Game Thread 2023-24 Game #20 - BLAZERS @ WARRIORS - DECEMBER 6, 2023 - WEDNESDAY - 7:00 PM PST - ROOT

Blazers fired off 46 triples at a 34% clip. (that's a ton of threes and not a good percentage). There was an occasional run at the hoop, but those floppy Warriors kept falling down and getting charge calls.

 

Sharpe is being played too many minutes in my opinion. He looked gassed that final five minutes and was ineffective.

We're getting killed on the glass. Could have used Ayton tonight.

 

Shae is a team player. It seems like he drives and dishes the ball out more than anyone on the team. In a way I see that as leadership by example.

 

I don't think Shae is selfish at all.

Show me an elite #1 option who doesn't look for their own in crunch time though. In some ways, looking for your own when your team needs a bucket is the most unselfish thing you can do. Doesn't mean you have to shoot every time, but if you go multiple possessions in a row without even becoming part of the play, when you're a really really good player, that hurts the team.

 

Sucks we had so many guys out wanted this more than just about any game this season.

I didn't see anything previously of Grant being out, now see its concussion protocol. Ayton knee then Brogdon leaves with knee soreness. At first thought we were tanking which makes no sense against the one opponent we get their pick. Probably just a coincidence.

Ant gets injured game 1 and Brogdon last night. So that's a grand total of 0 complete games all four of our guards have played in the first 20 games. How many will they play in the last 62 games? I'd bet less than half which is 31, probably more like 20.

So is it really a problem if there's about 20-30 games they all have to share minutes? So probably 55+ or more games only 3 are available. Sharpe could use way less minutes he's been overplayed. Scoot is much better with reduced minutes off the bench. Would be nice to keep Ant and Malcolm fresh over the whole season. I'm just not seeing a major logjam of minutes as has been so often discussed.

That said I'm certainly listening to Brogdon offers if I'm Joe. I'd just be happy to patiently wait for the best offer if that's not until the deadline or even the summer.

 

Do we play a better brand of basketball without Grant (and/or Ayton)?

 

He has improved.

 

Talk about a great game to show off the potential of this team...These are the games where growth happens.

 

Nah, it looked better because we had Ant. Having Grant and Ayton WITH Simons should also look better.

 

I think he's going to be ok, which I did not think previously. Having two guys like Toumani and Jabari to practice against and watch develop and how hard they play should really help him. He can see what he needs to do to get minutes

 

they both looked like rookies. rookies are gonna be rookies. batteries are very rarely included!

 

I think we play a better brand of basketball without Grant and Simons. Somehow this coaching staff and maybe the whole organization has convinced those two that we need them to be chuckers while simultaneously contradicting that with talk about the offensive system that really does work when implemented (ball and player movement, drive and kick, exploiting mismatches early in the shot clock and pushing the pace whenever we can responsibly).

I am not putting the chucking solely on Ant and/or Jerami. I hear Chauncey talking about how they're our two best scorers and that they need to be super aggressive putting up shots and I have yet to hear Chauncey say that those shots need to come within the flow of the offense. So for Chauncey's offense to work we need those two guys he uses as crutches to go or for Chauncey to stop talking about and most likely treating them like they can somehow exist outside of that offensive scheme while expecting it to work at the same time.

 

This how I see it there getting the one thing down right now there playing defense really well and that will always keep you in games. Simon taking 27 shots well we traded two players he look up to Dame and CJ that also did a lot of one on one's there time in Portland so I guess you can figure why Simon does the same thing. I always said if you want to get away from that type of player you also have to eventually trade Simon.

 

It doesn’t matter, I heard we’re better WITHOUT Dame.

 

We've yet to truly see this guard rotation play a full game while everyone is healthy.

Can we give it like 10 games before bitching about chucking, defense, etc? Good Lord.

We just had 18 games of being the worst offense in the league without Ant. Did people forget that?

 

Must...Resist...Responding/Reacting.

 

Certainly better defensively.

 

Thank you. This place is freaking nuts when it comes to the one-game sample size overreaction takes.

 

My answer to that would be…..I’ll take 29th in the NBA on defense and a winning record.

 

It isn’t one game. It’s like 10 years of undersized backcourts and iso ball. The fanbase has PTSD about it and I don’t see how anyone could blame them.