Dame's Got a Feeling

Haakzilla · May 13, 2021

https://theathletic.com/2585470/202...ut-these-blazers-that-he-hasnt-had-for-years/

Damian Lillard has a feeling about these Blazers that he hasn’t had for years

The Trail Blazers right now are playing more than just their best basketball of the season. They just might be playing the best basketball during the Damian Lillard era.

...I can't read the rest, anyone care to share?

e_blazer · May 13, 2021

Haakzilla said:
https://theathletic.com/2585470/202...ut-these-blazers-that-he-hasnt-had-for-years/

...I can't read the rest, anyone care to share?

Quick builds his story around this quote from Dame:

“The feel of this is like, it’s more mature,” Lillard said. “You know, it’s not like it’s a young team just getting going. The way we are doing it is like a mature team. We are doing the things that will give us a chance to win against any team, in any setting — home or road, regular season or playoffs. It’s just a mature feeling, especially coming after kind of being down-and-out, and then coming out of it being mature enough and together enough to behave this way and perform this way down the stretch in such an important part of the season.”

The story talks about the Aldridge, Wes, Nic, RoLo, Dame season and points to the importance of Nurk’s play on the defensive end plus Stotts’ decision to shorten the rotation as keys to the turnaround.

Tince · May 13, 2021

I LOVE Dame, but him having a gut feeling we're about to have a breakthrough is an semi-annual thing.

PtldPlatypus · May 13, 2021

I have to say, the way the team responded after going down big early last night--not looking for big chunks, not overreacting to Utah's responses or big plays, just steadily, gradually chipping away, getting even, then pulling away--it was a thing of beauty. If that's not a sign of maturity, I don't know what is.

Natebishop3 · May 13, 2021

Sedatedfork · May 13, 2021

Tince said:
I LOVE Dame, but him having a gut feeling we're about to have a breakthrough is an semi-annual thing.

I feel as though Dame has been sipping on some of that optimistic juice that @KSF-ERIC drinks. Good Vibes Only. Can't hurt.

wizenheimer · May 13, 2021

maybe Dame's right and there's a maturity to the Blazers keying this run. And maybe facing the Nets without Harden/Durant or the Jazz without Mitchell/Conley isn't quite the level of resistance Blazer maturity will be tested by in the playoffs

Portland is winning games on the road and that's usually a good sign for the playoffs. Phoenix is mostly healthy and didn't play last night so that ratchets up the challenge in tonight's game. The stakes are the highest yet so this Suns' game is a great test for Portland

I'm usually skeptical about feel-good stories, but I do think the Blazers have elevated their game to the point they likely won't be an easy-out in the playoffs. That's an upgrade over most of their playoff teams

Rastapopoulos · May 13, 2021

Haakzilla said:
https://theathletic.com/2585470/202...ut-these-blazers-that-he-hasnt-had-for-years/

...I can't read the rest, anyone care to share?

Boy, Quick can witter on for PAGES on the basis of just peeking through some blinds.

Etc. etc.

Rastapopoulos · May 13, 2021

The most interesting part of the article is about Derrick:

BBert · May 13, 2021

Haakzilla · May 14, 2021

Blazerreynolds · May 15, 2021

Tince said:
I LOVE Dame, but him having a gut feeling we're about to have a breakthrough is an semi-annual thing.

lol...

I am gonna get straight blasted for this, but Dame be feeling himself too much. The media gassed him up as a top ten player, but he is not held to the standards of top ten players being a media darling. If we get put out in the 1st or second round, no biggie.

If any other top ten player gets put out early with a good team around them like Dame, or even a bad one......"They are overrated/Choked/Can't lead a team/Can't be the best player on the championship team, etc, etc."

Is Dame that guy? I don't think so. I think we should move one. He has one of, if not the worst current active playoff records in the NBA. That is telling because the Blazers are not the Cavs without Dame..600 record without em this season I believe, unless someone can correct me on that.

I am not excepting much; just waiting for the inevitable rebuild. I kind of tuned Dame out sorry to say lol..Like the kid, but he aint leading us to a title. Only getting older, Dame is.

Propagandist · May 15, 2021

Blazerreynolds said:
lol...

I am gonna get straight blasted for this, but Dame be feeling himself too much. The media gassed him up as a top ten player, but he is not held to the standards of top ten players being a media darling. If we get put out in the 1st or second round, no biggie.

If any other top ten player gets put out early with a good team around them like Dame, or even a bad one......"They are overrated/Choked/Can't lead a team/Can't be the best player on the championship team, etc, etc."

Is Dame that guy? I don't think so. I think we should move one. He has one of, if not the worst current active playoff records in the NBA. That is telling because the Blazers are not the Cavs without Dame..600 record without em this season I believe, unless someone can correct me on that.

I am not excepting much; just waiting for the inevitable rebuild. I kind of tuned Dame out sorry to say lol..Like the kid, but he aint leading us to a title. Only getting older, Dame is.

Cool opinion, bro.

riverman · May 15, 2021

Blazerreynolds said:
lol...

I am gonna get straight blasted for this, but Dame be feeling himself too much. The media gassed him up as a top ten player, but he is not held to the standards of top ten players being a media darling. If we get put out in the 1st or second round, no biggie.

If any other top ten player gets put out early with a good team around them like Dame, or even a bad one......"They are overrated/Choked/Can't lead a team/Can't be the best player on the championship team, etc, etc."

Is Dame that guy? I don't think so. I think we should move one. He has one of, if not the worst current active playoff records in the NBA. That is telling because the Blazers are not the Cavs without Dame..600 record without em this season I believe, unless someone can correct me on that.

I am not excepting much; just waiting for the inevitable rebuild. I kind of tuned Dame out sorry to say lol..Like the kid, but he aint leading us to a title. Only getting older, Dame is.

Hey Lebron! Pretty clever of you to avoid tampering by showing up here! Dame will never join your Lakers......nice try though!

Propagandist · May 15, 2021

Blazerreynolds said:
lol...

I am gonna get straight blasted for this, but Dame be feeling himself too much. The media gassed him up as a top ten player, but he is not held to the standards of top ten players being a media darling. If we get put out in the 1st or second round, no biggie.

If any other top ten player gets put out early with a good team around them like Dame, or even a bad one......"They are overrated/Choked/Can't lead a team/Can't be the best player on the championship team, etc, etc."

Is Dame that guy? I don't think so. I think we should move one. He has one of, if not the worst current active playoff records in the NBA. That is telling because the Blazers are not the Cavs without Dame..600 record without em this season I believe, unless someone can correct me on that.

I am not excepting much; just waiting for the inevitable rebuild. I kind of tuned Dame out sorry to say lol..Like the kid, but he aint leading us to a title. Only getting older, Dame is.

Labinot41 · May 16, 2021

I think Dame doesn’t get the heat from the Media because he never had a team who was a Contender, the big big big difference between Lillard and for example Kyrie, Harden, Steph, KD, LeBron etc is that all those guys have played with Superstars and expectations were a lot higher than for the Blazers. If Lillard would play with Harden or KD and he would choke in the Playoffs than it would be a different Story

Hoopguru · May 16, 2021

Labinot41 said:
I think Dame doesn’t get the heat from the Media because he never had a team who was a Contender, the big big big difference between Lillard and for example Kyrie, Harden, Steph, KD, LeBron etc is that all those guys have played with Superstars and expectations were a lot higher than for the Blazers. If Lillard would play with Harden or KD and he would choke in the Playoffs than it would be a different Story

agree. Small markets have unfeigned love for their teams & stars, especially when they only have 1 of the big three.

Fairly-Hard · May 16, 2021

Different this year a bit.
The team is healthy going into the playoffs.
They have a bit deeper team around Lillard.
They are playing better defense.
They seem to have found the key to breaking the inevitable traps Lillard will face.

I kind of think this year Damian Lillard's feeling might have a bit more merit.

Now will it translate into playoff success is the question?

Labinot41 · May 16, 2021

Hoopguru said:
agree. Small markets have unfeigned love for their teams & stars, especially when they only have 1 of the big three.

Yeah neither CJ or Nurkic are stars imo. CJ is like Caris Levert. He can play like a Superstar in one game, and in the next 3 games he plays like a rotational player

wizenheimer · May 16, 2021

Fairly-Hard said:
They seem to have found the key to breaking the inevitable traps Lillard will face.

yeah, I'm unconvinced that's true until I see Portland beat some good Western Conference teams with some regularity when Dame plays poorly...which he often does when he's hounded by two or three players with speed & length, all over the floor

people have said that 3 point shooting was the key to solving the stop-Dame defense. Portland has had it and it hasn't mattered

others have said it was Nurkic. Well, the Blazers have had a healthy Nurkic for 2 series and their record was 1-8

so what is the solution now? It hasn't been CJ and it hasn't been CJ & Nurkic. So, is it Powell? Melo? RoCo? Is it some kind of magic alchemy of all those players? Maybe it is, but a rare exception to the rule in the regular season doesn't automatically transfer to the playoffs

Hoopguru · May 16, 2021

wizenheimer said:
yeah, I'm unconvinced that's true until I see Portland beat some good Western Conference teams with some regularity when Dame plays poorly...which he often does when he's hounded by two or three players with speed & length, all over the floor

people have said that 3 point shooting was the key to solving the stop-Dame defense. Portland has had it and it hasn't mattered

others have said it was Nurkic. Well, the Blazers have had a healthy Nurkic for 2 series and their record was 1-8

so what is the solution now? It hasn't been CJ and it hasn't been CJ & Nurkic. So, is it Powell? Melo? RoCo? Is it some kind of magic alchemy of all those players? Maybe it is, but a rare exception to the rule in the regular season doesn't automatically transfer to the playoffs

Powell is the one that should bring the ball up when Dame struggles with it. Powell is looking for seams more so than Dame does, imo.

wizenheimer · May 16, 2021

Hoopguru said:
Powell is the one that should brig the ball up when Dame struggles with hit. Powell is looking for seams more so than Dame does, imo.

I don't know how it came to the point that "bringing the ball up the court" was the problem. It never has been that. It's that Portland's offense operates best against good teams when Dame is Dame, scoring and running the offense. They could have Kanter bring the ball up the court, but somebody still has to then take the ball and get good looks for the team. Meanwhile, Dame is facing major ball denial defense, Portland's offense stalls, and they lose over and over

I'm not saying the same thing is going to happen again this year, but if Portland advances, they are certain to face that some problem again. If they play the Clippers in the 1st round, they'll face it then

Fairly-Hard · May 16, 2021

wizenheimer said:
yeah, I'm unconvinced that's true until I see Portland beat some good Western Conference teams with some regularity when Dame plays poorly...which he often does when he's hounded by two or three players with speed & length, all over the floor

people have said that 3 point shooting was the key to solving the stop-Dame defense. Portland has had it and it hasn't mattered

others have said it was Nurkic. Well, the Blazers have had a healthy Nurkic for 2 series and their record was 1-8

so what is the solution now? It hasn't been CJ and it hasn't been CJ & Nurkic. So, is it Powell? Melo? RoCo? Is it some kind of magic alchemy of all those players? Maybe it is, but a rare exception to the rule in the regular season doesn't automatically transfer to the playoffs

Great Questions.
My answer is obviously a guess at this point but it’s a combination of CJ Powell and Lillard bringing the ball up and using Nurk as a better distributor. Then having 4 players that can all hit a three and having Nurk punish teams that go all in on stopping the three.
I think they can do it. The passing and communication needs to be on point.

Fairly-Hard · May 16, 2021

wizenheimer said:
I don't know how it came to the point that "bringing the ball up the court" was the problem. It never has been that. It's that Portland's offense operates best against good teams when Dame is Dame, scoring and running the offense. They could have Kanter bring the ball up the court, but somebody still has to then take the ball and get good looks for the team. Meanwhile, Dame is facing major ball denial defense, Portland's offense stalls, and they lose over and over

I'm not saying the same thing is going to happen again this year, but if Portland advances, they are certain to face that some problem again. If they play the Clippers in the 1st round, they'll face it then

I disagree.
Lillard does better off ball for stretches.

wizenheimer · May 16, 2021

Fairly-Hard said:
Great Questions.
My answer is obviously a guess at this point but it’s a combination of CJ Powell and Lillard bringing the ball up and using Nurk as a better distributor. Then having 4 players that can all hit a three and having Nurk punish teams that go all in on stopping the three.
I think they can do it. The passing and communication needs to be on point.

as I said in the post above, I think "bringing the ball up" is irrelevant to the problem.

the problem is opponents get a two-fer by limiting and harassing Dame. He is Portland's most dependable and efficient scorer, and he's the best facilitator and distributor. Dame has passed the ball out of double teams and traps. But to this point, he's had no teammate, and that includes CJ, that can quickly & consistently punish a defense in 4 on 3 situations

wizenheimer · May 16, 2021

Fairly-Hard said:
I disagree.
Lillard does better off ball for stretches.

too bad none of those stretches have been in the playoffs

Hoopguru · May 16, 2021

wizenheimer said:
I don't know how it came to the point that "bringing the ball up the court" was the problem. It never has been that. It's that Portland's offense operates best against good teams when Dame is Dame, scoring and running the offense. They could have Kanter bring the ball up the court, but somebody still has to then take the ball and get good looks for the team. Meanwhile, Dame is facing major ball denial defense, Portland's offense stalls, and they lose over and over

I'm not saying the same thing is going to happen again this year, but if Portland advances, they are certain to face that some problem again. If they play the Clippers in the 1st round, they'll face it then

They wait for Dame to slowly bring it up and trap him at half court many times. So it does have to do with how you bring a ball up court if you dont want a defense to be ahead of you which is what happens many times. Some guards when they are trapped to very well at passing out of it, some use push and power to beat the trap by looking for seams. When Norm pushes the ball and Dame and CJ are off the ball watch how the defense reacts. Same when CJ or Dame push and make the defense adjust to them. The ball must move to keep D guessing.

Shaboid · May 16, 2021

Hoopguru said:
The wait for Dame to slowly bring it up and trap him at half court many times. So it does have to do with how you bring a ball up court if you dont want a defense to be ahead of you which is what happens many times. Some guards when they are trapped to very well at passing out of it, some use push and power to beat the trap by looking for seams. When Norm pushes the ball and Dame and CJ are off the ball watch how the defense reacts. Same when CJ or Dame push and make the defense adjust top them.

That is definitely something that Powell brings that we haven't had enough of. Been asking to push the ball for years. Not sure if that's a coaching philosophy issue, just how Dame likes to manages the game, or a combination.

Hoopguru · May 16, 2021

Shaboid said:
That is definitely something that Powell brings that we haven't had enough of. Been asking to push the ball for years. Not sure if that's a coaching philosophy issue, just how Dame likes to manages the game, or a combination.

I think much of it is Dame which is fine, he's been a super star! But even super stars have areas they could improve on. Dame like to bring it up court and look for a pick & roll or a lane to drive. The ball simply needs to move more to keep the defense guessing.

Shaboid · May 16, 2021

Hoopguru said:
I think much of it is Dame which is fine, he's been a super star! But even super stars have areas they could improve on. Dame like to bring it up court and look for a pick & roll or a lane to drive. The ball simply needs to move more to keep the defense guessing.

Yeah, that's kind of my stance on it too. Dame averages 30 PPG, I'm not gonna argue with his game management much.

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