Game 2: Portland vs Phoenix

[Brandon-Clyde]

Victory GLB pic

Spoiler:

[LillardTime]

Josh Hart just makes plays that winners make.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Credit to Simons for clutch plays late in the game and credit to Dame for showing faith in Simons. Dame showing leadership skills there.

[LillardTime]

And credit to Nurk for bouncing back in a big way. Still had some poor passes and lacks touch around the rim but the work ethic was there tonight

[zzaj]

This is why you don’t try and trade a basically untradeable Lillard. Portland may only get to witness a career like this twice, three times, maybe four in the life of the franchise. Enjoy the era for what it is—the Dame Epoch.

A gutsy win to be sure. Obviously this kind of minute distribution isn’t sustainable, though. Lillard isn’t going to last the season if he has to do THAT every night to eek out wins.

[Dame Lizard]

I echo the Josh Hart love. He's our new Wes Matthews type player. Not as good as a 3PT shooter was Wes was, but much better in the paint.

Clutch win. It was there for the taking but we made so many silly errors throughout the game. Credit to the Sun's defender for forcing the turnovers, although we appeared to just throw the ball to them half of the time.

It wasn't pretty, as evident by the lack of assists and high turnovers. But I'll take it!

[RaisingArizona]

Good game! Was hoping for that second OT! Portland is obviously a playoff team this year. We're all in for a fight in the West.

[PDXKnight]

Good game! Was hoping for that second OT! Portland is obviously a playoff team this year. We're all in for a fight in the West.

Too early to tell if pdx makes the playoffs imo especially as it was a home game which is more likely to be an "upset" win than a road game. Definitely a good game though

[Norm2953]

Funny how winning 1-2 games raises spirits but again, its far too early to know how good this team is.

Let's see which Nurk shows up each night, how Dame/Ant work out how the team needs them to play,
how Jerami Grant needs to play for the team to win and how things will change when GP2 begins to
play.

[SunsRback4Good]

Good game. The trio of Nurkic, Grant and Lillard was too much to handle. Then you add Simons, Hart and Little and the Blazers are one of the deepest teams in the league. I could see blazers being top 5 in the west and frankly that gives me nightmares.

[HoopsFanAZ]

Josh Hart just makes plays that winners make.

Josh Hart doing Josh Hart things. Late in the game Nurkic makes a play at the hoop, hustles, misses, Hart right there with the hustle, tips the ball near the rim in a crowd, Nurkic puts it in on the 2nd try. Right then I thought, Hart will help Nurkic and others try again. It was skill and effort.

Last year was hard to watch, and I didn’t watch plenty during the tank … so my knowledge of Winslow and Hart as Blazers is even more limited. Good dudes to have on the team.

In honor of Brian Grant, Joel Przybilla, Chris Dudley, and Maurice Lucas — to name a few — who will the Hardhats and Lunchpail Award for the Blazers this year? Hart, GP2, Eubanks, or other?

[GEE]

For all those guys out there who gave Dame a ton of crap after not playing well in his first game in 10 months, you owe that man an apology. Especially those who went as far as to say we need to trade him.

With all due respect, Nobody owes Dame $HIT.

And just for the record (for all/not just you), I personally have NEVER said we NEED to trade Dame, but I have been a strong opponent to those that say it should never be considered, and those that claim to KNOW that it will never happen.

As for the game... Just WOW! Huge (In-Game) improvements from a couple key players: Seeing Nurkic and Little being coached-up right before our eyes, as I said in the opening of this thread, Beautiful to see.

Dame certainly found his touch/shot/feel, which was awesome to see, but the best and most important improvement for him was at the very end of the OT, when it was evident that Dames' tank was low, He allowed Simons to play the hero... sorta. This was the biggest win, within the win.

2-0 with tons of room for improvement... So so happy and thankful to Jody that she had the brass to finally can that jackass in Olshey, along with Stotts. Cronin and Chauncey, along with the team of assistants they've built are a huge refreshment.

WIZ recently mentioned the names of a couple other Blazer Legends in Drexler and Porter... I haven't felt this good about this team since then. RIP CITY IS BACK!!!

[LillardTime]

Cronin’s off-season moves might make a few eat some crow. Flipping RoCo and Powell for Winslow and Keon looks so much better now that Winslow is healthy and we can see the versatility he gives the team. Great D, can play make a little, active on the boards, high IQ. Grant pick up was a steal. Just a pity we didn’t get that second first from Nawlins for CJ

[Case2012]

For all those guys out there who gave Dame a ton of crap after not playing well in his first game in 10 months, you owe that man an apology. Especially those who went as far as to say we need to trade him.

With all due respect, Nobody owes Dame $HIT.

And just for the record (for all/not just you), I personally have NEVER said we NEED to trade Dame, but I have been a strong opponent to those that say it should never be considered, and those that claim to KNOW that it will never happen.

As for the game... Just WOW! Huge (In-Game) improvements from a couple key players: Seeing Nurkic and Little being coached-up right before our eyes, as I said in the opening of this thread, Beautiful to see.

Dame certainly found his touch/shot/feel, which was awesome to see, but the best and most important improvement for him was at the very end of the OT, when it was evident that Dames' tank was low, He allowed Simons to play the hero... sorta. This was the biggest win, within the win.

2-0 with tons of room for improvement... So so happy and thankful to Jody that she had the brass to finally can that jackass in Olshey, along with Stotts. Cronin and Chauncey, along with the team of assistants they've built are a huge refreshment.

WIZ recently mentioned the names of a couple other Blazer Legends in Drexler and Porter... I haven't felt this good about this team since then. RIP CITY IS BACK!!!

[Case2012]

Read on Twitter

Dame time.

[Shem]

For all those guys out there who gave Dame a ton of crap after not playing well in his first game in 10 months, you owe that man an apology. Especially those who went as far as to say we need to trade him.

With all due respect, Nobody owes Dame $HIT.

Why are you getting so worked up and offended about what I said? I never called out anyone specifically. In fact, much of what I saw that I referenced were people on Facebook and Twitter saying those things I called out. I barely even post here anymore. I haven't posted regularly here since 2018.

But what I do know is that people who react that way in these situations are usually guilty of it in some degree or another.

[monopoman]

Good game. The trio of Nurkic, Grant and Lillard was too much to handle. Then you add Simons, Hart and Little and the Blazers are one of the deepest teams in the league. I could see blazers being top 5 in the west and frankly that gives me nightmares.

Kinda funny we had a thread on the general board asking if the Blazers should blow it up, I think we might be the most underrated team in the entire NBA right now. It seems that no one thinks this team has any chance at doing jack ****, and even a good chunk of Blazer fans are skeptical.

[Case2012]

I’m pretty shocked the way the team has performed vs the preseason. The difference in effort and defense is incredible, it’s hard to believe I’m seeing a blazer team that active on defense and pushing the ball. Hart, Winslow and Grant have been so refreshing to see and it’s going to get better when GP2 comes back. I may be eating my words when I initially predicted a 30-32 win season.

As much as I like Simons and how big his shot was last night, I would still move him for OG in a heartbeat. Seeing these big 2 way forwards play, we would be even more intimidating with OG paired with Hart and Grant in the starting line up. I have no idea how that trade would happen but I suspect Cronin is already planning a move for him at the deadline.

[BlazersBroncos]

I’m pretty shocked the way the team has performed vs the preseason. The difference in effort and defense is incredible, it’s hard to believe I’m seeing a blazer team that active on defense and pushing the ball. Hart, Winslow and Grant have been so refreshing to see and it’s going to get better when GP2 comes back. I may be eating my words when I initially predicted a 30-32 win season.

As much as I like Simons and how big his shot was last night, I would still move him for OG in a heartbeat. Seeing these big 2 way forwards play, we would be even more intimidating with OG paired with Hart and Grant in the starting line up. I have no idea how that trade would happen but I suspect Cronin is already planning a move for him at the deadline.

I don’t disagree but with how much Masai loves tall long forwards can you really see him moving OG for Ant.

At the same time, moving Ant for OG makes us really really dependent on Dame to orchestrate the offense. Ant can’t create for others well but he can get his. Dame and Ant are the only guys we have that can get theirs. Taking Ant out of the equation for another (high end) role player that doesn’t create is risky.

[JasonStern]

If you view the CJ trade as CJ+Nance for Grant+Hart, we fleeced Nawlins - at least given the state of our roster. But to be fair if you did that, DJJ+1st for Nance was us getting fleeced which offsets it. And then you still have the whole Clippers trade...

Simons isn't getting moved. Him, Sharpe, Little, Keon, etc. are the future. Management seems to understand that they need to build for the future while still having a presentable product that sells tickets in the interim.

Super fun game. I really feel like we will overachieve during the regular season and get exposed in the playoffs. Again. Sure, the Blazers need Dame to go off for 40 to beat a team like the Suns. But it's refreshing to have enough options that Dame and Nurkić can have terrible games and the team can still beat a team like the Kings.