Game Thread PLAY-IN GAME# 1: GRIZZLIES VS BLAZERS - AUGUST 15, 2020 - SATURDAY, 11:30, ABC

Playoffs!!! First, huge game from Nurk on a horrible day for him personally, Second and as important great game from CJ with some timely solid D and spectacular scoring and third what does it say about Dame when a 31 point, 10 assist, 1 turnover game where the team looked lost without him on the floor is just an average game for our superstar. Can't wait to see what our offense does to the Lakers and can our defense shut down what is a pretty small group of offensive contributors that they have? Playoffs!!! If the season hadn't been impacted by the virus I know we would have made it so I think our guys more than deserve it. Playoffs!

 

I love CJ, think he is a great person and an amazing offensive talent. We'll get into how he fits with this team during the off season. Today he was huge for us and that is what matters right now.

 

CJ shows up in the clutch too often to think about hating him

For me anywAys

 

I keep wishing for an easy game....a blowout rather than a nail-biter....then I think about the Lakers, Lebron, & AD being on deck. Maybe nail-biters will be good because I can't see Portland blowing out the Lakers too often in the next series

 

Shout out to Anderson for throwing the open lob to Ja off the rim and dribbling off his foot. They had chances to put to the screws to the Blazers.

 

I don't know about everyone else that complains about CJ but I have never said he was a bad player, never. He is one of the most gifted scorers in this league, his handle is probably top 5 and he is an excellent character guy. We will talk about how he fits in with this team after the playoffs but don't get it twisted for a second, I have always said that CJ is a really good player and seemingly a great person.

 

It was a helluva game and I think we can put to bed the theory McCollum's struggle in the one and a half game wasn't due to his back injury.

 

CJ McCollum on line 1

 

Not you but the majority

 

Point taken, I was wrong about that, it seems that it was simply just a slump.

 

You're crazy to hate CJ. However you can love CJ and also believe dealing him could be the best option we have at getting better. It's not a knock on him as a player.

 

I'll take that anytime as a trade for a win!

 

Also, Dame scored more pts than CJ...and Dame shot 14 threes. Barely noticed that, and its great to see him get his in the flow of the game and others take the lead. Dame recognizer what CJ was doing and cleaely took a back seat there. He did increase his energy on D.

 

Yeah Stotts has been better when he doesn't listen to the player for the most part.

 

You guys have such a hilarious lack of awareness of why people think we should trade CJ. The problem with CJ is not scoring. You guys always get so worked up when he scores. The guy is a scorer and nothing else. Literally nothing else. He doesn't defend, he isn't a distributor, he is a streaky scorer. That's it. And he's usually really good at it, but the problem is that Dame is also not really a good defender. Now pair that up with Melo.

So when you wonder why people get frustrated with CJ, it's partly because when he's cold he doesn't know when to stop shooting, and then the fact that the guy can't play a lick of defense. Would we have been in this situation if we weren't such a god awful defensive team? Right now we are having to play our starters an absurd amount of minutes to make up for the fact that we don't have a bench and we aren't playing even the smallest amount of defense.

It's such a frustrating problem. On the one hand, we have guys who can make shots now, which we did not have last year. But on the other, we are just giving up free shots at the basket. This is the worst defense I have seen from this team in a long time. We just let Ja Morant do whatever the hell he wanted. CJ was a huge part of that.

So I really like CJ, he's a good dude, he can score in bunches, but he has his flaws and those flaws are amplified on this team. If you want to call me a hater, go for it. I don't care. I have been saying the same things about CJ for years. It's great when he goes off and helps get us a win, but would we have needed him to go off if we could consistently get stops?

 

Damn, these guys are the latest NBA version of cardiac kids. Except, they're not really kids, other than Trent and Collins. That vet experience is really showing in the bubble. As a fan, my blood pressure could really use a Portland blowout or comfortable win. Rotation wise, they kind of remind me of the 89/90 squad. Feel comfortable with the starters and sweat bullets whenever we insert a sub.

 

I fucking love watching CJ when he has it going. His "craftiness" on offense is off the charts good. Not a lot of players these days play like him. He is highly entertaining IMO.

 

No biggie. You're a good guy and not a hater. We all get caught up in things every once in awhile.

Great win today!

 

He also has basketball instinct which enabled him to make quick passes inside and was decisive in shooting the three.

 

you don't have to go back that far. A couple of the Dame/Aldridge teams had about the worst Blazer benches ever

Dame's rookie season:
Eric Maynor, Meyers Leonard, Victor Claver, Sasha Pavlović, Ronnie Price, Will Barton (rookie), Luke Babbitt, Joel Freeland, Jared Jeffries, Nolan Smith

that was historically bad