Game Thread GAME# 4: BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - DECEMBER 30, 2020 - WEDNESDAY, 7:00 PM, NBATV & NBCSNW

Before this trip 2-2 looked great to me. Right now 2-2 looks great to me. When it's over 2-2 will look great to me. I still think they will split it.

 

last season, in a 5 game stretch early in the season, Dame shot 21-76 on FG's (27.6%) and 9-35 on three's (25.7%). He averaged 5 turnovers in those games. The year before that, in an 11 game stretch within the first 20 games of the season, he averaged 34% on FG's and 29% on three's.

he tends to have slow starts, but steadily ratchets up his game as the season progresses.

A problem this season is that teams are using the template used against Dame in the playoffs in years past: blanket Dame with defenders and make the other Blazers beat them. The Jazz did it; Houston tried it a little, but had roster issues. The Lakers did it quite a bit; and the Clippers ran it a lot tonight. I still don't see the answer to that in scheme or rotation

 

They might lose some sleep?

 

A four-game split would be garbage - we should expect to beat the Warriors twice. A split against the LA teams? Every team in the league would take that.

 

Oh, I'm fine. You should just read what you're saying you didn't want to be the first one to say because the first sentence of the post you were responding to was saying that Dame is getting old. So that would infer that it would be something more than his shot just being off... that he is in some sort of decline. I thought that was ridiculous so I went a little over the top with my ridicule. Sorry.

 

Why should we expect to beat the Warriors twice in a row in their own building? Even crap teams win more than 50 % at home and they are coming off two straight wins on the road. We do not know how good they are. Their losses are on the road to the Nets and Bucks. My guess is we win the first one and lose the 2nd.

 

I'll admit...I lost track of what was going on about half way thru that sentence

 

I did. CJ was 6-10 from three at the half but it wasn't just that. They moved Kanter out further and opened up wide open looks for dame as well. He just missed them. Same for Jones and Melo's wide open looks missed as well. At the half dame was 0-8 from 3. Those were decent looks. Shots he usually makes at least 30-40% of. Next problem was the Clippers hitting shots with a hand in their face. The Blazers were there on many of those shots.
Now the bigger problem was TO's. Passing into a crowd by Nurk,CJ, Dame and Jones has got to stop.

 

It is very tough for any team to beat another team twice in a row on their own court. Especially when they have a Guy named Steph Curry on their team.

 

I've watched 3 out of their 4 games - and they are bad. They beat Chicago on a buzzer beater and barely escaped Detroit. If you haven't seen either of those teams (and most people haven't since they are both awful), you'd understand why winning those games doesn't strike fear into my heart. We absolutely should beat them twice. Doesn't mean we will - but we should.

 

And especially if you’re giving wide open 3s to that guy named Steph Curry.

 

All without Draymond. As much as I hate him he does make a difference. And he is scheduled to be back on Friday.

 

This whole "Wide Open Threes" concept that posters on this board are all about seems a bit overblown. The Blazers had just as many "Wide Open Threes" against the clippers as they had against the Blazers. The difference was they hit like 57% of them and the Blazers hit nearly none of them. No I have not looked at the Box yet.
The NBA is all about getting open looks from three. The Blazers do it just as well as any other team. Even more so they had a hand in the face of most of those "Wide open Threes" the Clippers were shooting. If you think they didn't go watch the game again. Defending a three point shot now is much more difficult than what people seem to think? All you can do is get a hand up. If you are too close they will kick a foot out or a knee and you will be called.

 

So what did Nurk do during off-season. Looks like the guy is out of shape.

 

Nurk went home and grieved with his family. One thing people seem to have forgot is Dame went home and rehabbed a bad knee.

 

I don't know ... they've been full of surprises so far ....

 

well I can guarantee those numbers are wrong. NBA.com tracks shots by closest defender and Blazers are last in the league at getting wide open looks. These stats are before tonight’s game. I’ll check what they are tomorrow but I pretty much guarantee the Clippers number will be up.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/sho... Season&CloseDefDistRange=6+ Feet - Wide Open

Blazers generate 12 open 3s per game and hit 36%. Clippers 15 and hit 34%. Thats all before today’s game. Check back tomorrow to see how that number changes.

 

Coming into this game Portland had the third worst defense in the League — pretty sure we’re neck and neck with Houston now.

 

Dude, chill. Seriously, you need to watch your heart.

Believe it or not, responding to someone's post doesn't mean you literally are agreeing with every letter of every word of it. It's agreeing with the general tone of the post that he doesn't seem quite right.

And thanks for driving home the point of my reply that I didn't want to say that because I hate wasting my time with sycophantic hero-worshippers who hate when their team loses and then take it out on fellow fans by over-dissecting and getting irritated by minor details in other people's posts. This is two posts you've already devoted to me on what's really, really minor.