Game Thread GAME# 48: BUCKS @ BLAZERS - APRIL 2, 2021 - FRIDAY, 7:00, NBATV & NBCSNW

Agree. I thought the Blazers came out too amped up and bricked a bunch of very make-able shots. I don’t know what was up with Melo. His bricks weren’t even close until he made that first 3.

I will say that I am very glad we don’t have to play the Bucks again this season. Giannis is otherworldly when he’s dialed in.

 

I think that Jones not playing must be because he’s got some minor injuries that are bothering him. I don’t think playing Simons that much was something Stotts wants to do on a regular basis.

 

You're better than this hyperbole, Tince.

I didn't say to expect to win every game. I also don't know that random fans are a good measuring stick of who should be better. How many fans do you think expected the Bucks to be so good a couple of years ago or would have predicted the Jazz and Suns to be the best in the West this far into this season? How many fans can even name the Bucks starters and/or first guy or two off the bench?

Trust informed, reasoned people and the performance you have. The Bucks haven't been great this year, they've been disappointing, especially considering they added Jrue Holliday to Giannis and Middleton.

But look at the rest of the Bucks roster? There's no one there who couldn't be very easily replaced by another solid NBA player like teams do every year. I actually think the Blazers have the deeper roster, if you look at it objectively.

They were one game better than the Blazers coming into the game and that's playing in the East. That's not a juggernaut.

The facts really are that the Blazers missed an atrocious number of good, open looks early last night. I don't know, maybe the Bucks game plan was to give guys who shoot 50% overall shots from inside 5 feet and guys who shoot 40% from 3 wide open looks outside the arc. Statistically, those are shots the Blazers normally make, and, if they make them, it's no worse than a tie game at halftime. Instead, we buried ourselves. Nurk was unengaged. Melo played selfishly. Giannis had a game even better than usual Giannis.

The Blazers deserved to lose, but it was more because they played horrible rather than they were facing a team that overmatched them.

 

Nurk’s touch around the rim hasnt improved since he’s been here?

 

If only that was a meaningful stat.

I agree that you don't think we should go 72-0. However, find me a game thread where someone doesn't think we should've won that specific game. I couldn't, which is where I got my win every game stance. Yes, it was hyperbole to some degree though, you're correct there.

I respect that you don't think the Bucks have a better roster than us. I disagree though. It appears most of the national guys who cover the NBA also would disagree with you. Doesn't mean the Blazers can't win a game against the Bucks. Doesn't mean a team picked to finish behind the Bucks can't finish ahead of them. I just think it means that it shouldn't be the expected outcome.

 

Why do the national writers want to make it out as trash in order to elevate Stotts? That sounds like some strange propaganda.

I'm not sure where you got that I think this roster is "trash". Use the search function to try and find where I've called this roster trash. Saying they're not as good as the Bucks (picked by many to win the East) or not top 4 in the West (which is loaded) doesn't make them trash.

I also never said we should always get blown out by good teams.

In summary, nearly any provable statement in this post is a total lie. You're better than that.

 

no problem....as a Blazer fan you should have a fully loaded liquor cabinet

 

Lol I didn’t get that far, I just want him gone.

 

Iso ball and shit D are the problem and as far as I’m concerned that’s mostly one persons fault. I have no problem expanding the blame to Melo and CJ too though, mostly because I think they are both one dimensional basketball players that I hate. The answer is simple...

Fire Stotts this offseason

Trade CJ for the best package available this offseason

DO NOT resign Melo this offseason

 

the irony alert light is flashing red!

that looks a lot like one side of an agenda-loaded coin. The other side is people significantly overrating the talent in order to make Stotts look worse.

I think Portland has decent talent. Top-10? Could be. Maybe not. But you said 'talent' and 'roster' as if they are one in the same. They aren't IMO. In order to be a contender, the talent has to mesh, and mesh well. The sum of the parts has to be greater than the whole, or at the very least, equal.

That has been the Blazer problem under Olshey/Stotts, and especially since Olshey went 110% in on building the team around the Dame/CJ duo. The sum of the parts has been less than the whole because the top two integers bleed on each other. OK, maybe mixing metaphors is a bad idea

the point being that this isn't all on Stotts. It's on Olshey too, and in my view, more of it is on Olshey than Stotts. They both need to go

 

praise God, because in his infinite wisdom he chose to put death at the end of life instead of at the beginning

 

this could become a Jeopardy topic

 

not really

FG% by distance, 0-3' is last column on right:



basically, he's all over the map. Around the rim he's prone to throw up weak, hopeless shit, and he's way too impatient

 

I played rec ball at the Milwaukie Elks with big guys that had better touch around the hoop, those dudes developed it very young. Maybe in Euro ball he didn't have the contact he now gets?

 

Nurk should have Zion videos on in every room in his house, 24-7. And on the team plane.

 

doesn't need to go that far...just have the highlight video of Giannis from last night's game

 

I taped the game so I could watch it later. I didn't make it past the 1st quarter.
But it was long enough to understand some of the Nurk criticism. Bad D, bad passing, bad shooting..... all in 6 minutes.
When I heard that Terry decided to start with Nurk on Giannis I thought WTF? But the more I think about it, the more I see the rationale. Better to have him guard Giannis down low than having him guard Lopez out on the perimeter. But for all the talk Nurk likes to do about playing defense, he needs to play it with more discipline.

 

In most cases if big centers haven't developed a touch around the rim as NBA players chances are they wont. Doesn't mean they cannot be effective up close they just need to do it differently.
Look at the touch Enis has around the hoop even with bodies all over him, you can tell he developed that in his younger years.

 

Yeah, but that "someone" changes from game to game. People find different things that will alter the outcome.

I'm not sure where most of the national guys you speak of are on the measure of the Bucks roster v the Blazers roster. At the very least, I think you look at the two teams and we probably can agree that the roster isn't a landslide either way. Both teams have one superstar and a couple of guys who are probably just below the level of all-star. Going position by position, Blazers have the advantage at the PG and SG, Bucks have the advantage at SF and PF, Blazers have the ad at C. One could reasonably counter that the Bucks are significantly better at both forwards and the Blazers advantage in the backcourt and at center isn't as pronounced. I think that'd be reasonable.

Going to the bench, I think Kanter is a slight ad over Portis, Forbes over Ant, but I think it's hard to sell the rest of their guys, even Pat C over Melo, DJJ, or Nas.

We're probably going to have to agree to disagree, but I think the big point is that there isn't a giant gap between the teams, either way. We should be able to at least agree on that.

 

When I was in college, the first thing we looked at in a big was hands. Could he catch and hold the ball. Could he grab it. Could he maintain his inside touch through contact.

We always recruited smaller bigs but we made it to the NCAA tournament as a low major, winning our conference tournament and beating Mike Rice's son in a play-in game, so we must have been doing something right.