Game Thread GAME# 71: BLAZERS @ SUNS - MAY 13, 2021 - THURSDAY, 7:00, TNT & NBCSNW

Here see for yourself: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/c...1&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612757



Actually the moment Covington caught the ball I knew he was going to miss both. This is not the first time this has happened.

 

roco hit a bunch of clutch buckets in the fourth. was great until those FTs in the end

 

back to my main complaint of the game.

how do you bench your perimeter wing defender again for the whole game and essentially play a 7 man rotation in the second half one night after playing 8 guys in the game prior?

 

You got to admit the Blazers played very well and should have won that game.
Not sure i agree with the refs calling that touch foul on Powell in the end but fact remains they needed to hit the free throws.

 

he shouldn’t have challenged either way.

 

I don't hate RoCo. I hate our inbound play which was clearly designed to get RoCo the ball. Melo was looking for the moment RoCo popped off the second screen.

Try to get the ball to Dame first at least. Jesus christ.

 

Um, healthy??? They were missing the guy who has started at C for them every game this season besides tonight.

 

The performance isn't the problem - the result that leaves us playing LAC is. We'd left ourselves no room for error, and had done enough to get what we wanted before blowing those free throws.

 

Healthy minus their starting center who is the anchor of their highly rated defense.

 

yeeeeeesh....I thought I was the debbie downer around here but lots of you guys are outdebbie-ing me by a lot. I'm actually impressed with how Portland played on the 2nd of a B2B against the two top teams in the league

I'm not going to trash RoCo for the missed FT's. Misses happen and I'd wonder why RoCo got that ball. Actually, I don't wonder because Melo has fucked up in-bounding plays a lot this year. If you're not going to pass it to Dame, have him inbound

Dame was the big focus of the Phoenix defense tonight; he had at least two Suns shadowing him whenever he touched ball, especially at the 3 point line. So he decided to get real acquainted with the hoop by driving thru that defense....over and over. I think I heard the TNT guy say Dame had scored 10 baskets at the rim. 41 points in 43 minutes in one of the gutsiest performances of his career

Portland isn't locked into the 6th seed yet. Dallas still has to win both games they have left. And if this Covid season has shown anything, it's that crappy teams can kick the shit out of playoff teams when you least expect it

 

Your most likely playing the clippers. They’ll demolish us

 

I think people don't look at the bigger picture. In some ways sure, there should be encouragement, they are fighting there asses off to make a playoff push. This is the same encouragement we saw in the bubble last year and in plenty of other years until we inevitably get laid out in the first round because the man running the show, Stotts, is still our coach and he still has no clue how to do much of anything. Every year its relying on heroics from Dame and to a lesser extent CJ.

 

Also, I may be crazy, but if you think they are going to deny the fuck out of Dame in the inbound (which they will), the second best option is Melo. Have Nurk and all his height inbound the ball and have Melo on the floor to be the second option.

Instead....RoCo.

 

not the first time melo has panicked as an inbounder this season.

i remember during his time in denver they had a bunch of turnovers inbounding the ball late in playoff games-- think it's scarred him. first open guy he sees, he passes in.

 

Who cares. You were right, it was a clutch fourth quarter by Dame that should have won us a game against a quality team Ayton or not.

 

He passed to an 83% shooter who had just hit two. That's not a panic move. Good grief.