Game Thread GAME# 24: THUNDER @ BLAZERS - DECEMBER 8, 2019 - SUNDAY, 6:00 PM, NBCSNW

That was pretty cool. And I got to cut down a Noble Fir with my kids today for the living room which was cool too. Thanks, I feel better.

 

to me, the only things those games proved, other than the Warriors were the much better team, was that some fans can scrounge up moral victories in any loss

if the two teams were that close, the Blazers wouldn't have been swept. Portland had been in the playoffs for 6 straight years so they weren't newbies to the situation. Bottom line is that the Warriors outscored the Blazers by 15 points a game in 2nd halves of that series (61), and by 9 points a game in 4th quarters (35). There are no moral victories in that shit

I hadn't thought about it in those terms, but yeah, that's kind of a bad look considering what's happening.

 

Sure, but I like @hoopsjock have said it basically all summer, they were way to happy to just be in the WCF’s. You dont need to play Psychologist to see it. Everyone got extensions, every roster move was, well we were in the WCF’s so...

Yeah they went out and changed stuff and honestly I liked most of the roster moves, but I still think there was a lot of signs coming into this year that their mentality had shifted and it doesnt require a degree in psychology to see it. Dame is a great player, and some of its unfair because their starting C,PF, and SF are all hurt, but this is Dame’s first year since LMA left that he’s stuck with a lot of new faces, and many of them are older vets not young guys. Its an odd situation and while I think fully healthy their a good team, I really didnt like the attitude of the organization last year.

 

I think the TEAM took moral victories from that crap. I also think that it showed the difference in a championship team was between the ears. That was a broken, depleted warriors team without KD, and the Blazers SHOULD have won some games and they didnt, not because of GS’s huge talent gap but because they knew what it took to win. 6 straight years failing in the playoffs doesnt mean you know what it takes, it just means you know you dont have it. Likewise all those times GS had succeeded in the playoffs meant they did know what it took.

 

We obviously see it different, which is cool!

Is it possible for someone who thought the moves this off-season were great to try a blame the lack of success on the constants instead of admitting they were wrong about their assessment of the talent coming in?

 

Awesome! Sounds like a lot of fun for the kids, are you letting them decorate it or anything like that? This is the 1st year my kids are like 100% in on the Christmas lights thing, everywhere we go, “ITS BEAUTIFUL”, says my two year old.

 

Our game play is just so bad. It's both effort and strategy. The injuries are taking a toll that's for sure but we play like a bottom feeding team.

Any semblance of adversity and we throw out the offense and go into iso mode. And the defense looks totally uncoordinated and guys start randomly gambling. Terry seemingly is enabling this.

All this talk of Iggy and Noah won't solve much. Team needs a jolt of reality if it think they can just flip a switch. This doesn't look fixable without drastic changes.

 

I think Im willing to admit that the roster additions have sucked, especially when they were brought in to play certain roles and injuries has caused them to not have those roles except whiteside but he’s honestly been ok.
Im sure confirmation bias plays a role for all our analysis, but Im one of those who believes Sports is every bit as much mental as it is physical, especially at the higher levels when all those guys are athletic marvels.

 

I'm with you, all great points!

In particular I was hard on Whiteside and realized I was citing "effort" when I shouldn't have been. He's doing what he's always done and has provided some positives, so it was not right of me to try to judge how much he cares just because he's not always fast from spot to spot.

Appreciate your perspective and your willingness to give me feedback even if we don't see eye-to-eye.

 

Im venting lol. .

disappointing basketball year no matter how you look at it. Which there are absolutely other perspectives on it then mine.

 

I put the lights on... so so many lights. But the kids and my wife do the rest. We have a little train that goes around the tree. Man, kids turn you into a dork.

 

That's actually an interesting question...

For me, I don't believe Stotts is a good enough coach for a championship team. If we had better offensive sets and defensive schemes then the personnel around Dame and CJ shouldn't really matter that much as long as those two are healthy.

As far as the moves this summer the guys that left compared to the guys coming in shouldn't have resulted in this bad of a drop-off in play. The reality is they haven't been great at the starts of the seasons since Aldridge left. Last season was the only one season out of the four that they didn't fall below .500 at this point. I believe their worst record last year at this point was 13-11. That's still not good though compared to the team later in the season that played really well.

 

This too!

When we played LAC the narrative was we weren't using ball movement because it's hard against good teams. What's the excuse tonight when it's the SAME team we just abused a week ago using a ton of great ball movement and teamwork?

 

Yup! Sure do. Its fun after you embrace and your just like I guess this is who I am now heh.

 

Lmaoo cant even beat the Thunder

 

I don't believe you were ever not a dork though..

 

Lol, thats probably true.

 

Um you ARE playing psychologist and what are you talking about? Everyone got extensions??? The only two players we have now from last year are CJ and Dame. No one was happy with just being in the WCF, least of all Neil who COMPLETELY BLEW UP THE ROSTER. He got rid of all the players you guys hate (Aminu, Turner, and Meyers). And if you're,basically saying CJ and Dame don't want to win, I don't what to tell you. I'm sure they want to win more than we want them to. It's their life, it's their career, it's their legacy. Your narrative is way off.

 

We've actually beaten the Thunder twice, including in OKC.