Game Thread 2023-24 Game #25 - BLAZERS VS WARRIORS - DECEMBER 17, 2023 - SUNDAY - 6:00 PM PST - ROOT

For the people that say our defense has struggled since Ant has returned, it has. But looking at the opponents, it was expected.

We played Dallas twice, which is the 5th rated offense in the league. Luka absolutely torched us the last game (which is just Luka being Luka and not something exclusive to us).

We played the Clippers. They have finally started to figure it out after the Harden trade. They are the hottest team in the league right now and are the 2nd rated offense in the last 15 games.

We played GSW twice. The first time we held them to 6 points below their season average. Tonight they scored 2 points above their season average.

We played Utah. This was an absolute clunker in all facets of the game. Which happens with young, bad teams.

 

Luka is Luka.

The 2nd and 3rd players are being touted as having breakout, All-NBA type seasons.

And then there’s Anfernee Simons…

 

I'm rarely in the same universe as you, let alone head space!

 

It seems like you just REALLY BADLY wanted to talk about iso ball.

 

Nope, I truly want to know if you like Brogdon at the PG position or not; which is why I asked that question multiple times, and you still haven't answered... it seems you're still really bad at interpreting someone elses feelings though!

 

Kind of wild that Steph just ended his streak of games with a 3 made at 268 in this one.

 

If you told me Steph and Ant would have combined for zero threes, I would've assumed the both crashed into each other in the 1st quarter, hitting heads, and missed the rest of the game.

 

the good news is... the Blazers are better then the Wizards at rebuilding their team.

 

Because what does that have to do with whether he sucks or not?

I like him as a backup point guard in theory, but he’s taking minutes from Scoot.

 

I think Billups said in a presser he doesn't run very much iso. I suppose we can call them "reading the defense" in a tactical clear out switch-a-roony opportunity.
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All I see is team regressing. Can they beat anyone?

 

Did anyone see the ball do anything other than bounce off of Curry's left leg with 9.7 seconds in the game?

I can't see how the referee gave the ball to Golden State. The ball was heading into the court when Grant tapped it, then changed direction when it hit Curry's leg and went out of bounds.

Of course the Blazers didn't have their challenge to use.

Isn't that something the referees can review themselves?

 

My interpretation was Grant was standing out of bounds and tapped the ball while Curry was falling down. The Blazers replay crew showed a terrible baseline angle, and a zoom in shot of Curry doing a faceplant. If they had gone super slow-mo with a better view, I'm pretty sure we'd see the refs got it right. But we can still boo them. Those dirty rotten officials hate the Blazers.

 

Portland has B2B games against San Antonio.
Win streak !!

 

I like his skills a lot, but I am still not sure about his fit on this new team. This I've seen before: Luka, Halliburton and Maxie are in good teams and Ant is in a bad one. That makes a difference. So, him avg 30 this season is not as important as touches for other young stars.
Again, it looks like Lillard's path and I'm sceptical.

 

I don't think the refs got it right. Grant tapped the ball before going out of bounds and didn't touch the ball again.
I also think Curry could have been called for a foul when he threw his right leg out unnaturally into Grant's left foot to try to prevent him from getting his hand on the ball.






Grant is still not out of bounds in this shot (below). The blur seen out of bounds in the screenshot is his right foot in the air.
He doesn't touch the ball again. Grants right foot doesn't touch the floor out of bounds until it is well ahead of his body.
Curry throws his right leg into Grant's left leg.
Watching it in slow motion, it looks like a reflexive attempt by Curry to trip Grant at the moment Grant touched the ball.
Unless tripping is legal in the NBA, this should have been free throws for the Trail Blazers.
At the very least, it should have been Trail Blazer ball behind by 1 point with 9.7 seconds on the game clock.

 

So I'm not sure but i would think Deandre Ayton would have been aware of the situation and would have been expecting either a make which would have put him inbounding the ball from the sidelines where he would have been able to call a TO or a rebound. The miss by Curry was unexpected I'll give him that. I was sitting there expecting a made FT and being down by 3.
My problem comes with a veteran player who is in his 6th NBA season. Whom has played 324 NBA games and 45 playoff games, Has nearly 10,000 minutes played and over 1000 minutes in playoff games doesn't have the wherewithal to be in tune with his coach about what is expected when he gets the rebound he was put in the game to get.
This might have been past coaches problems with Ayton. I've seen this with other players that I personally didn't like much. This guy simply does not play smart. Sure Shaedon did what he had to do but there was 6 seconds when that FT shot was taken and the Blazers had a TO. In that instance you call that TO and advance the ball. You set up a play and live with the results.

Okay so you have a young team and they will make mistakes. Correct me if I'm wrong here but on the floor were Ayton, Grant, Brogdon, Simons and Sharpe. There is not one rookie amongst them and fact is that team has plenty of experience.

 

This is what I'm thinking. I am not seeing a player that makes smart plays.

 

Thank you for finally answering a simple question. It didn't have to be that difficult!