The Official 2019 NBA Finals Thread

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by KingSpeed, May 30, 2019.

  1. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    Come on man, youve played, when you dont get back on defense do you go tell your coach it was his fault you werent back on defense?
     
  2. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    What are you talking about? He wasn't sending someone to the table or calling timeouts right after those mistakes happened.
     
  3. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    Whats he supposed to do platoon the whole team every 30 seconds?
     
  4. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    Im just saying Stotts can yell scream, make subs, do whatever but if no one on the team is going to get back on defense like is he supposed to go get guys from the crowd to play? He did sub guys out, and call time outs, they were either incapable or just didnt care.
     
  5. OneSport3

    OneSport3 The Knowledge Hoarder

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    If what you're saying is true that Stotts gets no blame, then this team has no hope. They should blow up this team. If NONE of your players have the ability/IQ to do something as simple as stopping the ball, how do you expect them to execute PNR coverage and team help defense?

    Think about it. You're telling me that not a single player can step up and just get in front of him in 3 games???
     
  6. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    I didnt say Stotts gets no blame, just not all of it. Truthfully though, Im ok with blowing up the team. GS broke them, its like what Lebron did to indy, toronto, the celtics for a while, atlanta. GS so obviously has mentally kicked Portlands collective heads in I dont believe Portland players deep down think they can beat them when it matters. Blazers need something big to happen even more than just Nurk playing to make them believe they can win.
     
  7. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    Oh and for the record I include Stotts amongst those that GS has broken... He seemed to be at a complete loss for what to do in that series.
    I just dont believe at all that the entire collapse all 3 of them, were ALL Stott’s fault, the whole team collapsed.
     
  8. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

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    Stotts is a moron? OK.

    But, he's not as stupid as those who post their "I hate Stotts" crap in the thread
    about the nba finals. Those guys are really clueless.
    #gg
     
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  9. tester551

    tester551 Well-Known Member

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    He had 82 games to practice 'not stopping the ball' through the season....without success.

    The little things matter during the playoffs. You can't play one way during the season & flip a switch & play flawless basketball.

    Based on their play, the Blazers either 1) have tuned Terry out 2) don't respect him enough as coach or 3) Terry isnt being clear enough in setting the standard & enforcing it
     
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  10. OneSport3

    OneSport3 The Knowledge Hoarder

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    You know who's really clueless? Thread police guys...
     
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  11. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    You’re mixing up two different things here. They switched their defensive schemes to try to play GS and that really hurt them in the half court because they didnt know their rotations, and had obviously not practiced it that much. That to me is an absolutely fair criticism of Stotts, why not mix it up in the regular season and practice it before the WCF’s.

    This discussion has been centered mostly around Draymond pushing the ball in transition or secondary transition and no one picking up the ball, sure coaching is part of that, but I really dont get people saying its all the coaches fault the players didnt get back on defense... Thats for the Players to determine and TALK while on the court who’s got the ball, and to put effort in.
     
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  12. tester551

    tester551 Well-Known Member

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    That is the key. Great coaches set the expectation at the beginning of the year and revisit & tighten up the little things all year long.

    Stotts is a good coach for the regular season. However, he lets a lot of things slip as long as the Blazers are generally playing well. It takes a special coach to find the right balance of demanding exactness while still keeping the team engaged.
     
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  13. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    @BonesJones @tester551 @OneSport3
    I respect your guys’ opinion on it and I understand what you’re saying. I guess we may just need to agree to disagree. Im very aware that there is validity to some of the criticisms of Stotts. I just dont really place this one on him and you guys do, fair enough.
     
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  14. OneSport3

    OneSport3 The Knowledge Hoarder

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    When it happens a couple of times within the course of a single game, I agree that's on the players. But when it extends to multiple games without a remedy/solution then it's systemic and that's on the coach. Either the players are clueless or the message from the coach is not being communicated.
     
  15. Tince

    Tince Well-Known Member

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    Very well put. The blame goes all the way around.

    Stopping the ball is not a scheme, but stopping a PF from taking the ball up the court can be impacted by scheme or priorities in the game-plan. If Stotts was willing to match up with GS on the defensive end the exact same way as GS matched up with Portland, it would limit Green's ability to to push the ball up the court. Of course, he would then get blasted for having poor matchups on the other end.

    If the priority was to commit multiple bodies to Green anytime he was taking the ball up the court with a full head of steam, there's little doubt Green would have got far less layups. The problem is Curry and Thompson would've been left wide open for threes and people would be asking why we're not picking up the two best shooters in the league.

    A Warriors team with Steph, Klay, Green, Iguodala are going to put immense pressure on any team/coaching staff. In particular a team who lacks length and has multiple one-dimensional players.
     
  16. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    The transition problem was mainly game 3 in the 1st half where Draymond was pushing it right past them. Game 2 was just an epic meltdown of turnovers, bad shots, and just stupid basketball for a half. GM 4 transistiom defense hurt them, too but not as bad.

    See I think while it had moments of showing up in the series it wasnt all 3 games for extended periods.

    I firmly believe GS beat the Blazers mentally, and its not an easy fix when a team owns you like that. Thats what I dont like about keeping Stotts / CJ / Dame / Moe and Aminu together, GS knows they can turn it on and beat them whenever.
     
  17. OneSport3

    OneSport3 The Knowledge Hoarder

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    Watching the Raptors defend Green when he tries to push the ball, all they do is have Lowry or Van Vleet get in front of him and impend his progress. He will then slow down and pull it back and reset the offense. That's literally all it takes.
     
  18. Tince

    Tince Well-Known Member

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    Both options are plausible, but those can't be the only two possibilities. One could give a collection of short, unathletic, super high basketball IQ players a very sound strategy and they could simply be unable to execute. This is overly simplistic, but shows that it's not just about the players or coach.

    All schemes include something you are willing to give up in order to take something away. It's not like Portland came out and had this horrible scheme that GS just dominated from start to finish. Portland was up 17 in three out of the four games and lead for more minutes in the series. It's hard to believe that a team with less talent and horrible scheme would be able to claim either of those two stats.
     
  19. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

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    Thats not all it takes. A) lowry and Van Fleet are Stout guards who are quick enough to stay in front of him. B)Toronto’s forwards get back really well on defense so they can hand him off. Siakam and Kawhi are like so astronomically better on defense than Aminu and Harkless, especially transition.
    C) tonight doesnt really count the warriors only one had one guy who could score so the threat of guarding a wing was mostly non existent.
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2019
  20. Tince

    Tince Well-Known Member

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    So this great Raptors strategy is holding GS to 15.3 fastbreak points per game in the finals. The Blazers gave up 16.0 fastbreak points per game in the WCF.
     
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