Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 2, GAME 1: BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - APRIL 29, 2019 - MONDAY, 7:30 PM, TNT

We need to attack jokic more on defense. Get him in foul trouble or take advantage of his average defense

 

Watched a few too many dropped or mishandled passes.
We all know Aminu can score a bit better.

One good note was Meyers played well. I liked some of the ways he made Jokic work.

 

Evan Turner 8 points 4 assists 0 turnovers in 10 minutes. A +4.

 

1. I was wrong about getting a fair shake from refs, they were clearly looking to help Denver, and did.

2. Still, Dame look dead tired from the start and his shot fell short too many times.

3. Stotts forgot to teach these guys how to get open when their defender is 20 feet away triple-teaming Dame.

4. Leonard should have played more, he was one of only 3-4 guys who didn't look like they'd spent all night in a Denver Bordello.

5. 1-4 would normally mean a huge blowout on the road, but we could have easily won it with a couple breaks here and there.

6. I feel we still win it in 6.

 

Too many turnovers and poor play from our role players, add that to some horrible officiating and that’s game.

Not swayed.

 

There was momentum for Denver with fantom fouls on the end of 2nd and begining of 3rd. Refs put Denver on a 8 point lead and we never get it back.

 

Yep Turner played well. He was controlled and held his own against Milsap a few times.

 

in game 1 and game 5 of that series, CJ scored 41 points on 43 shots. Tonight he scored 16 points on 17 shots. In other words, in three of the playoff games CJ has scored 57 points on 60 shots. He was great the other 3 games but Portland needs him to be really good most of the time, not half of the time
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besides CJ's 16 points on 17 shots, Aminu-Mo-Seth-Zach-Meyers scored 15 points on 16 shots. When you're on the road and playing 10 guys, when 7 of them combine for 31 points on 33 shots, you'll probably lost every time

Dame, Enes, & Hood were the only guys who played well tonight

Dame had 6 turnovers but as far as I'm concerned, 3 of them came because the Nuggets were allowed to bump, grind, hip-check, and push Dame whenever he drove

 

I was jk blazers played really good.

 

That was one of the worst humblings I’ve ever seen

We did all that talking after the OKC series, just to get straight up bullied tonight

Yeah the officiating wasn’t great but we shot 27 free throws. There was a stretch in the 3rd quarter where literally every time down the floor at least one Blazer was busy complaining instead of hustling back on defense. The only Nuggets player I ever saw complain was Jokic..all of their young guys just played..and they played HARD

Harkless Aminu and CJ spent more time whining than they did playing.

Numerous occasions we let a 7 foot fatass run a fast break and no one even thought about getting in front of him until he was in the paint.

Just an embarrassing showing all the way around. Hope they come ready to play game 2 because they weren’t tonight. (Aside from Dame, Kanter, and hood)

 

If we made freethrows at the end of this game we tie it up...I think we missed nine or ten at the stripe...turnovers and that really lost the game

 

Aminu and Harkless have more turnover (6) than points (4). And our 40 Million crew Turner, Meyers and Harkless combined for 7 points on 2/6 shooting.

 

Just tighten up and play a good game in game two.
It's a series and they got to win 4 games. Go get one on Wednesday.

 

Turner played pretty well and so did Meyers. Can't say they scored well but they didn't hurt the team.

 

Definitely got the bad end of the whistle. And I think we had trouble adjusting. Let that get to us a little.

Hopefully that's realized and we see a better one in game 2.

But can't rely on that and just have to be better at the things we can control.

Didn't play with enough decisiveness on either end tonight.

Dame and CJ needed to be better prepared and the point of the screen. Got caught in between going over or under and led to dying on screens.

Find someone to guard Millsap. Thought Aminu did the best job again, but he's making every contested shot right now it seems like.

And Denver's half court d is underrated. Has been all year. Definitely think doubling and creating some havoc like we saw at times late is something we'll have to leave on more. Especially if they continue to shoot like they did tonight.

 

I dont think Chief and Moe are gonna play that bad again..even a decent game from one of them and a few less stupid turnovers and we win

 

Probably woulda won if Skal had played!
(mic drop!)

 

No, they didn’t, but Dame did. The Nuggets doubled him on the perimeter so, yeah, he only hit 33% from three. Westbrook didn’t hit that and the Blazers were leaving him wide open and begging him to shoot.

 

No team hits 100% of their free throws. The Blazers were the #2 free throw percentage team in the NBA this year, shooting 81.2% on average. If they had shot their average tonight, they'd have hit 22 of 27 free throws instead of 20. So, still a loss, just 2 points closer.

Overall, the issue was their defense. They played decent defense in spurts when Jokic and Murray were off the court, but they didn't get stops when the Nuggets had their starters out there. Slowing the Denver attack, especially on their home floor, is going to be a tough ask. But the Blazers kept it close with their own pretty strong offensive showing. If they can at least slow the Jokic/Murray tandem, they have a great chance to steal one in Denver.

 

Turner has 0 points!!!