Game 50: Portland vs LA Clippers 7:00pm SNW

[PDXKnight]

Well on the bright side Powell had a nice game.

Dame looks like his injuries are slowing him down a bit. He’s been pretty shaky the last couple of games

[PDXKnight]

As a Clippers fan, you guys are a very tough out, good game.

But my god Carmelo Anthony is just a horrible player and not someone you can ever count on in the playoffs.

Stop giving him so many touches, get Nurkic healthy again and we'd have a hell of a series.

Little is better already than melo is at his current age imo, i have to think this will be melo’s final hoorah in a blazers jersey this year to open up more time for nassir

[Epicurus]

Poor offensive game by Lillard, somewhat poor shot selection choices and somewhat just poor shooting. Really poor defense by McCollum, particularly on Reggie Jackson who scored 13 of his points in the 2 plus minutes matchuped with CJ , with a 100 efg%.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

As a Clippers fan, you guys are a very tough out, good game.

But my god Carmelo Anthony is just a horrible player and not someone you can ever count on in the playoffs.

Stop giving him so many touches, get Nurkic healthy again and we'd have a hell of a series.

Little is better already than melo is at his current age imo, i have to think this will be melo’s final hoorah in a blazers jersey this year to open up more time for nassir

Agreed, Little is showing enough on both sides of the floor to warrant more burn.

Clippers might be the worst matchup for Melo. He is only really useful these days when he can hunt mismatches and the Clippers have a ton of guys that he just cant bully in the post. If we draw the Clips in the post-season he really shouldn't play much as they negate the main positive he can bring, but most other teams have either a young player or a smaller player that he can exploit.

[RingColluder]

my god Carmelo Anthony is just a horrible player and not someone you can ever count on in the playoffs.

If you wanted to see some all-time bad ball, you should have seen Melo at the 5 when Nurkić and Giles were out.

Still, he is what he is. One night, he can shoot 50% and put up 18 points offensively on relatively high efficiency. The next night he goes 1/8 or 2/11. Best thing for both him and the team would be to load manage and play 2 games a week tops euro-ball style. So naturally that won't happen. Still valuable on a minimum contract. Just a reminder that father time remains undefeated.

he was garbage on the Knicks man, just not a guy at all you can rely on with his style of play to win when it counts.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Ridiculous shooting by the Clippers. They have a lot of defensive players as starters and reserve players. I kept waiting for Lillard to do something... anything.

Zubac is bigger than I expected. Kanter looked a little small compared to Zubac. Definitely missed Nurkic and Lillard.

[d-train]

Ridiculous shooting by the Clippers. They have a lot of defensive players as starters and reserve players. I kept waiting for Lillard to do something... anything.

Zubac is bigger than I expected. Kanter looked a little small compared to Zubac. Definitely missed Nurkic and Lillard.

I've been talking about how good Zubac is since he was a Laker. I couldn't believe that stupid trade Lakers made giving him to Clippers.

Clippers were running some traps against Lillard. Until Lillard stops making mistakes and starts beating those traps, he is going to see a lot of traps against good teams. Lillard needs to see the trap coming and pass the ball. Sometimes it's the 2nd or 3rd pass that exposes the trap. But, you don't get there until Lillard gives it up. Passing really does beat any trap.

[Epicurus]

Ridiculous shooting by the Clippers. They have a lot of defensive players as starters and reserve players. I kept waiting for Lillard to do something... anything.

Zubac is bigger than I expected. Kanter looked a little small compared to Zubac. Definitely missed Nurkic and Lillard.

I've been talking about how good Zubac is since he was a Laker. I couldn't believe that stupid trade Lakers made giving him to Clippers.

Clippers were running some traps against Lillard. Until Lillard stops making mistakes and starts beating those traps, he is going to see a lot of traps against good teams. Lillard needs to see the trap coming and pass the ball. Sometimes it's the 2nd or 3rd pass that exposes the trap. But, you don't get there until Lillard gives it up. Passing really does beat any trap.

You are correct. My throat often gets sore screaming at Lillard through the tv to pass now. Yet, on the other hand, the goal of doubling, tribling, Lillard is to get the ball our of his hand. I think Lillard and maybe the gameplan is to do things to keep it in his hand, even when doubled.

I think last game we saw a frustrated Lillard who, when free of the double, took poor shots. If you look at each of his shots (NBA stats allows this amazingly) they were not v. two opponents, but one. Yet many were not good quality shots. It was almost like he saw a small window of just being singe matched that he took ill-advised shots.

[d-train]

Ridiculous shooting by the Clippers. They have a lot of defensive players as starters and reserve players. I kept waiting for Lillard to do something... anything.

Zubac is bigger than I expected. Kanter looked a little small compared to Zubac. Definitely missed Nurkic and Lillard.

I've been talking about how good Zubac is since he was a Laker. I couldn't believe that stupid trade Lakers made giving him to Clippers.

Clippers were running some traps against Lillard. Until Lillard stops making mistakes and starts beating those traps, he is going to see a lot of traps against good teams. Lillard needs to see the trap coming and pass the ball. Sometimes it's the 2nd or 3rd pass that exposes the trap. But, you don't get there until Lillard gives it up. Passing really does beat any trap.

You are correct. My throat often gets sore screaming at Lillard through the tv to pass now. Yet, on the other hand, the goal of doubling, tribling, Lillard is to get the ball our of his hand. I think Lillard and maybe the gameplan is to do things to keep it in his hand, even when doubled.

I think last game we saw a frustrated Lillard who, when free of the double, took poor shots. If you look at each of his shots (NBA stats allows this amazingly) they were not v. two opponents, but one. Yet many were not good quality shots. It was almost like he saw a small window of just being singe matched that he took ill-advised shots.

It's not easy to recognize when the advantage changes from the ball being in Lillard's hands to taking advantage of the defense being out of position with ball movement. It's an easy innate skill for some players, while others are less proficient.