Game Thread GAME# 65: THUNDER @ BLAZERS - MARCH 7, 2019 - THURSDAY, 7:30 PM, TNT

Yeah it's not. Frustrating that he misses clutch shots but a lot of his ISOs were a result of him trying to bail out an offense than ran top pick n roll every time down the goddamn floor and got nothing out of it.

 

Huh? Aminu hit clutch FTs to keep us alive.

 

Kanter screens are shit too. Meyers can screen.

 

Blazers are coming off a 7 game road trip also.

 

Man, that was tough to watch. Kanter, Chief letting easy layups bounce of their hands in OT was ugly.

 

I can handle the Blazers losing but the play that still has me heated is Westbrook not getting thrown out of the game for a play that he could have hurt Nurk on since he did not even see the shove coming since it was from behind. Do not get me wrong the Blazers had chances and failed on them. Also that PG elbow i am not sure it was a foul but it took Nurk out of the play to NOT get the rebound and that hurt the Blazers down the stretch.

 

With only one day off

 

Learn the history of the game. If you didn't see this coming after a long road trip then you must be about 15 years old.

 

Kind of seemed to me like Dame showed up to play but they did not get that second player to step up. Overtime did get some good looks but they didn't fall. Noticed Dame was looking for the drive and dish but a couple shots didn't fall for the shooters and he went away from it for hero ball. It was not good at all losing Nurk for OT. Might have cost them the game. Stotts had little else to do other than go to Kanter but i always wonder if Collins would bring a better look at times?

 

nah. russ isnt hitting 3 threes in a game all that often. their reg season sweep of us is exactly like our sweep of them last yr. Much ado about nothing

 

I think there is a lot of work to be done if we are to advance in the playoffs.

 

At this point, I kinda hope they do. Terry needs to get his ass fired, and we need to NOT re-sign Aminu. Of course I thought a sweep last season would seal Terry's fate...

 

I think they should have gone to Meyers earlier. Just for the fact he sets good screens and Adams has to stay out with him which would have opened up the lane for Dame's drives.

 

Wow. That's a nice, intelligent reply. That reads like something one might expect from an 8-year-old.

Learn some manners. Then come back and tell me what to think.

 

I have to laugh if someone really needs to break down Kanter's "excellent" defense.

He is utterly clueless. He'll never be a good rim protector because he's got short arms, fine. But that doesn't mean his positioning shouldn't be better. His rotations are late at best. He has no idea where to be when a guard is attacking on the pick. On a drive he's basically glued on his man (Steven Adams) until the last second when he comes over as the driver is already in the shooting motion. What's the point? In one on one situations he bites on every fake, doesn't matter if you're PG or Terrence Ferguson.

The Blazers drop their bigs on the pick and roll to force midrange shots. The thunder didn't care when Kanter was in the game, they went at him to the rim every time because they knew there would be no resistance. And it wasn't just Westbrook and George, even their scrubs had no problem taking it to the rim.

If you watch Nurk's positioning, he's always close enough to his man that he can recover but not so far away from the guard that he can't come over and deny space. He's also smart and anticipates the action before it happens. Thunder took a lot more of the forced midranges when Nurk was in. Kanter is basically waving a white flag at the rim.

 

OKC had lost 5 of 6 coming in? Home court game?

This team as coached just doesn't seem set up for big game success in Playoff type games.