Right now Portland has the best record in the NBA. Golden State is an also ran in seventh place. However, Clay Thompson would look good with a Blaze on his Jersey.
Sorry, I meant West. Didn't read correctly. But I believe the Warriors have played one more game than us.
this is Curry's 5th season in the league. He had one season where he missed 2/3rds of the year to ankle issues, but other then that he's been pretty healthy. Save that one season 2 years back, the rate that he's played this season is on par with the rate that he's been good to go the rest of his career. Here's a good comparison for you... including this season he's played 289 games in the past 5 seasons. In the same stretch Robin Lopez has played 297 games, LaMarcus 321 games, Nic 282, Wes 331. While Lillard obviously hasn't played in the league for 5 seasons, he did miss 2/3rds of a season to a broken foot within that period. hoops is a rough game for everyone STOMP
Was going of ESPN game log, which had tonight's game listed, but I didn't go through and count all the games out to make sure their totals were correct.
Portland is better then the W's IMO, but it's not by that much. The biggest advantage Portland has on them is that they've no one who can guard Aldridge as Lee gives up a lot of size/length and Bogut is too slow... plus pulling AB out of the paint leaves them with zero shotblockers. So they either take their chances that LA will be off his game and miss shots he usually buries, or bring the double team and roll the dice on the Blazer's excellent perimeter shooting. Portland has raced out to it's gaudy record putting teams in the same pick your poison conundrum, but few good teams are as ill-suited to guard LA as them. STOMP
I don't know about better but they might be the hotter team at the moment having won 7 in a row and pounding the Heat with LeBron and the Birdman both in uniform. When they are healthy, they certainly are formidable and I can see them passing Houston and the Clippers in the standing very soon if they stay that way. Batum > Iguodala - Iggy can still bring it but at this point in their careers, I'll take Nic but it's close depending on the given night. Aldridge > Lee - No debate. Well, you'll get some from Warrior fans but not from anywhere else in the league. Fropez = Bogut - Bogut is more talented but for what Portland needs, Fropez is the perfect fit here and has stayed healthy. (knock on wood) Matthew = Thompson - Going into this year I would have given the edge to Klay but right now they are putting up such similar numbers but Wes has been so much more efficient due to a much lower usage rate. Lillard < Curry - As much as I like Dame, Curry is at a higher level. He shoots it better from the field (not as good from '3') but it's the assist numbers where he really dominates. Teams seem to be able to take Damian out of a game easier than they can Curry at this point as well although in the last 2 minutes of a game, I'll take Lillard. Bench - Advantage Warriors. Again, it's a health thing as Jermaine has misseds some time but when healthy, Barnes, O'Neal, Green, Speights etc is better than what Portland can put on the floor by a fairly wide margin. They next play @ Golden State on Jan 26. I dare say if Portland gets down by 20 in that game, it and the Warriors are at full strength, it will take more than a Freeland/Bogut scuffle to get the Blazers a win. It will likely be a high scoring affair but if the Blazers can keep it close, I like them better as the closing team in tight games. Will be extremely tough on the road.
I think they are two very similar teams. Golden state with Iggy is a formidable match up for anyone. He is really the difference maker, IMO.
Here's the rub. Golden State is a fine team. I expect them to compete for the 4th seed (being the highest possible). It maybe Golden State vs. Clippers playoff in the first round. I just don't see them as one of those teams that can knock out SAS, Houston or OKC. I think they would love a match-up vs. us in any round. Not because they are better, but they have been good at home vs. us, plus they play a very similar game (doing it longer). What I don't see is them ending up with a better record than us, meaning they aren't better. It's really quite simple.
But attempted 10 more 3-pointers. This is actually a pretty fun comparison, and shows how similar these two teams are. League Leaders: 3-Pt Field Goals 1. Damian Lillard-POR 108 2. Stephen Curry-GSW 104 3. Klay Thompson-GSW 101 4. Wesley Matthews-POR 90 5. Jose Calderon-DAL 83 6. Kyle Korver-ATL 82 7. Gerald Green-PHO 79 Paul George-IND 79 9. Kevin Love-MIN 76 10. Jamal Crawford-LAC 72 11. Nicolas Batum-POR 69 12. Arron Afflalo-ORL 67 Jameer Nelson-ORL 67 Jodie Meeks-LAL 67 15. Kyle Lowry-TOR 66 Ryan Anderson-NOP 66 17. Kevin Durant-OKC 64 18. Martell Webster-WAS 63 19. Joe Johnson-BRK 62 Trevor Ariza-WAS 62 Channing Frye-PHO 62 3-Pt Field Goal Attempts 1. Stephen Curry-GSW 250 2. Klay Thompson-GSW 246 3. Damian Lillard-POR 240 4. Gerald Green-PHO 206 5. Jamal Crawford-LAC 205 6. Kevin Love-MIN 203 Wesley Matthews-POR 203 8. Paul George-IND 201 9. Nicolas Batum-POR 185 10. Jameer Nelson-ORL 182 11. Kyle Lowry-TOR 178 12. Jose Calderon-DAL 177 13. James Harden-HOU 176 14. Kyle Korver-ATL 168 15. Jodie Meeks-LAL 166 16. J.R. Smith-NYK 162 17. Ryan Anderson-NOP 161 18. Brandon Jennings-DET 160 19. Joe Johnson-BRK 158 Kyrie Irving-CLE 158 3-Pt Field Goal Pct 1. Marco Belinelli-SAS .496 2. Kyle Korver-ATL .488 3. Jose Calderon-DAL .469 4. Courtney Lee-BOS .468 5. Andre Iguodala-GSW .466 6. Bradley Beal-WAS .460 7. Damian Lillard-POR .450 8. Anthony Morrow-NOP .449 9. Mike Miller-MEM .448 10. Wesley Matthews-POR .443 11. Khris Middleton-MIL .441 12. Spencer Hawes-PHI .441 13. Arron Afflalo-ORL .435 14. Gary Neal-MIL .432 15. Pablo Prigioni-NYK .431 16. P.J. Tucker-PHO .429 17. Isaiah Thomas-SAC .427 18. Paul Millsap-ATL .425 19. Deron Williams-BRK .422 20. Tim Hardaway-NYK .422 So, just looking at 3-point shooting, Lillard and Matthews are shooting a higher percentage than Curry and Thompson (neither of who make the top 20 in 3FG%). We have the added benefit that Batum is also 11th in the league in 3-Pt Field Goals. I was surprised to see Andre Iguodala 5th in the league in 3FG%. He's never been a great 3-point shooter. He was decent his last year in Philadelphia, but is at .334 for his career. Still, at this point his sample size is much lower than the others. Putting it all together, Portland, as a team, leads the league in 3FG% at .405. Golden State is 3rd at .397. Portland takes 2 more 3FG per game (26.1 vs. 24.1) and makes 1 more per game (10.6 vs. 9.6). So, overall those numbers are very close and could easily flip-flop over the course of the season. And since we're comparing shooting between these two teams, we might as well throw in TS%. True Shooting Pct 1. Kyle Korver-ATL .680 2. LeBron James-MIA .673 3. Wesley Matthews-POR .646 4. Amir Johnson-TOR .634 5. Kevin Durant-OKC .631 6. Brook Lopez-BRK .629 7. Marco Belinelli-SAS .627 8. Jose Calderon-DAL .621 9. Ray Allen-MIA .619 10. Kyle Singler-DET .610 11. Jeremy Lin-HOU .610 12. Chandler Parsons-HOU .608 13. Martell Webster-WAS .604 14. Jordan Hill-LAL .603 15. Andrew Bogut-GSW .600 16. Manu Ginobili-SAS .600 17. Nicolas Batum-POR .599 18. J.J. Redick-LAC .598 19. Paul George-IND .597 20. Robin Lopez-POR .597 Chris Bosh-MIA .597 It's interesting that neither Curry nor Lillard make this list, but Matthews and Batum do. To further highlight the similarities between these two teams, both starting centers make this list. Neither center is a prolific scorer, but both know their limits and score efficiently. Also, Portland has an advantage in team FT shooting. Portland leads the league in FT% at .819. Considering they have a lot of good shooters, I was surprised to see Golden State all the way down at 25th in the league in FT% at .729. It looks like Bogut (.378) and Iguodala (.583) really hurt the Warrior's FT%, where their Portland counterparts (Batum = .821, Lopez = .793) are much better. Both teams shoot about the same number of FTs (21.9/G for POR and 21.6/G for GSW), but Portland makes 2.3 more FT/G (18.0 vs. 15.7). Could make a difference in close games. So, which team is better? I don't think we'll know for sure until after the playoffs, but I look forward to finding out. BNM
Nice comparison BNM. Blazer fans are the last people to ask for sympathy when it comes to injuries. That said, the Warriors are a good team. I fully expect them to make the play-offs and with a bit of luck could knock off a higher seeded team in the first round.
