Forensic Fan, Game 4 v. CLE

Forensic Fan, Game 4 (11/4/14 v. CLE)

Now, these are the Forensic Fans that are fun to write. Enjoyable, entertaining game, you’re all in a good mood reading it—let’s get started.

From the Top:
Portland 101, Cleveland 82. Much like the OKC game, a 34-point first quarter and much angst over porous defense (10-for-10 to start) didn’t turn out the way most envisioned. Blazers LockDown D! ® appeared with about 5 minutes left in the first (right about after LeBron made a ridiculous 29-foot 3 with 2 seconds left on the shot clock). From that point onward, POR relied on Blazers LockDown D! ® to hold LeBron and the Cavonnaires to 28% shooting and Super-Efficient Offense! ® outscore them 81-55.



The story, though, was the Blazers LockDown D! ®, which now ranks 4th in the league in Points Per Game Allowed and 7th in Defensive Efficiency. Kevin Love and Shawn Marion (off the bench) were the only Cavaliers who had remotely close to a good day. LeBron was 4-12, Irving 3-17, Waiters 3-11, Thompson 4-12. Even Poor Matthew Dellevadova got hounded by Blake (potentially the first time that phrase has ever been written, excepting Mrs. Blake’s diary, but I don’t want to go there) and Barton into a 1-4 night.



Player of the game: Kevin Love tried to have himself a game in his “homecoming” (how many times do I have to hear Greg Anthony and Chris Webber try to pronounce “Oswego”?!), with 22 points and 10 boards (the game’s only double-double) on 5-8 shooting from 3. Sadly, though, someone was better and his team lost by 19. (Then again, Kevin’s kind of used to that by now)

Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard, come on down! Dame started off getting the team untracked with 3 assists (and a near-miss by RoLo) in the first 6 minutes. But then he found his shooting stroke, going 5-10 from 3-Point Land to open up the middle and allow him to earn 10 Free Throws. His line of 27/6/7 (5-10 from 3) earned not only Player of the Game, but Fun Fact of the Game. Of the 83 times in NBA history that a player has dished out 7 assists, collected 6 rebounds and shot 50% or better from 3 on 10 shots or more (Vince Carter, LeBron and Good Antoine Walker own this category), Dame has 2 and they’re both against CLE.

Other Monster Games ™: No double-doubles, but Robin Lopez’s 19 points on 8-11 bears to be “mentioned in dispatches” (another naval term worth googling—who knew reading Forensic Fan could broaden your historical base?). Truck Robinson came off the bench for 8 rebounds in 11 minutes. Wessy Wes was “W3$$Y W3$” (pronounced however you want, though“Three Moneyz” has a nice ring to it) again tonight, with 21 points, 6 boards and tough D against LeBron.



Points per shot:
Anytime you shoot 50% as a team you’re going to have a bunch of guys who are being efficient on offense. LMA had 16 on 15 shots, Lopez with the aforementioned 19 on 11, Wes with 21 on 14, and Nic with 7 on 6. But anytime you’re over 2 pps on 13 shots, you’re probably going to get some bling.



Coin Ratio: Damian’s 7 dimes on 13 shots (54 cents) was more in keeping where he needs to be. Blake had another Buck Game (2 assists and 2 FGA), and Batum had 5 on 6 shots for 83 cents. But in general, not a lot of free-flowing passing leading to simple shots.

Rebounding. Most of the misses today were on Cleveland’s end, and they did grab 13 offensive rebounds (to our 9), but overall the Blazers grabbed 48 to CLE’s 41. The backcourt was active, as Dame, Wes and Nic combined for 21 boards and limited the Cavs' get-an-outlet-pass-and-run offense.

Bench: Truck and Barton came off the bench in the first to add some much-needed energy, and it looks as if (for now) they’ve earned their spot in the rotation over the other lottery picks (CJ and Leonard).



(Then again, I wonder what the Venn overlap is of Blazers’ fans with those who’d get an 8-Mile reference. My fault. Back to the programming.)

Wild Will was only 1-5 (0-1 from 3 and 0-2 FT) but he was all over the court, initiating offense, pushing the pace and adding the controlled chaos that is his calling card. Outside of that, though, the bench seems to be getting worse as the season goes on. The D and rebounding is there…we’re only a -4.3 net efficiency but lead the league in rebounds per minute. That’s probably a really good thing, since we’re Dead Last in minutes, points, turnover rate, and FT% and 27th in Offensive Efficiency.

While I like the Kaman and Blake pickups, and really like what Robinson and Barton are bringing off the bench, and believe in the potential of Leonard and CJ to become quality NBA players, it—for whatever reason—hasn’t gelled yet.

But after a night like last night, forget what I just wrote. Our bench is just fine.
In fact, just take a look at this:



See you Thursday night v. DAL. Until then…