Game Thread GAME# 53: HEAT @ BLAZERS - APRIL 11, 2021 - SUNDAY, 7:00, NBATV & NBCSNW

Thought they left a possible win on the court in this game.

Stotts got to figure out a way to get Dame better looks. Teams are absolutely blitzing him and taking him out of the play. Seriously these hand offs to dame when he's not in a great position in the first place seem to be troubling. The minute teams see Dame coming for the ball they just throw two and even three players at him at times.
I did see them work through it a number of times and even get some good looks for shooters. Obviously those shots didn't fall tonight. Losing by 9 on a night the team shot 11-35 from three is tough. If you take Simons, CJ2, Giles out of the box the Blazers are 8 of 31 from three or 26%. They can and should have shot the ball better.

I liked that Terry didn't just say they didn't make shots. He was right that the heat did look like the fresher team and he didn't want to use the "Tired" excuse. The end of bench came out and turned it up a notch and you could see the difference. If any starter gets their average this is a win other than Roco. Lillard left 16 points on the court. CJ left at least 6? Nurk left 11 points out there.

 

Last game we went to a lineup of Dame - Norm - Nas - RoCo - Kanter that played amazing
This game, Stotts elected not to use it with either Kanter or Nurk at center.
Nas played 7 non garbage time minutes.

Incompetence.

 

We were down 20 in the 4th quarter (19 when the end of the bench came in). Congrats on the moral victory of cutting it to 9.

 

At least the 3rd string played with passion and energy....and against the Heat starters no less. More than can be said for much of the main rotation.

 

I noticed he said we are a little bit selfish offensively.

 

You know how they talk about a rookie waiting for the game to slow down for him? Well, it seemed to me, that last night the game was going too fast for our entire team.

 

Dame has beaten dozens of teams when they don't double and trap him for the entire game. But he's going to need plenty of help when teams do and he hasn't been getting it. Could his reactions to traps and doubles be better? Probably, but he's given up the ball countless times in that situation and the offense mostly stalls when he does. Also, a player doesn't average 8 assists when passing is his last choice

 

There shouldn't be an issue with Dame being a willing passer. Now, does he tend to pass mostly to CJ when other teammates are wide open at time? Yes. And perhaps that is where some of the rub comes from. I believe it was against the Pistons, Powell was WIDE OPEN in the corner, waving his arms, jumping up and down, doing anything to get Dame's attention. Instead, Dame dribbled, jab stepped, dribbled, and then passed to a much more closely guarded CJ. There was no one within 20' of Powell the entire time.

 

We maybe wouldn't have this discussions right now if Dame had not fought for this garbage Coach. He knew what he would get

 

I didn't see the Detroit game, so I don't know the play or where each player was in floor position or what the passing lanes looked like. I will say that the Blazers have been running that damn remedial perimiter weave out past the 3 point line for 8 seasons so I'm sure there are imprinted reactions by Dame and CJ. I'm not sure what one bad read shows though...?

 

We've all watched enough Blazer basketball to know that was not an isolated incident. It just stuck out because of how Powell was waving his arms in such a frantic manner for quite some time.

 

Remember how short Dame and he gets double team he to small to see other players that's open usually the guy that open is guy Dame going away. More passing up the court will solve a lot of there problem. The big problem Dame and likes to dribble a lot. Plus they like to go iso when they cross the court without any passing at all and guess what the other teams know that and that's why Dame gets trap and CJ but not so much. They need use Nurk more for a outlet and run it through them. But really up to our guards and coach to get it right.

 

I feel vindicated!!

 

Russell Westbrook and James Harden would like to introduce themselves to you.

Passing is absolutely Dame's last choice. The rest of your post was reasonable even if I felt mispremised until that. To say Dame looks to pass anywhere near the amount he looks to shoot I think it to be out of touch with reality. He's gotten better at setting up teammates, but it never will be anywhere near the list of what he's known for. I'm actually kind of surprised anyone is trying to make that argument.

Dame's a fantastic player, but really? His vast majority of turnovers come either when he sees the trap coming and tries to prove he's better than it or he tries to dribble through it. He's fallible.

 

I sit down and watch the game. This what I see on offense when we are actually running a offense by passing and players moving around we was very effective. But when Dame or CJ that's when the offense stall due there looking to get shot off or trying to take someone off the dribble. We could be dangers on offense we consent to run a offense due the defense is set up to stop Dame and CJ and both those have to realize your breaking down double or triple coverage. Yes Stotts is stubborn but so is Dame and CJ. Now defense this when we contest shots and active we very effective but what's happens when Nurk came out Kanter enters then they attack the middle due to Kanter don't contest shots and close out you got to contested the shot I see the close we half way with jumping and the hands and Dame and CJ are bad at it. Overall defense wasn't that bad but not consented when we sub players in and out. I will that last unit they was very active and we're pretty successful at it. So the defense also can be also be pretty good if every unit is active and you actual have to jump to contest a shot because flat footed and either half or fully to raise your arm just don't cut the mustard.

 

The Blazers are kind of a Frankenstein monster. It's like the roster was constructed with very little consideration put into how it all would fit together. I know they brought in RoCo and DJJ to improve the defense and offset some of the shortcomings on that end of the floor because Dame and CJ are so offensive-oriented, but it just doesn't seem like anything was done in terms of really figuring out "OK, this is what we like to do, this is what we need, let's construct a roster where those ideas and those player's strengths coalesce."

It was more like "we need a guy who plays defense, let's get him, we need a guy who can rebound, let's get him, we need a guy to fill out the roster, let's get him."

Was Giles signed because we felt he could help as a backup big or just because our front office thought we had to fill a quota of bigs? Because it's apparent he has no role on this team. No matter how well he played in the preseason, no matter how our depth on the front line was depleted, a way couldn't be made to fit him into our rotation and try to play to his strengths while covering up his shortcomings. It's like Stotts' system is so inflexible that there's really no adjustment that can be made to incorporate someone who is athletic and has some usable skills like Giles.

Or Norman? Norman came over from Toronto and appeared to be a significant upgrade over Trent. Instead, it looks like that trade on the floor was a push, with both players playing similarly in their new homes to the players they replaced. That's a loss for the Blazers, though, because they gave up the younger player who wasn't even starting for a guy who could just leave after half a season in Portland. But our offense or our personnel or whatever combination of the two doesn't share the ball enough to make Powell the kind of threat that really justified his acquisition, IMO. We got a really good player and we have no idea how to fit him in because we run this old-style isolation offense.

 

Powell is better than GT at everything and he has displayed that. He will be huge come playoff time. He will come off bench if Zack returns.