Game Thread GAME# 2: BLAZERS @ PACERS - OCTOBER 20, 2017 - FRIDAY, 4:00 (PDT), NBCSNW

Woah. That is the worst look ever.

 

His suit is like 3x too big....

 

Straight David Byrne.

 

I want Mo, Zach and Biggie to get 30 while Oladipo and Sabonis are held scoreless. Fuck you Pritchard

 

@HCP
Any idea of when the players come down to warm up? We are way up in the nosebleeds as I'm going in a group of 6. Wanted to come see the guys up close before the game if possible.

 

To be fair, Purdue is in Indiana. These guys have probably seen Biggie in action before.

 

Game Day Blazers vs Pacers Pre-Game
There are a couple of weird things to talk about first in this game. Seems like this is the old Blazers front office against the New?
President of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard not only decided to hire Nate McMillian for the head coaching job but he has also decided Chad Buchanan as the GM. Funny how the world works. No wonder there will be no help from the Pacers as far as Trades are concerned. I wonder how much of the private Ownership/GM/Ops/Coaching world battle actually exists but if there was ever a chance to be some? Here it is.....

It's still early in the season so obviously pulling stats and making real trend type predictions will be hard but there are some things that stood out in both of these teams first games. First they both played bad teams. Brooklyn simply is not good and Phoenix is worse. The big difference was the Blazers hammered their opponent with smothering defense and the Pacers simply out scored the Nets. Looking back on the way the Pacers won was not pretty at all though. They were porous at best on defense. They allowed 131 points from a team that also lost it's starting PG in the third quarter. The Pacers allowed the Nets to shoot 40% from the arc when the Nets are not known to be a great 3 point shooting team. If they allow the Blazers that kind of space they will have a hard time with our Blazers. On the flip side the Pacers are also not great 3 point shooters and it showed in that game. They went 9-34 hitting 26%. Strangely enough the Blazers really didn't shoot a bunch of threes against Phoenix hitting 14-24 at a blistering 58.3%.

Those stats tell a little story. Not only are the Blazers obviously looking to score in the paint but they are playing an inside out game. Hitting wide open shooters after making the defense collapse. This also got them to the line for Free throws 28 times on the road. The Blazers as a team shoot well now from the line so this is a very good thing.

Here is the inside look at the Pacers. Both Turner and Young posted Double Doubles in their first game. They work hard for rebounds and have some experience getting position. Here is a crazy stat- Both Young and Turner averaged double doubles last year. The Blazers are going to have to work inside to keep these guys contained. Even more so because the Pacers had eight players and all starters in double figures for their first game. All this while playing an 11 man rotation. Guess when you score 140 points that kind of thing happens.

CJ CJ CJ. Glad to have you back. I actually read somewhere that the Blazers might have to work on figuring out a way to get CJ minutes and integrating him back into the offense.... REALLY? The Blazers will breathe easier with his return and they will be even more confident knowing they can take him out for a break so he is fresh in the fourth. The Blazers simply are looking deeper and better after that game than many had thought.

Tonight i am going with Harkless for my pick. I want to watch him close and see if he will indeed be the same player two games in a row. We expect to have Vonleh out but will Collins play? if he does i expect this to shave a few minutes from Aminu. Harkless has his job to do. I want to see Harkless breakout this year. If he does the Blazers become scary good and talent deep. Neil Olshey starts to look like a genius and Pritchard will be left wanting.

Go Blazers!
Kjironman is a fan!!!

 

Don't forget Big Ed. Big Ed will put the wood to you too.

 

Ed’s gonna give it to ya...

 

Myles Turner heard about Nurk's dad and got a sore neck from looking over his shoulder so much in the past 24 hours...

 

Seems like the Suns game thread is getting more posts than today's game thread?

 

MF'S DON'T WANT NONE OF THE BEAST!!

 

"WE'RE GONNA KICK THEIR ASSES!"

 

Sore neck? He must have gotten it dreaming about playing against Nurk.

 

Who taught him how to dress?

 

This guy;