I feel like it's kinda weird that they said Paul is out "indefinitely." That's not a timetable. That doesn't rule him out of the playoffs. They were very clear on Blake. He's done for the year. They were less clear on Paul, and after readying a few things about the timeline for returning, I'm wondering if they're being coy.
We also have a day and a half to prepare and study film. Blake missed 47 games this year. There should be plenty of film on the guys they use when he's out. CP3 is a little larder, but he did miss 8 games this year. I'd focus on the last UTA and PHO games as those are the most recent examples of them playing without Blake and CP3. In the UTA game Crawford, Prigioni, Aldrich and Green played the most minutes. Crawford scored 30 points and played almost 49 minutes in that game. Just because he's old, don't assume that he cant still light it up and that they will limit his minutes in any way. If they will play him over 48 minutes in a meaningless regular season game against UTA, they wont hold him back in a critical playoff game. In the PHO game it was Prigioni, Rivers and Wesley Johnson. Not a lot to study here, but it will give them some footage of Wesley Johnson, who will probably see a lot more minutes than usual off the bench as they move one of Crawford or Rivers into the starting lineup. They may want to dig up some old footage on Paul Pierce too, assuming they have a have an 8mm film projector available to watch it. BNM
I agree. This may be a trick. Stotts should prepare the Blazers the same as usual, in case both players are on the floor for the tipoff.
So... Dame / Rivers CJ / Redick Harkless / Green? Aminu / a Moute Plumlee / Jordan Henderson / Crawford, Prigioni Crabbe / Pierce, Johnson Davis / Aldrich LAC still has depth. They don't have guys who can replace CP3/Griffin, but they still have guys who can play and they have guys who can get on a hot shooting streak. Aminu just had a huge game, so odds say he won't have another for a handful of games. We gotta punch 'em in the throat from the jump and make them give up. Lots of passing, cutting, and attacking - if we play a jump-shooting game that takes a lot of pressure off LAC.
They just became much easier to defend. We don't need to put Harkless on Austin Rivers. We don't need to worry about Aminu trying to keep Griffin out of the paint. I think I would probably put Harkless on Redick, put CJ on Austin, and let Dame stay on Moute.
If Crawford or Redick hits two shots in a row, you foul DJ intentionally. No reason to let anyone get on a hot streak.
Hmmm, I made that player list as a defensive match-up to illustrate that we don't have to hide Dame on defense anymore. But maybe it would be smarter to keep Dame on a Moute, with CJ on Rivers and Harkless on Redick. I like it!
That helps their offense, but kills their defense. This may finally be Dame's game to go off in this series. BNM
We have a very versatile lineup, so going small isn't exactly going to cause us issues. Blake was an underrated passer and not having to worry about that is huge.
Dame on Moute is working, so I wouldn't change it. I think CJ can single cover Rivers, and I think Mo has the length to bother Redick or Crawford.
Moute averages 3.1 ppg, we can have Kaman on him and be fine. They will lean on Crawford for scoring and we have tons of guys to throw at him for different looks. Crabbe recovered well and bothered a ton of his shots off of screens.
