Game 72: Portland vs Boston 3: 00pm Chargetv and KUNP

[Brandon-Clyde]

vs





Time 3:00pm
Place: Moda Center
TV: Chargetv and KUNP

Watch on YouTube

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GLB of the game Olivia Holt

Spoiler:

[Brandon-Clyde]

1st quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Brandon-Clyde]

2nd quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[zzaj]

That lineup to end the 1st quarter was....rough. Not really sure where Chauncey was expecting the offense to come from.

Scoot
Simons
Matisse
Murray
Duop

[DaVoiceMaster]

Clingan won a jump ball. Nice of Horford to not even try.

[Brandon-Clyde]

3rd quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[PDXKnight]

Feels like this is Deni's team at least for now

[PDXKnight]

I don't recall ever being too irritated with duop. Wouldn't mind keeping him

[Brandon-Clyde]

4th quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[PDXKnight]

Feels like too much trading baskets to win this one

[PDXKnight]

L. Thanks Cronin for the worthless 11th seed with your inability to move your prized vets

Joe always felt like more of a mid MLS gm to me, not made for the NBA or any meaningful decision making in a major 4 league

[Brandon-Clyde]

Consolation GLB pics

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[DaVoiceMaster]

I don't recall ever being too irritated with duop. Wouldn't mind keeping him

Agreed. I'd keep him around as a 3rd stringer.

[Shem]

L. Thanks Cronin for the worthless 11th seed with your inability to move your prized vets

Should be easier to move Ayton and Simons during the offseason. They're on expired contracts in the upcoming season.

Now, I'm not opposed to moving those contracts next year and get less talent back also on expiring contracts. Reason being is because coaches try to win and if they're not as good as Simons or Ayton, then it incentivizes the coach to play the young guys. Or they're out for the year via injury.

I know people will complain and want Cronin's head about player out for the year or players that are less talented, but I see it for what it's doing. Because you have to take back salary in return. If you move highly paid veterans for other highly paid veterans, it hurts the young players on rookie contracts.

Right now let's hope we have Atlanta like luck last season in the lottery. Play in the play-in, lose there which moves you to the lottery and then win it. Well, I'd settle for making the top-4 even if we're just short of the play-in. The experience the players got from trying their season around in January, especially young players being key contributors was worth it.

Also, cheer on the low rated play-in teams. The 9th and 10th seeds to make the playoffs. It can knock the 7th and 8th seeds into the lottery which could move Portland up in the draft position.

[Walton1one]

POR shoots 40% from 3pt (34.7% for the season) and still loses by 13 to a BOS team missing 3 starters

50! 3pt attempts by BOS tonight, shot 46%

POR took 47 3pt attempts, 10 more than season average

Never going to win a 3pt shootout with BOS

Sure helps to have a star though, Tatum 30-9-9, and he was a little off tonight, 1-7 from 3pt, but he made the momentum driving plays for BOS when they needed them. Big piece missing from this POR team

Pritchard played well & White is really underrated, both guys killed POR again

I did not think I have seen Hauser shoot that well before, 8-10 3pt, but easy to do when you have wide open looks

Scoot had a rough night, just trying to force things and driving into the lane without a plan

BOS did a good job defending Simons out of the play on offense on several occasions, he was pretty pedestrian tonight

Both teams started off hot, but once POR started to cool off and BOS got up by 10-13 points, it felt like POR was never really going to catch up.

Credit to POR for clawing back each time BOS got up by 18 or so and were on the verge of blowing them out, but they never really threatened in the 2nd half

Thybulle\Reath had a few moments & both are playing above their norms but frankly I don’t see either as a long term piece.

Maybe a team might be interested in Thybulle in the offseason after his late season cup of coffee? 5-7/2-4 tonight with usual good defense, but he is under NBA average on offense (43%/33%) for his career. Over a season his lack of being an offensive threat will eventually play out and this team needs more offense from the bench

Reath is what he is, a 29yr old sub par defender who can hit a 3pt shot on occasion, fine as 3rd/4th string I guess, but him coming in for DC is a drastic drop on the defensive end, rather see them have\prepare a younger guy as 3rd string that could move to backup when Ayton is finally jettisoned

Thybulle, Reath, Banton, Murray, Walker none of these guys are worth keeping long term, POR needs better bench players. Maybe some shooters might be a good idea?

Another game where younger players played well while Ayton/Grant were out. How many games of this does Joe need to see to finally jettison these guys?

This is the difference b/t POR and the better teams in the NBA, BOS can rest\win w/o their 2nd/3rd/4th best players against a POR team that is playing 4 (Avdija/Camara/Simons/Sharpe) of their best 5 players

Kind of a boring game, so many 3pt shots, the NBA really needs to do something, just killing the game IMO, move the line back, take away the corner 3, maybe that might help? Two teams almost took 100 3’s tonight! That is not good basketball to watch or play IMO

Lot of BOS fans making noise in Moda tonight, they left happy

The quest for the play in mind boggingly continues!

[PDXKnight]

L. Thanks Cronin for the worthless 11th seed with your inability to move your prized vets

Should be easier to move Ayton and Simons during the offseason. They're on expired contracts in the upcoming season.

Now, I'm not opposed to moving those contracts next year and get less talent back also on expiring contracts. Reason being is because coaches try to win and if they're not as good as Simons or Ayton, then it incentivizes the coach to play the young guys. Or they're out for the year via injury.

I know people will complain and want Cronin's head about player out for the year or players that are less talented, but I see it for what it's doing. Because you have to take back salary in return. If you move highly paid veterans for other highly paid veterans, it hurts the young players on rookie contracts.

Right now let's hope we have Atlanta like luck last season in the lottery. Play in the play-in, lose there which moves you to the lottery and then win it. Well, I'd settle for making the top-4 even if we're just short of the play-in. The experience the players got from trying their season around in January, especially young players being key contributors was worth it.

Also, cheer on the low rated play-in teams. The 9th and 10th seeds to make the playoffs. It can knock the 7th and 8th seeds into the lottery which could move Portland up in the draft position.

I'd be ok with dealing the vets for a lesser return of straight expirings but would much prefer to take back picks even if it means we are taking back some dead weight to do so. Ie ayton's expiring for some package of first(s) plus players. The number of firsts would be determined by how much dead weight we are returning I'd imagine

Would for sure be nice if 7/8 fell out particularly in the East since it wouldn't really make a difference in the West

[dckingsfan]

Did anyone else notice that when Deni got the defensive rebound and ran the court the rest of the team was lagging waaaay behind.

I mean, if they had pushed the pace they would have done better... IMO.

[Wizenheimer]

reacting to some posts in this thread:

* Duop Reath. He's ok as a 4th string C at 2-3M/year. He's not OK as a 3rd string C at 5-6M/year. He's a bit of a change-of-pace C. He's not a good rebounder or defender

* Delano Banton: a bit of a ball-hog. I'm not convinced he's a 36% three point shooter. His length is nice and he does work on the defensive end where he's somewhat effective. If it was a choice between him or Reath, I'd take Banton. But again, he's worth 2-3M/year as a end of bench guy; not worth 5-6M/year

* Thybulle: I still think there's a chance, if he and his agent believe he can get a 3 or 4 year deal with a playoff team at 7-10M/year, that he opts out and signs elsewhere. Maybe a 50-50 chance; maybe lower. It was definitely a mistake to match the offer sheet from Dallas

* I don't believe it will be any easier to move Simons and Ayton this summer or before next season's trade deadline than it was 6 weeks ago. Sure, maybe, if the Blazers were willing to take back bad salary for more seasons. But they won't be. Simons and Ayton have minimal value; it's neutral at best, probably negative. Whatever value they have isn't going to increase because they have less time on their deals. Besides all that, I'm about 70% convinced Cronin is goofy enough to be planning on re-signing them

* be prepared for the Blazers to be the 11th-14th seed in the lottery. They might be able to drop down to 8th or 9th if they would give up on the foolish dream of the 10th seed, but they won't do that

[DusterBuster]

* I don't believe it will be any easier to move Simons and Ayton this summer or before next season's trade deadline than it was 6 weeks ago. Sure, maybe, if the Blazers were willing to take back bad salary for more seasons. But they won't be. Simons and Ayton have minimal value; it's neutral at best, probably negative. Whatever value they have isn't going to increase because they have less time on their deals. Besides all that, I'm about 70% convinced Cronin is goofy enough to be planning on re-signing them

I still believe this is an overly pessimistic take. I suppose I can agree a bit with Ayton, but not with Simons. His contract isn't bad and he's expiring. I don't believe for a second they have "negative" value, neutral fine, but negative just seems over the top imo. FWIW, I just don't believe any player has "negative" value once they're in the final year of their contract. Their value might be limited for a variety of reasons, but they are absolutely movable.

I honestly don't believe the team is even looking to move Ayton this summer or into next season. I think the only players they will be actively looking to unload this summer would be Grant and Simons.

[Wizenheimer]

* I don't believe it will be any easier to move Simons and Ayton this summer or before next season's trade deadline than it was 6 weeks ago. Sure, maybe, if the Blazers were willing to take back bad salary for more seasons. But they won't be. Simons and Ayton have minimal value; it's neutral at best, probably negative. Whatever value they have isn't going to increase because they have less time on their deals. Besides all that, I'm about 70% convinced Cronin is goofy enough to be planning on re-signing them

I still believe this is an overly pessimistic take. I suppose I can agree a bit with Ayton, but not with Simons. His contract isn't bad and he's expiring. I don't believe for a second they have "negative" value, neutral fine, but negative just seems over the top imo. FWIW, I just don't believe any player has "negative" value once they're in the final year of their contract. Their value might be limited for a variety of reasons, but they are absolutely movable.

I honestly don't believe the team is even looking to move Ayton this summer or into next season. I think the only players they will be actively looking to unload this summer would be Grant and Simons.

I was thinking more about Ayton when I said negative value. 35.5M for a big who isn't a rim protector, is a mediocre paint defender and mostly a drop-coverage C, rarely gets to the FT line or draws fouls, and can't even reach the 2 assist mark looks like negative value to me

Simons? I just don't think there are more than 1 or 2 teams that would consider him as starter material, and one of them is Portland. He's an awkward fit in any starting playoff lineup that I see out there. Some team may be willing to roll the dice on Simons as a 6th man if they need more floor spacing. But his reputation as a one of the worst defenders in the league is well known and deserved