Game Thread GAME# 46: BLAZERS @ RAPTORS - MARCH 28, 2021 - SUNDAY, 4:00, NBCSNW

Looking at the box score; all nine players had a decent game (except Melo), with Covington having an outstanding game with 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks and 3 for 8 from three. Lillard not a good shooting night but had 11 assists.

 

Well, the defense differential was already implied when I mentioned Melo and DJJ in the same sentence.

 

Melo is not coming off an injury. Nurk is on a minutes restriction. Do you really want to keep playing a guy who looked tired and risk him getting injured again? Nurk missed a shot at the rim, then let a guard blow past him in the lane, and then made a bad foul on the guy. He was not exactly protecting the rim. He will get there, but I find no fault for Terry pulling him at that time.

 

I don't want to speak for him on this matter, but I think his point was you can still have fun along the way until you find the perfect fit....... I know I did.

 

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Because I pick the Dunk/Fast Break/Dime of the game as well as Play of the Half every night.....and I knew that if I picked anything Melo related everybody on here would lose their mind.

 

What they have done given the injuries has been pretty remarkable. At the same time, there is the reality of 'we have seen this before, quite a weak schedule so far, and what has happened in the Playoffs more often than not....being swept or gentlemen's swept out of the Playoffs and not really being close to competing.

Of course as a fan, I'm glad they are winning games but to be a Polyanna and think that HOW they are playing when they are squeaking by bottom feeder teams who are even more depleted or decimated than we are, doesn't raise some concerns would seem to be quite unrealistic.

I hope they win. I hope they get better. I hope they get to a place where they can compete. I hope with their main talent that is so untradable, we will be better than bottom 1 or 2 in defense far too often.

Unreasonable?

 

I'm still looking for a 70% fit, and I'm running out of time.....

 

I hear ya but the reality is only a few teams every year are realistically in the hunt, so to compete against say 26 other teams every year to get to the finals is really an uphill battle and the planets better line up, for you attract super stars.
10 teams of 30 have won it all in the last 4o years. Personally because much is driven by marketing & PR if Im Jody or Bert, I hire EX NBA stars as GM and Coach as a way to0 possibly entice Big Time FA's to come here. Someone to promote the merits of PTown. Its a step below whats happening now with super stars coupling up and promoting a team or city.

 

Well the reality is if you do it enough, you are bound to strike gold eventually and live happily ever after.

 

The issue with this is that Neil keeps adding pieces like we have what we need to win the chip. Sorry but Dame and CJ is not enough of a foundation to win a title. This is why I keep likening it to putting nice rims on a Geo Metro. When you go down the list of teams that are mentioned in contention you have duos (or trios) like this

Durant/Harden/Kyrie
LeBron/AD
Kawhi/George
Simmons/Embiid

Then you have some of the other potential contenders
Giannis/Middleton
Butler/Bam
CP3/Booker
Mitchell/Gobert
Jokic/Murray


Then you have some other talented teams that are on the fringe
Luka/KP
Tatum/Jaylen Brown/Kemba
Randle

Where do you put Dame/CJ in all of that? The biggest discrepancy is that a lot of those tandems are actually good defenders. Dame and CJ are god awful on defense. So if if entire foundation is built on something shaky, how could we ever hope to actually contend? So what are we even doing?

 

First and foremost Im sure the mandate from the Vulcans is to maximize profits, keep expenses under control, keep the fans satisfied enough to watch & Listen to games broadcasted, fill Moda, & participate in Blazer fan forums. As long as we all think the NBA is fantastic and want spend countless hours talking hoops, its a job well done. Then if we do well in the offs or win the grand salami its even better and keeps the synergy going.

 

Look at March madness...we are all caught up in NBA madness! which is cool...

 

being a fan of a team is an emotional investment and we tend to mate for life

I'm not sure why so many people get pissed off when there are emotional posts in a game thread. And I'm not excluding myself from that either. People vent in game threads. Hot takes between plays. Sure, there's always some trolling, but no big deal

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when Stotts challenged his players to improve their defense enough to move into the top 15 on defense by the end of the season, Portland's defensive rating was 116.4. This was during the all-star break. Since then, the Blazers have played 10 games. Weighting the double games equally, the combined winning percentage of opponents over those 10 games is .425 (a 35 win pace in an 82 game regular season)

in this stretch, Portland's defensive rating has dropped from 116.4 to 117.6. Portland has became 1.2 points worse on defense, since the Stotts 'challenge', while playing a very easy schedule, often against teams missing a lot of their best players, either from injury or trade

 

And that's why you don't want a corporation running a team and not someone who actually is invested. I have been concerned that this was the case since Paul died. The team is in treadmill mode. Keep the team competitive, keep the fans watching etc etc etc. That's all well and good, but I want to see the team win a title in my lifetime. We have our best player in decades on the team, maybe our best player ever, and we're just running it out. It's such a horrible waste. It's extremely frustrating to watch in real time. Paul didn't care about profits. Paul cared about winning, and that's how most owners operate. It's like Hollywood these days cranking out super hero movies and predictable comedies with the same tired names over and over. Our team is essentially an Adam Sandler movie. It's predictable and it makes money but there's nothing new or exciting. It's the same movie with a different title every year.

 

Reasonable for sure.

What I don't get is that we knew before the season started that this wasn't a championship contender. Yet it seems there is a group of people up in arms that we're not doing the things championship contending teams do. It's obvious I had lower expectations than some, which is probably why I'm enjoying their 28-18 record more than others.

 

You misspelled "Nurk Me"