Game Thread GAME# 33: RAPTORS @ BLAZERS - DECEMBER 26, 2016 - MONDAY, 7:00 PM (PDT), CSNNW - THE SUITE GAME!

I love that Chris Craig is mirroring my stupid hand gesture.

 

Man that sweater. Yikes.

 

In the same boat. That defense was eye opening

 

Anyone else getting desensitized to these losses?

 

Count me in.

 

yes, but they played hard and it was one or better games of the yr to watch and it was fun to watch some D being played!

 

yep, I think we really have to consider moving CJ or Dame, I am guessing most if they had to pick one to move would pick CJ?

 

The pr nightmare from moving Dane would be ridiculous.

The only choice is trading CJ between the 2

 

I noticed the relatively low score...did we play defense last night?

Sucks it was such a close end result...Was hoping we'd get the win for the forum bros in attendance.

We gotta make a trade. This team is boring and stagnant. I'm on the Nurkic bandwagon. Good defender, good shit talker. I'm not as opposed to DMC as some others either, if we could get him.

Let's be a gritty team. We're already the small market knock-arounds nobody gives a shit about, might as well play the part. We will never be the nba sweethearts, ever. What do we have to lose...more games? At the very least we'd be entertaining to watch again.

 

Fantastic group photo! Did you guys get to shoot around a bit?

 

Whilst I agree that the defense is definitely better without two undersized guards playing next to each other, I don't think the defense would have been as good had Lillard been in there.
He's not as big, physically, as CJ and gets lost on screens a lot.
There was a reason this wasn't the usual 20 point loss as of late.

The pacing in the game was much better too. This helped keep it closer IMO, as the ball wasn't dawdling over half court - allowing opponents to set on defense.
The ball wasn't deferred to Lillard every single possesion, and in turn we saw some nice ball movement.
(Bonus - no stupid 30 foot heaves early in the shot clock).

Overall, we saw improved pace (vastly so), improved defense, less shot jacking and nearly pulling out a win against a decent Toronto team.
And during this I was thinking how much better the team would look with the spoils from a Lillard trade playing in the frontcourt.

 

Not just PR, but Dame is the better player. Cj is a better scorer off isolations, and a better shooter. Dame is better at everything else.

 

Ginobli never averaged 20ppg.

 

Fellas, did you notice how much better our defense was when we switched up pick n roll schemes? Stotts threw all sorts of different looks at them defensively, and it bothered them and made them uncomfortable. We hedged, blitzed, and sagged on pick n rolls. I've been saying switching these schemes up would help for the longest time.

Sadly, I'm worried we go back to the full time sagging of the big man. It would work in high school and college but doesn't work well in the NBA due to how well ball handlers manipulate space.

If you had a center that could contest and block mid range pullups and slide their feet with the ball handler, then it'd be more effective, but those centers are few and far between (Whiteside being a good example)

 

CJ has better handles and better mid-range game. Passing is about equal, IMO - neither is particularly gifted in that department.

 

What the hell happened, and why did it take so long? Also, didn't he say just the other week that there wasn't time to implement new defensive schemes?

I'm happy to hear that he made some changes in the P/R coverage, but it's gonna take a lot more before I change my opinion of Tater Totts.