Game Thread GAME# 63: PISTONS @ BLAZERS - MARCH 13, 2015 - FRIDAY, 7:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

His name is Dinwiddie, DarkWebs. Not Dinwiddle. And he may go off. He's a good player.

 

Caron Butler is gonna go 2008 on our asses.

 

My main man Joel Freeland has to start getting some minutes!

 

Im gonna go with Afflalo has a great game. This is the team that drafted him and he is starting to settle in so I think he may have a good game.

 

If all we need is a fair ref crew im going to guarantee a loss now. Luckily we will win, this is a momentum builder for our up comming road trips

 

Meyers Leonard is the best passer on the blazers. When he eventually gets 24 minutes a game we'll all marvel at his outlet passes into fast breaks.

 

Here comes Stan "The Man" Van Gundy and the Detroit Pistons. Earlier in the year Detroit looked like it was going to contend in the Eastern Conference but coming out of the gate losing 6 of their first 9 and then going on a 13 game losing streak pretty much put them on the ropes. Van Gundy took over and traded Smith and immediately the Pistons rattled off a bunch of wins. All was good until they lost Jennings to (you guessed it) a ruptured Achilles tendon. Very tough situation and bringing in Reggie Jackson has not cured all the problems.

The Pistons do have one of the best young front courts in the game and they do have some pieces to build around in Drummond and Greg Monroe. Their biggest problem is that they just don't have many guys that can shoot the ball from further than 10 feet out. That problem is mitigated a bit when you have Drummond in there cleaning up offensive rebounds but it really hurts just about all the rest of the time. A quick look at the stat lines will tell you the Blazers must work as a team to get rebounds and keep their bigs out of foul trouble. I think Lopez is up to the task and again he will make a huge difference in this game.

I think a lot of the questions about Afflalo were answered in the game against Houston. He is going to work hard on defense and he can hit shots in clutch time. I thought he looked good and seems a bit faster than Wes but gives up a little strength. He runs the court better and still can post up but can't quite "Bull" his way through screens the same way Wes does. I give him the advantage tonight against KCP.

Lillard has been playing all around ball lately. Teams are making sure he doesn't get open looks so he is doing the little things but tonight might be a game where he becomes the main threat. Detroit does not have the kind of guards to shut Lillard down so a big game from him might be on the horizon.

Aldridge will see doubles tonight. This is why i see lots of other opportunities for open looks. LA is becoming an even better passer this year but teams are starting to cruise the lanes on him and this leads to some turn overs. Long cross court passes will be picked off. Blazers need to stay active and move without the ball.

Butler gets the start but Detroit brings in Prince and a mix of Martin, Meeks and Tolliver. I would guess after Batum and AAA the Blazers will stick with bringing in Wright, Gee with Kaman and Blake but with this front court and possible foul troubles, Freeland could become a big factor.

Nicolas Batum has almost doubled his scoring average in the last 7 games at just over 16 PPG. He has been positive +- in every game except the T-Wolves. In turn the Blazers have won 6 -8 and should have put Memphis away also. In that run they have beat the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Dallas and of course Houston. There just is no question in my mind how much this guy means to this team.

For the second game in a row i am going with Batum for my pick. Look for triple double numbers from him tonight in front of the home crowd.

Go Blazers!

kjironman is a fan!!!

PS. Here is a look at Nics per game stats. Quite a change since the break.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/batumni01/gamelog/2015/

 

Yeah. They will list him from now on.
Looks like they go with CJ again......

 

Yyeah, I was considering who to give it to, deciding between LMA and Rolo. All of Our bigs pas very well, while as of late there has been a rash of lazy entry and over the top cross court passes that you can not get away with this late into the season.
Think I have to give it to LMA.

 

Aside from Dame bringing the ball up and basically handing it off on most plays, no one on the Blazers passes the ball more often than Batum. As far as making entry passes and passes to set up a teammate, Batum has to be the No. 1 passer on the team. That's largely his role on offense.

As far as the "best" passer? Batum again, and it's not even close.

 

lol

 

The "KMan" is driving me crazy. I thought he was the perfect pick up. He exceeded my expectations for a while. Then he began to get worse and worse, until now, I don't even want to see him on the court. He does make the occassional big rebound or big play. After making two or three terrible ones. I just can't take it anymore.