Game Thread GAME# 56: JAZZ @ BLAZERS - FEBRUARY 21, 2016 - SUNDAY, 6:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

Totally agree, last year we tied with the Suns for the most losses by 5 or more points. Honestly, Hayward tries to be the man at the end of the game but he isn't dependable and has a ton of turnovers in the clutch (just like his pass out of bounds near the end). Honestly, our biggest hope is with Rodney Hood. When the offense runs through him at the end we do much better, but he needs to be more assertive. Hayward wants to be the man, but most Jazz fans feel like Hood is better at the end and may end up being the better player. Hood was injured most of his rookie year so this is really his first time playing this much, he is our biggest hope but still has a ways to go to be anywhere close to the top closers in the game.

 

I love Rodney Hood, I think he is going to be better than Wiggins. He definitely was the guy who scared me most offensively and defensively on the perimeter for the Jazz. When does Burks come back btw? I feel like he is a big key for the Jazz.

 

How about Exum?

 

Burks will be huge for us off the bench, I believe he was 2nd in ppg from the bench when he went down (Paul Pierce flagrantly fouled him, which caused his leg to break). He won't be back for another 2 weeks at least I believe.

 

Well. I can recommend some Mindfulness techniques for him if he stays.

 

Everyone was excited by the work Exum did in the summer. He played in one summer league game ( I know, it's summer league) against Marcus Smart and had 20 points, 5 reb, 5 assists and then landed on someone's ankle and then when he went to play for Australia we were devastated by his ACL injury against Slovenia. He looked much stronger after the summer and had put in a lot of work. Coming off this injury he kinda has to start all over again. He's running and doing some drills already but he is still a few months away. I'm trying to temper my expectations from him. He will be our best perimeter defender in the future and was the other reason our defense was so good the last half of the season with his length, offensively he has the quick first step and already is our best passer, but he needs to tighten up his dribble and show he can handle the contact going to the rim, if he can do that he can be scary, but that is a lot to work on, I do have more confidence in this coaching staff with player development than Corbin.

 

Looking like I might win $1100 from UncleTy. The Blazers only need to go 19-7 the rest of the way. That's actually possible now. Plus, I told. HCP we'd be closer to 55 wins than 23 wins and he mocked me for it. We only need to go 11-15 for me to be right.

 

It said Portland 58, Utah 0 on the screen after the game.

 

Yeah. Exum's got quite a bit of hype behind him. The Lakers were trying to ooze their way ahead in the draft to pick him up. Shades of a Kobe type steal. I was pleased as punch when they failed. But I am pleased when anything bad happens to LA. Talk about schadenfreude!

 

Nice game from CJ - Iced those FT's at the end.

Gotta hand it to Utah - they played some tough defense.
Their coach, Synder, coached a great game too.

If not for Dame going beserkswish3longtime - they'd have pulled it off. . .

 

Really cool to see other teams fans perspectives!

But are you sure you don't want to write a 20 page essay of questionable content like some other teams fans?

 

Best records vs. western conf:

GS: 30-3
SA: 27-5
OKC: 27-5
CLE: 17-5
POR: 23-15

 

Gobert is a beast. He definitely has struggles against us more than other teams. I think a big part of it is the Lillard/CJ duo getting the Jazz defense out of position. Its so unique to have two guys who can dribble, penetrate, pass and shoot. Even with his struggles Gobert may have been the Jazz best player last night, he really impacted a lot of shots in the paint. Its only his first year starting and he's much younger than Plumlee.

One site has our odds at 850-1! Thats insane. Winning the West is 250-1. If I could find odds like that I may bet on it. We could easily upset a team like the Clippers in round 1 then someone gets an injury on the Warriors or whatever and we back our way into the WCF. I'd make a big hedge bet on the other team and lock in a massive profit regardless of us getting swept or whatever in the WCF.

Sometimes he reminds me of Russell Westbrook; just in the sense their such unique physical specimens. A few of his blocks and defensive plays are like watching an alien play basketball. He's so young too. He rates very well on advanced stats and Utah's defense became elite when he took over Kanters spot. I think he struggles with CJ/Dame duo and maybe just the Stotts style of offense.

So nice of him for feeling guilty with all the BS calls they got.

Yeah I was gonna put one down too but its kind of hard; locks up money for so long. Plus if Lillard gets injured or whatever reason we really struggle; I got to put up with losing money and watching my favorite team struggle though an entire NBA season.

Sucks he losses a whole year. Good thing is ACL's have full long term recovery.

 

The Sheed teams were good enough to win a championship, and likely would have (along with the Kings) if the NBA hadn't been in the middle of the most blatantly corrupt period in it's history. So that was fun, to a point.

Aside from actually winning the championship with the Walton/Lucas team, which is unbeatable, the Drexler/Kersey/Porter/Buck teams were great fun to watch and cheer for.

This team, or at least some future version of it, may surpass them all.

Here's to eternal hope.

 

I've been getting flashbacks to January 1990 the last few games. These guys really feel like world beaters right now.

 

The 54 win Roy team was a lot of fun; and had such a promising potential future. I had a lot of fun watching last years team before Wes wen't down, we were right there. The one crappy thing about the Sheed teams is it seemed almost tainted since we outspent every other team in the league. The Drexler team was the best but as it was when I started rooting for the Blazers I didn't have any perspective at the time.

 

Reminds me when I was a kid and Ralph Miller coached the Beavers. The Beavers would get the lead and the other coach would send in his goon squad to purposely foul the Beavers to try to get the ball back. So the Beavers would shoot more free throws than them. So the next coach would work the media about how the refs always let the Beavers shoot more free throws, then he'd send in the goon squad and purposely send the Beavers to the line over and over. Then the next coach and the next. If you foul a lot, especially on purpose, the other team is going to shoot more free throws.

 

Blazers are 14-3 in their last 17 games, going from 15-24 to 29-27.

In this stretch they have 8 wins against playoff teams:

OKC
Jazz (twice)
Houston (twice)
Memphis
Charlotte
Golden State

 

Exactly. It backfired on them when Davis and harkless started making their free throws.