zzaj wrote:I honestly thought this one was going to Dallas starting the 4th. It's a big, team confidence boosting win, IMO.
CJ feeling it this game, but it sure is difficult to watch him dribble to oblivion while his teammates are open on the perimeter. I guess when the ball goes in it's less difficult?
I thought the game was actually called pretty fairly. Dallas for sure got some home cooking, but that's to be expected. Blazers found a way to overcome that.
Collins' dislocation was a bit strange...it was hard to see exactly how it happened. My guess is he's going to play through it. If it comes up again then, I'd say it would be time to sit him. And at that point, yeah...more minutes to Mario and Skal.
Luka and KP are a really nice duo. I think Dallas makes the POs if those two stay healthy--potentially at a higher seed than the Blazers. They are really impossible to match up with. If they had one more really good player they'd be contenders.
Lastly, I like the challenge rule. If nothing else, it looks like it'll cut down on missed, game defining calls in the last couple of minutes and certainly in the last few seconds. It's too bad there isn't a challenge on non-calls, however.
Point-by-point:
- True, CJ is always overdribbling, but we shouldn't sell him completely short tonight. I did see an improved ability around the rim from him. He was better going to the rim tonight than I've ever seen him before. He was using his body to create room to finish, and his physicality at the rim got him to the line regularly. Regardless of his tunnel-vision and over isoing type game, if he can at least improve at the rim and get to the line a bit more... that's a HUGE development for him.
- Yea, the game wasn't that bad. I didn't feel that Dallas was getting many egregious calls. They were legitimately getting fouled quite a bit. But I will say that I thought the Blazers were getting called a little too regularly for ticky-tack stuff. Like the CJ off-arm bump on that drive. Which was then done by Seth Curry for 3 consecutive plays with no call. Overall the game wasn't horribly reffed, but it wasn't good or even either.
- I don't know if he'll play through it. I hope he can. I guess we'll learn more tomorrow. I'd expect he's out a week at the minimum though. Would love if it turns out to be not much, but the average games missed for a dislocated shoulder is like 20+ games. So I wouldn't get my hopes up.
- Challenge rule is good.