Do we really need Dame? I bet they could really climb that list if they started Little too. We could still play Lillard in "Dame Time", to see if he could bring us back from 20 points down, but at least they could move up on that list.
From the Jason Quick article to Dame's constant reference to it, I see a growing narrative about how clutch our defense is. And that even if we are terrible early in games, we clamp down when we absolutely need stops. I don't like it. Gives a false sense of security about how we can flip a switch. No good defense thinks like that, and this narrative should not stop us from trying to improve. Our first quarter last night was an abomination.
Here are some excerpts from the Quick article last week: Stotts' quotes should make you question this guy even more. He's sitting here making excuses instead of being irate that they can't sustain that level of effort the rest of the game. Hell, more than likely, it's just a fluke. https://theathletic.com/2479533/202...ortlands-defense-stepping-up-when-it-matters/ Here is where Terry is pushing back the noise from Seattle about his defense:
Millions of Knicks fans everywhere would love to have our defense and be 10 games over .500 this point in the season while playing in the west while having 2 of your 3 best players out for MONTHS........at least I know I would.
Some of our defense woes is in the rebounding department we gave up 12 and that resulted in extras shot plus if they score could result in 24 plus points.
Millions of Knicks fans don't have the expectations that we do for our team. I have no interest in getting bounced in the first round again, while NY would love to just get back IN to the postseason. I'd rather be an 8th seed with a better point differential while showing tangible improvements on defense. Nearly every metric shows that we are going to get swept in round one unless we improve drastically. Our record against this cupcake schedule shouldn't sway you into thinking we're a contender. Forget the numbers, just look at game play. What western playoff team in the top 5 do you think we have a realistic shot of beating in round one?
Looking at defensive ratings to date doesn’t mean much because of the injuries. There are reasons to believe that better defense is coming. First, we’re seeing in the last few games that the Blazers are capable of playing solid defense for at least short stretches of games. They have had some impressive 4th quarter showings lately. Second, two of the Blazers’ better defenders, Nurk and Powell, have only played two games. Both have made positive impacts but, in Nurk’s case, he’s far from game shape yet, and, in Powell’s case, he’s new and still learning the system. I think the next couple of weeks will tell us far more about the team’s defensive capabilities than will looking back at what a broken roster did.
We gave up 22 points on second chance points last night and as said before if we were better on our own boards our defense rating wouldn't be so high for the team. Yes we still not very good as defense team but if you cut that in half on 2nd chance our defense rating would increase whole hell a lot. When had really good teams especially in Drexler era we was always toward the top in rebounding in the league. I don't we are now but I going bet we toward the bottom.
I think this "clutch defense" narrative is kind of a sham. To start with, it appears they are trying to draw a correlation between clutch-defense and the 21-7 record. Now, I can't read the article so I don't know if they actually link the defense with the .668 winning percentage or if they just drop the two stats into the mix implying there is a correlation. I also don't know how much context is added to the implication another thing is that Portland has played 28 "clutch" games in a 46 game schedule. That's 61% of their games fitting into the clutch category. That seems really high, so I'd want to know what the average rate of clutch games have been in the league I also want to know what the breakdown is: how many of the 21 wins came against teams with worse records. I'd also like to know about that 5 point margin entering the last 5 minutes. How many times was Portland leading by 5 or less, and how many times were they trailing by 5 or less, and that would need to be gauged against wins and losses another thing: Blazers are 9th in clutch defense, but 1st in clutch offense....is that correct? If so, then how is it the assumption that clutch defense was responsible rather than clutch offense? and of course, clutch the last couple of seasons has mostly been about Dame
this would be a more persuasive argument if in the last 10 games, Portland's defense hadn't got worse against a relatively easy 10 game schedule I'd imagine Nurkic and Powell will help, but wwe were all imagining RoCo and Jones to help and Portland's defense got worse compared to that debacle of last season
You were seriously expecting the defense to get better starting Kanter at center and with Trent playing a starting role most of the season to date? Not to mention Melo being on the court way more than he should have been?
Honest question - which teams in the current playoff hunt do you think we can realistically beat in the first round?
Really? But people in here said he doesnt make a difference. Our defense sucked earlier this year with him and CJ, they got hurt, our defense sucked, and now it sucks.
My thoughts: As always that's way more dependent on relative health of the teams than it is on relative rosters immediately after the trade deadline. If the Blazers don't have other significant injuries the rest of the way, I think that there's every reason to believe that they have the potential to beat any of the top teams in the first round in this crazy season.
Ok, I think I phrased that wrong. Which of those teams do you think we SHOULD beat, because I think an argument could be made that any team could beat any team if the cards fell right.
Looking at basketball reference's "defensive four factors" (opponent eFG%, TOV%, DRB%, and FT/FGA), Portland is the only team in the league that is bottom 10 in all 4 factors (bottom 7, in fact)--even the Kings are at least middle-of-the-pack in terms of allowing free throws. If we know that the Stottsian system isn't going to improve in terms of opponent FG%, can we at least force a few more turnovers, rebound better, or foul less?
