Game Thread GAME# 8: PELICANS @ BLAZERS - NOVEMBER 1, 2018 - THURSDAY, 7:30 PM (PDT), TNT

Hope your wife gets to feeling better soon!

 

LOL

 

She's already wondering if she can go or not. That's a good sign.

 

I have to wonder, with Paul out of the picture (RIP), if Neil will make better decisions that are less influenced by ownership when it comes to contracts, drafting, and FA. It's possible that perhaps PA was collaring Olshey all this time.

 

Unless you've personally dealt with knee issues it's hard to understand. Surgery can be 100% successful and an individual can still experience lingering issues that are somewhat unaddressable. I've had multiple MRIs on my knee and everything checks out fine, but it's never been exactly the same since my first and only surgery.

 

Thanks. Good to get some pespective from somebody who has had the surgery.

 

I know Nurkic’s numbers looked good in the Houston game, but his defense still left a lot to be desired in my opinion.
My biggest concern at this point is our defense. Zach to me is still the only guy whos played pretty consistantly good defense (and sometimes great). Nurkic looks like a sloth on defense so far this year, and Aminu’s close outs have been so bad its like he’s trying to initiate the other teams offense.

What I want to see against NO and moving forward through the homestand is for the Blazers to begin to get back to playing good defense, not just hoping the other team misses shots. I know, they’re 5-2, but play just a little defense at the end of their two losses and they’re 7-0.

As valuable as Nurkic’s offense can be as a third option for the starters his main purpose is to be the anchor on D. Aminu’s best skillset is supposed to be he can play defense on multiple positions, those guys need to do better on defense, for the Blazers to sustain success in my opinion.

 

Aren't the Blazers Top-10 in defensive rating? I know they seem like they haven't played well but I think it's been magnified by some poor late game situations.

 

They might be, but its more than just late game situations to me. In fact when they end up benching Nurk and playing Zach in 4th quarters they’re defense seems to get a lot better. I think we all know Zach is their best defensive player so far, but Nurk hasnt been good to me and like I said neither has Aminu (on defense).

 

5th in offense, 10th in defense

 

If you told me before the season those would be our team numbers for the year I'd happily take that and we'll be in good shape (at least regular season) if those hold up.

Funny thing is I feel like we can still play a lot better.

 

I guess the playing a lot better part is what I'm getting at. I could be totally offbase maybe it's because Zach's defense is just that good(?) but it seems to me like Nurk's energy on defense is just not there at all.. Also it's nit picky but Aminu's close outs and positioning on defense this year have just driven me crazy... It's probably not as bad as I'm making it out to be in either case, but it "seems" bad, and once I started noticing it, it's like I just continue to notice it.

 

Nurk hasn't been great, BUT I've been saying this every game: the defensive lapses on the perimeter are putting him in horrible positions. Last year how often did Nurk get switched to a guard in the pick and roll? It rarely happened. This year it feels like the guards are dying on every pick and forcing Nurk to switch. In the case against Wall and Rondo for some reason the guards were trying to go over the picks instead of under them. The way Stotts has his defense set up it leaves the center in horrible positions if the rest of the team doesn't do what they are supposed to do. Collins is quicker and more equipped to deal with the lapses. One important note is that the starting unit is missing Harkless. Even when Harkless didn't play last year, Turner was usually the starter and he's not a great fit with the starters but between the two of them one was usually the player guarding the best offensive perimeter player for the other team. Unlike Dame and CJ, those two hardly ever get hung up on picks as much.

I'm not trying to excuse Nurk because he needs to be better on that end. I'm just wondering what he's supposed to do when a guard has a free lane to the basket and he's also got to guard either a three pointer shooter or a big who is waiting to get a dunk if he leaves him? I agree that Aminu has been playing poorly as well. Normally the other big should help rotate but like you said he's been bad at closing out. This is one reason I want to see Nurk playing with Collins because even at his young age he is great at help defense and can help Nurk compensate for the other issues.

 

I agree with basically all of this, and while I pointed at Nurk and Aminu, Stotts’ scheme has always left his bigs vulnerable, it just seems like Nurkic last year was doing a much better job as the vulnerable big. One other thing great defenses TALK all the time, like the 1st defensive practice I was in 5th grade was about communication on defense. They seem to be really poor at talking, Ive seen several plays that a guy is back late on defense (sometimes not even there fault) and the guy has NO IDEA who he should pick up so he ends up just kind of meandering around in no mans land.

I get they’re 5-2, its a new season for everyone, and that Im being Nitpicky, but I pretty strongly feel the defense needs to get better, and yeah its a lot of fixable small things for the most part, Its just bothered me how many times I see guys put of position, or going for every pump fake, I think they gotta clean it up.

 

I'd be more concerned if defense wasn't a league wide problem at the moment. I mean the alleged best defensive team in the league (Utah) just let Derrick fucking Rose score 50 on them at home.

 

Thats a good point, I assume (maybe incorrectly), defense will get better league wide.

 

Or what sometimes happens is that things that are a point of emphasis ease up as the season moves along.

Edit: I'm referring to the holding rules.

 

Agreed. Opponent record so far is 20-30. Their best win so far is against the Pacers on the road, (Good win) followed by the Spurs at home. (good win). The rest have been cannon fodder except for the Heat (not a bad loss). They are about where you would think they should be except I expected a Win over the Wizards and thought they could lose to the Pacers.

 

Cant speak for him but at the start of the season I didnt ‘expect’ a win in that game. However going into the game I was fairly confident, no Harden and the rockets havent played well.