GAME THREAD: BLAZERS @ WOLVES - 12/18/13, WED, 5 PM (PST), CSNNW

@MattMooreCBS: BLAZERS at Wolves (-1.5): Little surprised the Wolves are favored, back to back or not. I'm riding Rip City to glory.

 

I know in football being the home team is worth 3 points. If that is the same in the NBA, it means Vegas thinks it will be close.

 

It would be ironic if Martin ended up back in Houston since he was the major piece they gave up in the Harden sign and trade.

But, Houston is REALLY hoping to get a decent power forward in return for the malcontent Asik.

BNM

 

Yeah maybe Minny could use the oaf and Rubio for Asik and Lin?

 

The rubes aren't trading Bricky. They love him and think he's better than Lillard.

BNM

 

self deprecating humor fits you well. Very funny! I hope you're right.

 

BTW, didn't you have a big old boner for Pek to Portland last year? Now you're calling him an oaf. Man, you're one fickle bitch!

I remember telling you at the time Pek was a bigger, slower, paler, much more expensive version of J.J. Hickson - a stat padder who doesn't play defense. Hmm... sound like anyone else on the Minnesota roster? Maybe he learned from the "best".

BNM

 

NBA.com/Stats @nbastats
POR has scored 100+ in 13 straight, longest streak in NBA this yr; team's longest since '94(via @TrailBlazersPR) Also No.1 in OffRtg (110.7)

 

How is it that your team shoots so well? Is it the players or is it the offensive scheme getting players open looks? I'm paying close attention to contested shots tonight as Minnesota is one of the worst teams in the league when it comes to contesting shots. Love won't even put a hand up.

 

I think it starts with the PG and PF. The PG has the range, which causes teams to play close to him. Aldridge has range, but also has the ability to draw doubles off the block. But the rest of the team is extremely unselfish. They will pass up easy shots for wide open shots.

 

Keep an eye on the Wolves shot selection tonight. I think you'll see that we score on transition better than half court. When we're in half court we run plays that don't work then settle for a contested shot near the end of the clock. Ricky likes to score in transition, but he doesn't have anyone to run the floor with other than Brewer. And Brewer likes to miss easy dunks. It's pathetic.

 

It's both. Our roster is built around guys who can make shots and Stotts has devised an offense that takes advantage of that and creates open looks. It also helps that our guys move the ball really well, make the extra pass and find the open teammate. We have a very unselfish team.

Three of our starters are great 3-point shooters and two of our bench guys are well above average. We lead the league in 3FG% at .415 (you guys are 20th at .339) and 3-pointers made (10.1 per game), but are only 5th in 3-pointers attempted. We shoot a lot of 3s, but make them at a much higher percentage than most other teams.

Aldridge is also killing it from mid-range. His spin to the baseline fade away jumper has almost been like a layup recently. For the season, he's shooting 59% from that range. That's generally considered the lowest value shot in the NBA (the league average is only 41%), but when you have a guy who makes almost 60% from there, it opens things up for other players to get open looks. There isn't anyone who can defend Aldridge 1-on-1 right now, but if you double him you leave one of our excellent 3-point shooters wide open on the perimeter. Pick your poison.

Yes, we are a jump shooting team, but a very good one. We are also tied for 3rd in the league in OREB at 13.2 per game. So, when our jump shots aren't falling, we do a good job of hitting the offensive glass and getting second chance points. Lillard's game winning 3-pointer is being featured on SportsCenter, but 18 rebounds for 35 second chance points was the real reason we won in Cleveland last night.

BNM

 

I think the main game plan will be to stop the fast break opportunities, which means we need to stop Minny from rebounding off of misses. I could see this game plan being "Slow Minny down to a half court game", so we can help defend and take advantage of the deficient defense by the Wolves.

If Minny wins this game, they must out rebound us and have a sizable fast break advantage.

 

^^^Nice analysis's. From a Portland standpoint, shooting efficiency (league wide) usually goes down on the second of back to back's. I'd add that to the equation. For a jump shooting team like yours, that could help the Wolves.

But Matthews has always had our number. Not sure why he likes to make us pay every time we meet up. Asshole.

 

FYI, According to the Mike's Minnasota scouts have been at three of our last few road games. For what it's worth, we seem to have a target on our backs. Hope we smoke the Wolves out though!

 

I'm not looking forward to a Minnesota brick laying convention.

 

I think the worstest is yet to come.

 

They literally do. Before the season, Lillard wasn't even a top 10 PG. Now most have him in the top 5. All-Star game incoming. lol

 

Martin and Cunningham playing?