Game Thread Game #5 BLAZERS VS. CLIPPERS - OCTOBER 29, 2021 - FRIDAY, 7:00 PM, ROOT SPORTS

I would agree he is playing better defense (at times), but "really good" might be stretching it a bit. But his reputation has been well earned. It will take a while to change that....with actual, regular change.

 

https://theathletic.com/2923122/202...nother-blazers-win/?source=emp_shared_article

can someone get us this article if subscribed

 

Defense is dramatically improved. Rotations are better, first few games lots of players running out jumping at shooters. Bigs are jumping the screens, showing till ball defender recovers meanwhile the offside defender is covering for big so that big man has time to get back to his man. Doing much better job clogging the middle showing a wall of defenders discouraging penetration. Transition defense is way better forcing teams to play against our half court defense.

besides guards giving much better effort the bigs are the key to this defense they have to work hard to show and recover. As much as people complain about Nurk he actually does a tremendous job on defense and rebounding. The other two bigs are also great at this. Very encouraged by what I see it will be long season so they’ll be some ups and downs but from what I see we got a very improved team. We could be very scary team come playoff time with our offense and this defense.

key will be staying healthy

 

There are only 2 teams in the top 10 in offensive and defensive rating right now: Utah and Portland.

 

Come on! Anyone on this board care to differ with me? CJ scores only when he initiates his own shot, often times taking him many seconds to juke, spin, etc., while four others watch???

 

I agree that we are seeing more hustle than under Stotts. Billups has to keep the pressure on these guys! Wins will help be a motivator as well!!

 

One of the reasons I'm so excited about the defense, even with a small sample size, is that I believe that...

You can't "accidentally" play good defense!

You CAN have hot shooting nights, but really good defense requires coordination among everyone on the floor, and good defense is what my eyes have seen

 

I hate that offense but…. You need guys like that who can create their shot anytime they want. Honestly he’s proabbly one of the best shot creators in the NBA, doesn’t mean he makes them all lol but he can get his anytime he wants come playoff time that is crucial

 

in 2017-18 they ranked 8th in defense after 82 games....that under Stotts

 

Yeah that was a quality defensive roster.

 

do you think terry stotts watches the blazers

if he does, i wonder what he thinks of our defense

 

He probably thinks how nice it would have been to have Zeller and Nance instead of EK and melo, and not have djj and the corpse of Rodney Hood to play.

 

So do you ignore every time he shoots a catch-and-shoot jumper or gets a basket off a cut since you think he ONLY scores after dribbling for many seconds?

 

Portland playing good defense drastically lowers those teams offensive ratings when 20% of their games (or in the Clippers case, 40%) have come against the Blazers. And they're all constructed similarly as they were last year, so saying their offenses aren't good is strange to me because you're choosing to ignore a much larger sample with a similar group is a bit strange to me, given that there's no reason those teams should randomly regress offensively. I agree that it's too small of a sample size to come to any conclusions because of our defensive rating, but regardless, we can see the Blazers immense defensive improvement.

 

Well, it's very possible, especially at the beginning of the season, that expending more energy on defense takes away from the offense.

 

He doesn’t!

 

don’t disagree….but you’ve confirmed my primary point: Dame with CJ will not win a title together! They do not compliment one another. Dame + Powell is a better combo. Dame with Ant is a better combo. Trade CJ and get a piece we need! PF

 

Ed Davis was a very underrated defender. And he took Zach under his wing and and the pair defended really well. Nurk was at his defensive peak. Aminu/Harkless was a solid defensive pairing as well. And Turner, Napier, Connaughton were pretty decent perimeter defenders as backups

 

This year they playing team defense something you have to do in the NBA. Plus there starting to learn how to protect the the corners and overall playing more physical as allowed the refs allowed its.

 

Plus we have a few more guys actually looking for their shots (Powell, Little, Simons)