Preseason game 4: Portland vs Utah 6:00 pm

[Brandon-Clyde]

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Vs





Time:6:00pm
Place: Utah
TV: Blazervision

GLB of the game Marilyn Monroe

[Blazinaway]

Apparently no "preseason" posting for members here...

[Brandon-Clyde]

Apparently no "preseason" posting for members here...

I will take partial blame for not posting the thread earlier.

[mighty_duck]

Unlike other preseason games, we were trying to win this. End of game we had 4 starters + C.Love.

We're up 4 points in the last 90 seconds, and on offense it's classic Chauncey -
1 play ISO for Grant (blocked).
1 play ISO for Sharpe (misses layup).
1 play (after a timeout!) - Love clangs a contested 3 pointer early in the shot clock.
Last play (now down 3), also after a timeout, we can barely get the ball inbounds in two attempts. Grant heaves from near halfcourt.

It's going to be a long season!

[zzaj]

Unlike other preseason games, we were trying to win this. End of game we had 4 starters + C.Love.

We're up 4 points in the last 90 seconds, and on offense it's classic Chauncey -
1 play ISO for Grant (blocked).
1 play ISO for Sharpe (misses layup).
1 play (after a timeout!) - Love clangs a contested 3 pointer early in the shot clock.
Last play (now down 3), also after a timeout, we can barely get the ball inbounds in two attempts. Grant heaves from near halfcourt.

It's going to be a long season!

Yeah, again...Billups continues his reign of being very terrible at end of games. It's rather remarkable. Another game where the lack of halfcourt offense really showed. There's just not enough meaningful screening and cutting off-ball to generate anything substantial. If this is what to expect out of the "new offense" color me completely unimpressed. That first game they weren't relying so heavily on high PnR...but that has evaporated since. Also, Clingan and the guards are making Clingan's rolls a non-factor by either Clingan not waiting for the guard or pointless ghost-screening, or the guards aren't putting pressure on the defense out of that action when their defender gets screened off. I'd like to see Lillard, Jrue and Splitter work with Clingan extensively on this...not that he's going to be much of a roll threat other than lobs.

Jrue shouldn't be playing 31 minutes in a meaningless game.

Nice to see Clingan have a good blocks/rebounds game. I am not sure his hands are ever going to come around offensively.

Love that Sharpe is keeping the pedal down and emerging a little bit on a team of vets...if he can ever consistently shoot league average that will be a big step for him.

OF COURSE Grant has 32 points in a loss. lol. I don't love that he's taking on the "bailout" roll, but I suppose somebody has to take those shots...

Love Jrue. Nothing not to like...just mistake free basketball.

Yang got the brunt end of some home cooking and rookie calls. If the Blazers are going to make him effective, they need to have some set plays for his minutes (he plays well in 5 out spread offense, where he's the lone screener at the top of the key). Otherwise, he's not going to bring anything offensively and hardly anything defensively. He keeps posting up when they swing the ball...this ain't China.

Did Deni get hurt?

Scoot can't come back fast enough...I'm not sure I can handle a ton of Wesley in every game. At least Love is making some 3s...

Utah actually has some nice players. I like Sensabaugh quite a bit. And the Kessler/Flip/Markaanen rotation has some nice variety. I was DEAD wrong about Flip...I thought he was way too soft and slow for the NBA. Looks like he'll have a long career.

Nice to see the stout version of Nurkic back. I swear to G-D he moves on every screen.

Hardy has Utah playing together and caring on the defensive end. He's done a good job.

Refs had some real questionables to end the 2nd and 3rd periods.

EDIT: one last thing...I'm so happy to not see Simons getting hunted on every other possession. So far it doesn't look like they've missed his offense much at all. I always thought the idea that he commanded double teams and that the Blazers were going to miss that was bunk...teams doubled Simons because they knew they could and no other Blazer was going to hit the broad side of a barn. Easy strategy.

[DaVoiceMaster]

What a putrid finish to the game. What happened to Sharpe on that play near the end? Clingan screen a direct path to the basket and Sharpe misses everything and falls to the floor. WTF???

[BlazersBroncos]

Sharpe needs to release the ball higher and get more arc. His 3PT misses are almost always front rim. You can see it on film, his shot is so smooth mechanically but its just too much of an 'forehead' level shot release, which will always limit his range unless he can tweak it a bit IMO.

[Walton1one]

This game wasn't on KUNP, so I didn't watch it, but caught some highlights and looking at the box score...oh boy..

On one hand, it is the preseason so, whatever...

On the other hand, Billups had 4 of his core 8 guys (3? starters) playing 35-32-31-29 minutes and they still lost to a team projected to be at the bottom of the Western Conference. Losing with vets, it is what Billups excels at...

POR shot 39% from 3pt and STILL lost to UTA. I don't anticipate that many nights they will be at that percentage...

Sharpe 2-9 from 3pt, shot 50% from 2pt, broken record....

Yang fouled out in 15min, WTF, lol...Way too slow on defense, was on multiple scouting reports regarding him BTW.

Caleb Love makes me almost miss Dalano Banton. Can't believe I just typed that....Just keep shooting it Caleb, it worked so well for him in college...or not.

Wesley\Cissoko...uh, maybe there is a reason SA traded both these guys away? Not NBA players....

Neither is Murray for that matter, but he has a guaranteed deal, so....we get 1 more year of his meh playstyle.

Still waiting on Rupert to show he is anywhere worthy of an NBA rotation, done holding out hope....

Deni out with back spasms, have to wonder how much his play during Eurobasket may end up costing him some games this year, he is a pretty durable guy but wear & tear affects every player and he has played a lot of basketball.

Leaning on Holiday for 30+ minutes per night is not going to end well IMO.

No Willimas, No Thybulle at all this preseason. Get ready for the annual 20? games of Williams before he is shut down and the 40-50? or so games from Thybulle before he is as well. Both these guys are always hurt. The last 3 years, Wilkliams has averaged 20 games/year & Thybulle has averaged 50 games. Both are good defenders, but how good are they really if they are rarely on the floor?

Why is Duop Reath on the team? The guy has no long term future with this franchise. Why not bring in another younger, maybe more mobile (what a concept) big?

and lastly, Marang this morning is already simping for Billups reliance on playing the vets heavy minutes, as per usual.

Can't have it both way people. You can't defend Billups\Cronin's incompetence and sub .400 winning percentage with "They are rebuilding!" and then also defend losing with vets starting\getting heavy usage.

[oldfishermen]

Brief pre-season summary.

I liked the efffort. I cut the players slack when they are giving 100%. Even the cascade of fouls can be written off to early nervous energy. They want to play well, that is a good start to developing.

However, I am disappointed with the coaching staff. I expected to see some changes to build hope on. I did not see any.

[dckingsfan]

The only thing I learned from this game is that Deni and Camara are the heart and soul of this team. With those two out, Clingan and Yang had their hands full with Utah routinely getting to the basket.

Playing Jrue big minutes in a preseason game is just flat out nuts (opinion).