can to save their bacon on most nights, then hits the mixtape studio on the other nights. Damian Lillard (36 points vs. ATL on Mar. 29; 33.3 PPG, 2nd in NBA) dropped a career-high 60 big ones on Brooklyn here at the Moda Center. He and his mates also went home with an L. Hopefully his teammates brought him some Voodoo Doughnuts for the effort he put in during the 119-115 Netspick-pleasing defeat.

I can’t find the stat I saw after Friday’s game, but 9 games into Portland’s season, and not one Blazer has assisted on a Lillard bucket more than twice all year. The beauty of the play by the star point guards tonight, Lillard and Atlanta’s Trae Young, is they will hurl a cross-court, behind-the-back, between-the-legs pinpoint pass on the money to the likes of Damian Jones, and not care a whit that the person on the receiving end is, with all due respect, just Damian Jones.

Or, Jabari Parker just after blowing a layup on the last SCTop10-worthy pass. Or, the second biggest Ukrainian scandal going, somehow-still-starter Alex Len. Young (8.1 APG), and Lillard (6.9 APG), will dutifully find their teammates the rock, and will not expect much generosity in return. Portland is last in the league with 17.0 measly APG (41.2 assist%), and it would help if the goofs would at least pass the ball to each other some more.

Bazemore (1.6 APG, 1.6 TOs/game) is third among active Blazers in assists after McCollum, who could stand to pass more until his jumper returns (3.1, 32.6 3FG%, 38.0 FG%). Kent could be more of a secondary passer on the team once coach Terry Stotts figures out why he’s there. They may one day have a secondary dime-dropper in the up-and-coming Anfernee Simons (1.0 APG), but the youngster isn’t ready yet.

The Hawks have gotten next-to-zilch from Turner, due to a persistent Achilles injury, and have suffered similarly (22,9 team APG, 22nd in NBA) despite Young's occasional brilliance. Kevin Huerter (4-for-7 3FGs, 4 assists in Friday's loss vs. SAC) showed he may be coming out of his shell, and hopefully his improved shooting and passing will be in time for Atlanta (3-5) to hang tough with its Western foes this week.

Bazemore is a free agent this summer, and he’ll do all he can to show Portland and the Blazers why he ought to be a keeper, although it would really help if the team improves enough that he can show off his indispensable play in the postseason. Don’t nobody tell him yet about the World Naked Bike Ride. He might never want to leave.



Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[jayu70]

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[Rainwater]

Since his return Trae has been shooting poorly to start games, hawks need him early to avoid early holes.

[jayu70]

Since his return Trae has been shooting poorly to start games, hawks need him early to avoid early holes.

Or maybe we need others step up.

[Jamaaliver]

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[jayu70]

Ugly half of bbal, but Hawks only down 2, I'll take it.

[Rainwater]

Since his return Trae has been shooting poorly to start games, hawks need him early to avoid early holes.

Or maybe we need others step up.

Of course but you need your stars to be there to win games.

[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

Kent Bazemore gets revenge against the Atlanta Hawks, propels Trail Blazers at both ends of the floor

“A lot of emotion tonight,” Bazemore said after his best performance of the young season at both ends of the court. “Obviously, every guy, once they leave a team is always looking to get back at them. Good to be out there competing against them.”

Bazemore took on a difficult defensive challenge, guarding Hawks’ talented point guard Trae Young and when you look at the points (35) that Young scored, it would appear the Atlanta player got the best of him. But Young went 9-30 from the floor, including 3-13 from three-point range, and had seven turnovers. Bazemore gave him a rough night.

And then on offense, Bazemore, thrust into the starting lineup because of Rodney Hood’s back spasms, scored 13 points – including two three-pointers early in the overtime period that vaulted the Blazers into a big lead – had eight rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Spoiler:

“It was huge,” Damian Lillard said of Bazemore’s effort. “Tonight, he had the assignment with Trae Young and (Young) had the ball in his hands pretty much the whole game – chasing him off screens, finding him in transition – just that type of effort is tough. He was there all night. And down the stretch, he was rewarded for his effort and for him to lock in like that – two big threes. But like I said, I think his effort on the defensive end and him taking that challenge was really big. I think it got his mind into the game and it was perfect. It came against his former team, and in a game that we needed.”

NBC Sports

[hawkmanreturns]

Kent Bazemore gets revenge against the Atlanta Hawks, propels Trail Blazers at both ends of the floor

“A lot of emotion tonight,” Bazemore said after his best performance of the young season at both ends of the court. “Obviously, every guy, once they leave a team is always looking to get back at them. Good to be out there competing against them.”

Bazemore took on a difficult defensive challenge, guarding Hawks’ talented point guard Trae Young and when you look at the points (35) that Young scored, it would appear the Atlanta player got the best of him. But Young went 9-30 from the floor, including 3-13 from three-point range, and had seven turnovers. Bazemore gave him a rough night.

And then on offense, Bazemore, thrust into the starting lineup because of Rodney Hood’s back spasms, scored 13 points – including two three-pointers early in the overtime period that vaulted the Blazers into a big lead – had eight rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Spoiler:

“It was huge,” Damian Lillard said of Bazemore’s effort. “Tonight, he had the assignment with Trae Young and (Young) had the ball in his hands pretty much the whole game – chasing him off screens, finding him in transition – just that type of effort is tough. He was there all night. And down the stretch, he was rewarded for his effort and for him to lock in like that – two big threes. But like I said, I think his effort on the defensive end and him taking that challenge was really big. I think it got his mind into the game and it was perfect. It came against his former team, and in a game that we needed.”

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Didn't he say he ASKED to be traded? Didn't the Hawks trade him to a competitive team as a courtesy? What is Baze talking about?

[Jamaaliver]

Didn't he say he ASKED to be traded? Didn't the Hawks trade him to a competitive team as a courtesy? What is Baze talking about?

IIRC, Hawks informed him that he was being shopped and asked for a list of teams he'd like to go to.

The team definitely did him a solid sending him to a competitive Portland team (fresh off a WC Finals appearance.)

I see this as KB simply trying to "win the breakup"...even if we ended things mutually and on good terms.

[atlantabbq99]

Its too early to tell, not that many games have been played and the team is filled with young players, .... but I think Coach Lloyd is loosing the team.

I don't like what he has been saying in the last few press conferences, especially about moving guys and minutes.

If i'm a young player and worried about my career, I'm just hearing what the head coach is saying and thinking "I have to look out for me" rather than "I have to help my teammates and play team ball"

[shakes0]

Its too early to tell, not that many games have been played and the team is filled with young players, .... but I think Coach Lloyd is loosing the team.

I don't like what he has been saying in the last few press conferences, especially about moving guys and minutes.

If i'm a young player and worried about my career, I'm just hearing what the head coach is saying and thinking "I have to look out for me" rather than "I have to help my teammates and play team ball"

f this noise. He does a great job handling Trae and that's really all that matters right now.