Game Thread 2024-25 GAME #17 - BLAZERS @ ROCKETS - NOV 23, 2024 - SAT - 5:00 PM - CHARGE, BLAZERVISION

Impressive win.

Nice to see Ant have a big 4th. Will be interested how he follows up as his play next game. He had been horrible this season.

Clingan and Deni with monster games.

Sharpe was good, but feels like he is leaving some opportunities on the table. Grant offense was great for stretches.

Camara has had some rough periods on offense. He needs to shoot without hesitation when open. But slow down and pick his spots he creates better. Should watch film of an older Shane Battier.

Not sure what Blazer team I'll see next game, some games looks like we are by far the worst team in the league. Then others looks like we can compete with the best teams.

 

Simons has to play because Scoot is out. And Grant did nothing wrong, just took what the defense gave him. Sharpe still got his shots. Nothing counterproductive. Esp since our rookie got big minutes and Murray did well.

 

I was a little surprised that Jabari didn't see some minutes considering we were short on centers last night, but our small lineup worked, so I have to give the staff credit, because I think playing Walker when we were light inside would have been the natural move but maybe not the best one.

I was more surprised that they kept going back to Murray rather than giving Reith a few minutes. It worked, though. It did what it needed to.

 

Deni played so well at small ball C that the only time we'll see Jabari is likely in garbage time unless we have a ton of injuries or trade Ayton and Timelord

 

Reath has consistently been bad this year.

Jabari has two years of not being able to hit threes at even 30%. We have decent rebounding this year and horrible offense so there isn't any role for Jabari.

 

I've been saying it. This team is better than many have given them credit for. Both locally and nationally.

 

That's not fair! They have ONE good offensive player. (Actually two, because Sheppard will be, as he'll probably demonstrate if VanVleet gets suspended.)

 

I just wish he didn't always look like he was half asleep. It's all the more glaring alongside players like Deni and Camara who race up the court. Shaedon practically strolls.

 

Good win and not counter productive. I think you have to play your hardest before January anyway to see what you have… there’s plenty of time to tank in January and beyond if you aren’t making waves.

 

Keep saying it bro! The haters are gonna be out in full force for several seasons until we’re a contender

 

DC is definitely a keeper!

Not counting Clingan tonight, there have been 33 games in NBA history with 16+ rebounds and 0 points. Dennis Rodman has 12 of them including the top four.

Clingan’s defense was instrumental in setting the tone against a Rockets team that had just blown out the Blazers the night before. He’s also the first player to get 19 rebounds without scoring since Omer Asik did it in 2012.

Clingan is only the second player this season to have a game with three blocks and 19 rebounds, the other being Victor Wembanyama in October.

 

You do know this is a +1 post. maybe even +2? If you don't get credit just know you should.
I would however replace "Length" with "Width". Just sayin.

 

there were several of us saying that if the Blazers went with Simons-Ayton-Grant as primary options they might win 32-36 games. And that would be fucking idiotic considering the talent in the 2025 draft. A 7-10 record projects to 34 wins.

great...the team that is "better" than expected is still headed for the lottery, just the back end of the lottery. As usual, Blazer management finds the worst possible outcome

 

And it’s the kids making a difference (though last night the scoring belonged to our vets) which is the most encouraging

 

Unfortunately I have to agree with this. If you are going to suck then suck it right. Don't dabble in it. Go full throat! I mean once you are sucking you can't say you don't suck. Might as well suck well.
Did I get my tip..Err..Point across?

 

42 wins. Not 32-36. Like I said. I think they are better than most do, including you. Before you reiterate your projected wins based off of being 7-10, we might be 9-8 right now if we had played the youngs from the get go like we have the last six games.

So yes, I stand by might point. Ive been saying the youth of this team is better than most think.

 

yep and agreed. Many have been saying we don't have near enough talent. I think the youth is better than most do. I think we are a .500/playin team and will continue to get better over the next couple of years even without adding more payers.
We are better than a bottom dwelling, number one lottery pick, team and i don't want to sacrifice that blossoming this season to play capture the flagg.

 

lol, c'mon man....you said 36 wins in the prediction thread and that was your 'best case' scenario. 22 wins was your worst case scenario. That averages out to 29. If I was lowballing at 32-36, I wasn't lowballing any more than you

 

That was fully healthy but playing Ant and Ayton, etc.

If we go all youth, we are a playin team, again only if they stay healthy.
I have said i think we are near a playin team several times.
I can go edit my prediction if it helps.

My point was most people think there is not near enough talent on this team. I read it daily for most of the summer. A few wins or losses may differ but its the talent on the roster I'm mostly referring to.

You are getting hung up on a few wins. Ill get hung up on people saying we don't have near enough talent. That i disagree with.
My point was this team is young and will improve. If they are a 35-42 team, near the play in NOW, we are much more talented than people say. If we are a play in now team, it would be expected the young players will only continue to get better, making them better than a play in team in a couple years.
You are getting hung up on wins and losses as the defining factor and holding me to something that is fairly irrelevant to my point.

 

that's not accurate. People like the youngish players and what they bring to the team. I like them. People appreciate their talent

but where most see a significant talent deficit on the roster is in elite 2-way talent. All-star and better talent. All-NBA level talent. Which is absolutely necessary to be a contender. And the ONLY path the Blazers have to land that kind of talent is the draft; and about the only way to do that in the draft is to have a top-5ish pick, And the only way the Blazers have to get a top-5 pick over the next 2-3 seasons is to lose a lot of games. That's reality

sure, the Blazers can just give up on landing an elite player. Hope against hope that Sharpe develops into one. But they need a lot more than one all-star. If they do give up, and to me, it kind of looks like they have, then they can settle for Simons-Ayton-Grant as the featured players (and re-sign Simons and Ayton at the end of next season). That's what this season has been so far. And what you seem to be implying is that if everything breaks in Portland's favor they may be a 36 win team; or if the Blazers even outpace that best expectation they could be a .500 team. Yippee!! A perpetual mediocrity of play-in/late-lottery with just maybe, an occasional 1st round exit to spice up the delusion

Portland won Saturday because of Grant & Simons. They won their 1st game of the season when Simons-Ayton-Grant scored 75 of Portland's 125 points. They had their first road win at LAC when their 'big-3' took more than half of the shots and scored half of the points. Same thing when they won at New Orleans; the big-3 took 46 of 84 shots and scored exactly half of Portland's points

in other words, 4 of Portland's 7 wins are because of Simons-Ayton-Grant. Maybe the Blazers would have won one of those games without that trio; maybe not. That is pointing at the worst outcome that many of us worry about: Those three veterans cratering any chance the Blazers have of landing an elite player in the loaded 2025 draft. For what? Where's the short-term and long term payoffs for riding those three guys? I don't see a single one. If they are on the roster and healthy, Chauncey will ride them. If they play, they will dominate the ball, take a majority of shots, hog usage, and yes, generate occasional wins that are building blocks for that worst outcome

I don't see anything to celebrate in that. I've said before if Portland is generating wins while playing the young guys, fine. An organic tank is much better than a blatant tank with faked injuries. But the wins generated by riding the big-3 are actually losses in my view