Game Thread Game #47 - BLAZERS VS TIMBERWOLVES - JANUARY 25, 2022 - TUESDAY - 7:00 PM (PDT) ROOT SPORTS

I was ok with it. Tie game and chance at OT with 5 fouls.

I had a bigger problem with not challenging his 5th foul

 

Coulda gone either way.

 

Pressure got to em. Ant especially. He was trapped by Vanderbilt and Towns nearlt every possession in the 2nd half. Lotsa turnovers.

But he made an unbelievable pass to Roco who blew a layup with like 15 on the clock.

 

Sucks that we lost but I see this as a major learning opportunity for our guys.

1. Nassir may have just leveled up again tonight. Major balls by Billups to start him over Powell. We all know Stotts would have done otherwise and folded to his veteran. Nas was the heart and and soul.

2. Simons got beat in the second half. Good for the pup to come back to earth. He'll learn from this and get better at anticipating more coverages and bigger defenders.

3. Nurk was again great. He was better than KAT. That's the truth. When he's being featured on offense as much as he has been, you get the best of him in every aspect. Re-sign him and cement his place in our offense. Yeah he needs to get better with foul trouble but he's the last guy I'm worried. You're not gonna get much better than him and he's only 25. Keep him and promise him the world.

4. Chauncey can learn to never take out Nurk in the end of games. Stotts used to do it all the time as if it was some super Jedi mind trick. It's not. It was stupid and it resulted to many end of game losses. Chauncey will learn.

We will come back better.

 

I love Ant facing all this pressure nightly. Great chance for him to learn on the fly. I know Dame is texting him at half and staying in contact but it woulda been good for him to be on the bench tonight to guide him a bit. Not sure why he wasn't

 

Good post but Nurkic is 27 and will be 28 by the time next season starts.

 

5. Trade Powell before I have an aneurysm

 

I gather Dame is trying to take a mental break from the game which I understand.

 

Dame's 31, there's no time to relax. Sell that he's this good and only 22 to some other team so he either puts value in a package or gets us a piece to package with other guys to get us an established all star to pair with Dame and build the team around those two players.

 

you do realize how reactionary this notion is from you?

 

Portland didn't win many games when Dame and CJ combined for more shots than points. They'll win even less when Simons and CJ combine for more shots than points, like tonight. Simons needs a refresher on ball security too; in the last 2 games, 12 assists and 12 turnovers

tonight was a trap game. That's often the case in the 1st home game after a long road trip

 

This is Ant’s first season playing meaningful minutes! People are expecting him to be an All-Star already? His ceiling is higher than CJ’s. He is more athletic than CJ. He’s shown nothing but progression on both ends of the court.

 

How was it a trap game? Minnesota is a better team with a better roster with a better record and was high after a win over Brooklyn. We're 6 (now) 7 games below .500. Were we really overconfident?? That would be a coaching fail.

 

This is not entirely true. This is his first time playing starters minutes for a meaningful part of the season but he has been playing meaningful minutes off the bench for some time now.

 

Enjoyable game overall. Wanted that last 3 to fall, but come May, we might be glad we got that loss.

Billups had the team in some nice situations throughout the night.

 

My bad. Still very young. Point still stands.

 

I explained in my post what I meant by "trap" game.

 

I think what we’re seeing is the evolution of the offense. It’s becoming clear that the team plays better when everything runs through Nurk. We also get the best out of him. The attention he draws makes the players around him better. Not even CJ demands the level of respect from defenses that he does.

So if Nurk is one of the primary options, you really just need guys that can knock down shots rather than creators. So we should probably be looking for low usage players that defend and can knock down an open shot. Herb Jones is an example but I’m sure there are others, they’re easier to find than pure scorers.

 

Also no way you can bench Nas, fuck that.

 

great attitude