Game Thread GAME# 2: SPURS @ BLAZERS - OCTOBER 20, 2018 - SATURDAY, 7:00 PM (PDT), NBCSNW

• Saturday’s meeting marks the first of four games between the Trail Blazers and the Spurs during the 2018-19 season.

• LAST MEETING: The Trail Blazers fell to the Spurs in San Antonio, 116-105, on April 7. LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 28 points (13-22 FG, 2-2 FT), eight rebounds and four steals while Damian Lillard paced Portland with 33 points (11-22 FG, 6-12 3-PT, 4-4 FT), three rebounds and fi ve assists. San Antonio won the season series against Portland in 2017-18, 2-1.

• In two games against the Spurs last season, Damian Lillard averaged 25.0 points (43.6% FG, 44.4% 3-PT, 100% FT), 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

• CJ McCollum averaged 18.3 points (35.4% FG, 80.0% FT), 4.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists in three games against San Antonio in the 2017-18 season.

• LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 25.0 points (58.3% FG, 20.0% 3-PT, 75.0% FT), 10.0 rebounds and 1.33 blocks in three games against Portland last season.

• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: Spurs lead, 84-82
IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 52-31
AT THE SPURS: Spurs lead, 53-30

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And for the second game in a row, we can absolutely say......

THE FUCK!

Start Layman until Harkless is 100%. Don't start Turner or Stauskas, they should remain 2nd unit guys

Same with Aminu, leave him as starting 4.

THE HCP said:

THE FUCK!

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Your best first post in a game thread in a long time. Keep it up!

Start Clearly Canadian at the 3 until Harkless is 100%.

THE HCP said:

THE FUCK!

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Spurs are trash ! Will they even make the playoffs?

I think Layman is gonna surprise some folks. His preseason/summer league wasn't a fluke. I really think he's ready to make a serious jump. If he does this team is going to be really dangerous from outside.

Chris Craig said:

Start Layman until Harkless is 100%. Don't start Turner or Stauskas, they should remain 2nd unit guys

Same with Aminu, leave him as starting 4.

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Harkless sucks. Every year it's the same damn thing. We get excited over his potential and he hardly ever shows up.

I liked the rotation in game 1. Lets try it a few more games. Harkless played well off the bench and I like he and Aminu rotating in vs playing together. I say start Jake because of it.

rotary111 said:

Spurs are trash ! Will they even make the playoffs?

I think Layman is gonna surprise some folks. His preseason/summer league wasn't a fluke. I really think he's ready to make a serious jump. If he does this team is going to be really dangerous from outside.

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The Spurs will win this game.

THE HCP said:

The Spurs will win this game.

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Your just mad the Blazers beat the Lakers

I did like the rotation last night using Harkless as a stretch 4 along side Collins and Turner. All three of these guys are above defense players. If Layman continue to the job with 1st unit I would continue to start him.

THE HCP said:

The Spurs will win this game.

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Oh, bet?

THE HCP said:

The Spurs will win this game.

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Lamucus should have his way with Aminu, Zach and anybody else we put on him.

I still think we beat them. The second unit is legit. Who steps up tonight? Curry? Layman? Sauce again?

This will be Layman’s game.

My friends laughed at me but I honestly think we should continue starting Layman. I think his shooting will make a big difference this year. I may be delusional but give the guy another shot. We can beat these guys!

Dolla
3J
Snake
Chief
Beast
....run with that for a while. Layman isn't going to play a ton of minutes as a starter anyhow. He'll get the Vonleh treatment but I like Mo on the 2nd unit with Curry Sauce, Turnover and Co.

Terry's lean makes this photo haha

ripcityboy said:

My friends laughed at me but I honestly think we should continue starting Layman. I think his shooting will make a big difference this year. I may be delusional but give the guy another shot. We can beat these guys!

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Over Moe though? Probably not.

BigGameDamian said:

Harkless sucks. Every year it's the same damn thing. We get excited over his potential and he hardly ever shows up.

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Blasphemy!

Looking through the lineups makes me wonder how in the actual fuck could San Antonio beat us. Impossible.

They have a better sg, pf and coach. That's how. I still think the blazers are a better overall team. We will see

Propagandist said:

Over Moe though? Probably not.

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Give him a few minutes. If he doesn't score consistently then bench him and make Mo the starter. I just wanna see if he can continue the shooting he showed in Summer League and Preseason.

ripcityboy said:

Give him a few minutes. If he doesn't score consistently then bench him and make Mo the starter. I just wanna see if he can continue the shooting he showed in Summer League and Preseason.

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Jake has played well in preseason and deserves a chance, I agree. I just think we are at our best with Moe in the starting lineup. I think Moe is an intangibles guy and as long as he never becomes Mo(p)e again, we will exceed expectations.

Also, if Jake finds his touch, I can (I hate admitting this kind of thing) see Olshey's vision. Last night, ET was exactly what I thought we were getting in 2016. Surround ET with Staukas, Jake, Curry, and Zach (or Meyers), and we are going to surprise some people; all those guys (not ET obviously, but ET as distributor) can shoot. In fact, three of those guys (Staukas, Curry, and Jake) are guys that can get bizarro hot (like Staukas last night) and single-handedly change the complexion of the game...

Propagandist said:

Jake has played well in preseason and deserves a chance, I agree. I just think we are at our best with Moe in the starting lineup. I think Moe is an intangibles guy and as long as he never becomes Mo(p)e again, we will exceed expectations.

Also, if Jake finds his touch, I can (I hate admitting this kind of thing) see Olshey's vision. Last night, ET was exactly what I thought we were getting in 2016. Surround ET with Staukas, Jake, Curry, and Zach (or Meyers), and we are going to surprise some people; all those guys (not ET obviously, but ET as distributor) can shoot. In fact, three of those guys (Staukas, Curry, and Jake) are guys that can get bizarro hot (like Staukas last night) and single-handedly change the complexion of the game...

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Well. There's 82 games in a season. Giving him a chance probably won't mean much in the long run. But it's worth a shot. I saw we start him against the Spurs..

ripcityboy said:

Well. There's 82 games in a season. Giving him a chance probably won't mean much in the long run. But it's worth a shot. I saw we start him against the Spurs..

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I'm with you, but only because Moe isn't 100%. When Moe is 100%, he starts. If not we should just waive him, because if history has taught us anything, it's that you don't fuck with Moe's head. Dude is sensitive.

ripcityboy said:

Well. There's 82 games in a season. Giving him a chance probably won't mean much in the long run. But it's worth a shot. I saw we start him against the Spurs..

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I’m guessing it’ll be the same lineup as yesterday. Harkless is still on a minutes count. And it’s only one game, I think Layman deserves more looks.

Blazers vs Spurs

The thread question is right in line with my main topic for this game. Before the Laker game i questioned Harkless and his injury. Then i sat quietly today wondering if we were going to hear Harkless aggravated his knee in Thursday's game. Seems like he not only played well but might be out of the woods so lets go positive and say the Blazers handled discomfort correctly and did the right thing not playing him in preseason. Guys who produced got valuable time on the court and Moe seems to be fitting in just fine. Glad to hear it.

Now as far as who should start? I think you have to go with Harless. Players should not lose starting positions due to injury and he was very good last night. Layman will still get plenty of minutes and it seems Stotts doesn't mind playing the hot hand or player making the most impact. Last night he stayed with Stauskas in the fourth with Dame and CJ. He said Nik had a good game going so he decided to keep him on the floor. I'm really happy to hear those kind of words from Coach Stotts. At times in the past he has come across as pretty rigid in his rotations.

Talking about Terry Stotts though has to bring up offense. The Blazers shot 37 three pointers last night. They looked pretty good in making just over 35%. Hitting much less though might be a problem? Terry has gone on record saying he is pushing the team to shoot more of them. Last year they averaged just over 28 threes a game and they made 36.6%. The other thing to take into consideration is the Lakers played an up tempo game and the Blazers took 100 shots. they averaged 87 last year. So as time goes on and the games get played we will keep an eye on this stuff. The Blazers would do well to keep the pace up a bit and take a few more shots if they are making 3's and trying to score more points. One thing that is certain we didn't see any huge offensive changes other than shooting more 3's last night.

The Spurs have LaMarcus Aldridge and we all know what he brings. Decent defense and he likes to shoot mid range. His shot is pretty much unblockable so he will shoot the ball often. Against Minnesota they rode Aldridge and Derozan hard. 41 and 38 mins respectively. They got the win but who can expect them to last playing minutes like that. They started Poeltl but he only played 8 mins. They mostly used Gasol and Dante Cunningham. Another old SPUR in the side will be Belly Nelly. That dude loves playing the Blazers. He went 3-6 and 2-4 from 3 point. He usually doubles that against the Blazers? WHY?

I like what i watched from Meyers Leonard. No Meyers has not ARRIVED! But he played another good game and made a very positive impact. That is all we can ask for. Put enough of those together and he has a good season. Now that would be awesome.

I think the Spurs made a good move getting rid of Leonard for DeRozen. I think he will fit well with that club and they will be back in the mix this year. They have a huge loss to deal with losing Manu Ginobolli not to mention Tony Parker. But they added a great player and they have very solid veterans. Then there is POP!. Pop will get them ten wins just being Pop.
Blazers can go out and win this game if they continue to hit timely shots and play their game.

Go Blazers!
Kjironman is a fan!!!

Start Hark. Looked ready to go to me.

Layman kinda sucked last game. He started that whole dunk sequence by just giving the ball to LeBron. Then he finished that sequence by DYING on the screen that gave LeBron the 2nd dunk. Watch it again. Layman was the whole reason for that highlight.

Give him minutes, but they should be minutes off the bench playing against their 2nd unit.