Game 65: Portland vs Sacramento 7:00pm SNW

Post #21 » by **The Sebastian Express** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 5:37 am

That's a rough loss. Makes it pretty hard to make the playoffs even with an A+ best case scenario unfolding.

Sinobas · Post #22 » by **Sinobas** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 5:46 am

I like what Wenyen Gabriel has shown in his limited action. At this point, I'd like to see him get more minutes. The Carmelo Anthony thing should be over.

Roy The Natural · Post #23 » by **Roy The Natural** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:01 am

Sinobas wrote:I like what Wenyen Gabriel has shown in his limited action. At this point, I'd like to see him get more minutes. The Carmelo Anthony thing should be over.

It's absolutely unconscionable that he still gets so many minutes. He's a joke out there.

d-train · Post #24 » by **d-train** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:16 am

If we aren't going to get great execution, we at least need energy. I hate being negative but we are out of time for patience. This is a lost season. This iteration of the Blazers never gelled.

mighty_duck · Post #25 » by **mighty_duck** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:17 am

Tank mode activated.

Roy The Natural · Post #26 » by **Roy The Natural** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:21 am

d-train wrote:If we aren't going to get great execution, we at least need energy. I hate being negative but we are out of time for patience. This is a lost season. This iteration of the Blazers never gelled.

No ****.... Melo shouldn't be starting at this point. He's providing practically nothing out there every night. We could use the energy of Gabriel or Little over what whatever it is we're supposed to be getting from Melo but obviously not getting.

JRoy · Post #27 » by **JRoy** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:46 am

This uninspired effort on the heels of the debacle I Phoenix make a playoff appearance very unlikely this year.

Guard defense is so damn bad.

Hopefully can address that issue and the lack of quality depth in the offseason.

zzaj · Post #28 » by **zzaj** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 7:50 am

Sad that we had to put one of the most beautiful women on earth through this game. Sorry, Natalie...(le sigh)

GEE · Post #29 » by **GEE** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 8:48 am

Roy The Natural wrote:
d-train wrote:If we aren't going to get great execution, we at least need energy. I hate being negative but we are out of time for patience. This is a lost season. This iteration of the Blazers never gelled.

No ****.... Melo shouldn't be starting at this point. He's providing practically nothing out there every night. We could use the energy of Gabriel or Little over what whatever it is we're supposed to be getting from Melo but obviously not getting.

My thoughts exactly. I feel like Melo's minutes have been written into his contract, because as bad as he's looked, he sure isn't earning those minutes over Gabriel or Little or even Biggie. Also, I said it when the trade happened, I don't think Gabriel was just a throw in. With Siakam-like talent and size, He's very intriguing to me.

I also think our guys are starting to wither a bit overall. Long season is taking it's toll.

Sinobas · Post #30 » by **Sinobas** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 12:40 pm

I think we're seeing how much the defense of Nurk/Hark/Aminu/Collins made up for the soft ass defense our guards provide.

Portland is ranked #26 in the league in defensive efficiency. Just 2 years ago we were #6 in that category.

Epicurus · Post #31 » by **Epicurus** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 1:30 pm

If Lillard is afraid of reinjury, and that's what it looked like in the first half ( I didn't bother watching the second half), then he should sit out of games. He was simply horrible. I know he's not a good defender,but tonight he was almost invisible defensively. The Blazers guards didn't even disrupt rhythms a little. Their counterparts had abnormal assists rates (yes, good shooting, but also uncontested passes off of drives) of over 50%, unheard of, and 9:1 assist to turnover ratios (unheard of).

d-train · Post #32 » by **d-train** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 3:13 pm

Roy The Natural wrote:
d-train wrote:If we aren't going to get great execution, we at least need energy. I hate being negative but we are out of time for patience. This is a lost season. This iteration of the Blazers never gelled.

No ****.... Melo shouldn't be starting at this point. He's providing practically nothing out there every night. We could use the energy of Gabriel or Little over what whatever it is we're supposed to be getting from Melo but obviously not getting.

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest problem is Lillard and the 2nd biggest problem is CJ. This is the order of how I assign credit, so it is the order of how I assign blame. This is also the order of how Stotts assigns responsibility to lead our team. However, I don't believe blame is the path back to success. Lillard and CJ aren't failing for lack of trying. We will have big change when Nurkic and Collins return. It will be great change if the new team gels. It will still be on Lillard and CJ to make the team gel, and I'm fine with that.

Wizenheimer · Post #33 » by **Wizenheimer** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 5:20 pm

Sinobas wrote:I think we're seeing how much the defense of Nurk/Hark/Aminu/Collins made up for the soft ass defense our guards provide.

Portland is ranked #26 in the league in defensive efficiency. Just 2 years ago we were #6 in that category.

you left out maybe the most important factor: a healthy Ed Davis

that year they were #8 (not 6?) was the 2017-18 season when the C/PF rotation was Davis and Zach coming off the bench and Nurk/Aminu the starters

defensive rating:

2015-16 - 20th (108.0) - Plumlee, healthy Davis; Aminu/Harkless
2016-17 - 24th (110.8) - Davis injured most of year; Plumlee to Nurkic (20 games) add Turner
2017-18 - 8th (106.4) - healthy Davis; Nurkic, Zach; Aminu/Harkless/Turner
2018-19 - 16th (110.5) - Davis gone, Meyers replaces in rotation; Curry for Napier
2019-20 - 27th (114.2) - Whiteside & nobody else

there was actually a bigger change in opponent points/possession from 17-18 to last year than from last year to this; -4.1 vs -3.7

the only change from 2017-18 to last season was the loss of Davis. Blazers had their optimal defensive rotation in 17-18.

this season is a disaster. Whiteside is getting scapegoated way too much for a broken roster. Olshey showed he didn't value defense, or rebounding, highly when he let Davis walk. He doubled down on that attitude last summer by getting rid of the rest of Portland's perimeter defensive guys. And by the way, Curry is two tiers above Simons as a defender. That adds to the disaster

Portland doesn't have defensive schemes this year, but they have a defensieve roster

d-train · Post #34 » by **d-train** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:05 pm

How was our defense 2 years ago in the playoffs? We had a healthy Davis and Nurkic.

Blazinaway · Post #35 » by **Blazinaway** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 6:44 pm

Roy The Natural wrote:
d-train wrote:If we aren't going to get great execution, we at least need energy. I hate being negative but we are out of time for patience. This is a lost season. This iteration of the Blazers never gelled.

No ****.... Melo shouldn't be starting at this point. He's providing practically nothing out there every night. We could use the energy of Gabriel or Little over what whatever it is we're supposed to be getting from Melo but obviously not getting.

Melo should not play another minute unless we are desperate for bodies, guys like Weylen/little should get all the minutes they can

Wizenheimer · Post #36 » by **Wizenheimer** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 7:44 pm

Blazinaway wrote:
Roy The Natural wrote:
d-train wrote:If we aren't going to get great execution, we at least need energy. I hate being negative but we are out of time for patience. This is a lost season. This iteration of the Blazers never gelled.

No ****.... Melo shouldn't be starting at this point. He's providing practically nothing out there every night. We could use the energy of Gabriel or Little over what whatever it is we're supposed to be getting from Melo but obviously not getting.

Melo should not play another minute unless we are desperate for bodies, guys like Weylen/little should get all the minutes they can

yep

no reason to throw away minutes this season on Melo when the best thing left for this season is gaining development time for the youth. Dame and CJ should be playing 25-30 minutes, tops, and should have games they sit for load management. Whiteside should play less than 25 minutes; same for Ariza

the bonus would be more losses and better odds in the lottery

d-train · Post #37 » by **d-train** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 8:20 pm

I want to see Nurkic and Collins back this season. And, I want to see how well a lineup of Lillard, CJ, Nurkic, Collins, and Melo works.

Goldbum · Post #38 » by **Goldbum** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 9:10 pm

Dame should sit back to backs in an attempt to keep him from aggravating his injury. CJ/Melo should get pulled from the lineup every 3 or so games for some nagging injury. Whiteside can play and I would like to see about 8 games of Collins and Nurk. This needs to be the Trent/Ant/Weyan/Little show.

d-train · Post #39 » by **d-train** » Sun Mar 8, 2020 10:35 pm

Our top 3-man lineup is Lillard, CJ, & Nurk. The top priority now should be to find a combination of 2 players that improves our top 3 players. It would be a waste of time to play Trent, Ant, Weyan, and Little together because that is never going to be an important lineup. Collins is a key player we need to see. Melo and Ariza are the next most important players we need to see with our best 3 players, but these 2 guys are veterans so they shouldn't need a lot of time to test the viability of their compatibility. Other players and lineups should be evaluated, but the most important issue is how well Collins, Melo, and Ariza complement our best 3 players.

Wizenheimer · Post #40 » by **Wizenheimer** » Mon Mar 9, 2020 4:09 am

why the hell would CJ think posting this on instagram was a good idea?...especially after a loss?

yeeeeesh

CJ got fined $20,000; Len got fined $15,000...so the league decided who was the biggest fool