Game Thread GAME# 1: JAZZ @ BLAZERS - OCTOBER 25, 2016 - TUESDAY, 7:00 (PDT), KGW

Diaw finally is playing like you'd expect at his age. Yikes. I hate playing against Joe Johnson - dude has been killing us for years. Fun game!

 

I'm so glad there's new talent and youth in this season's NBA...no slight on Joe Johnson, but his legs will be tired by Christmas

 

Or, tomorrow morning. Ice those knees Joe. It's going to be a long season and it looks like UTA is going to ride you hard and put you away wet, at least until Gordo returns.

BNM

 

Well if teams let Joe post their PG 3 feet from the basket I think he can do something similar most nights, maybe with less volume.

The late game adjustment on it was nice by the Blazers.

 

How'd that end up workin' out for ya? Really enjoyed our 6'3 guards doing layup drills over Gobert tonight...

 

He will be a nice addition when he comes back, but not someone I fear at all. Will be a decent backup though. His brick hands will probably frustrate you.

 

Really great. We took a very good team to the final two minutes missing 3 of our top scorers from last season, two of them who are far and away our best players. I hate moral victories, but I was happy with the way we played. Just couldn't overcome a ridiculous shooting night from the Blazers.

 

Lillard looked really good, I hope this rivalry grows between these teams.

 

Our best rim protector is out of commission too...shit happens..I like your team but you're in Blazer territory now

 

Jazz PF's were awful. They really let early missed shots get to them and they didn't shoot with confidence. I kind of expected this to be a bad matchup for Diaw, but I expected him to hit some shots. Really if I had to point to one thing being the difference in the game, it was Vonleh's game over Lyles. Vonleh looked great and confident and Lyles was clearly hesitating when he should have been taking the open shots he was given.

 

Diaw is famous for coming out of the summer out of condition...was a standing joke between Pops and him....he's a smart player..great floor coach..crafty..he was a step slow and rusty tonight

 

Exceeding a certain poster's prediction of Gobert getting 25, 15, and 5, he actually had 39, 9, and 6.

Oh wait, that was Lillard.

 

Dame had a big game no doubt but I would like him to fade into the team concept a little bit, don't want him to make the MVP race a priority. He's the leader, he runs the offense and he's the go to guy but is still just a part of the team

 

Illogical criticism right here.

It's not like Lillard took 40 shots to get his 39 points.... It's not like he came down and chucked it up every time like Melo or Kobe. He didn't ice his teammates out.
I remember two shots from Lillard that were outside of the offense and could be considered bad shots, however they went in.
Even if he misses those two shots he still shoots over 50% from the field.~
Lillard took 20 shots, 6 of which were 3's. He had 9 rebounds, 9 free throws, 6 assists and 4 turnovers.(three of which were in the first quarter if I remember right)
I'd say Lillard played within the concept of the team and kept his teammates involved.
I understand what you're saying, you don't think the MVP award should compromise winning.
However if Lillard takes the same shots/amount of shots as he did last year, but shoots a better % he's going to be on the short list for the MVP.
He's holding himself to a higher standard this year. If that's not leading, then I don't know what is.

Curry however took the same shots that won him the MVP award last year, but lost him a 3-1 lead in the Finals.
A 30ft three pointer is still worth the same amount a 24.9' is. They lost by 29 at home.

 

This is good, but maybe we're just not contesting well enough?

 

Right, Damian was not forcing stuff tonight. The only guy who was forcing shots was Evan Turner.

 

I noticed that too, that the Jazz, while making a lot of shots, usually had someone in their face. And of course, all of those post ups were "contested".