Game Thread 2023-24 GAME #50 - BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - FEBRUARY 4, 2024 - SUNDAY - 5:30 PM PST - ROOT

Scoot 2/15. YIKES

 

Well, the problem is, it only counts if it goes through the hoop. He has to improve his FG% to have an NBA career.

 

how about coaching a midrange, instead of pretending to be Kyle Korver ?

 

In most cases, you don't want that, but Jabari is shooting 67% from 16 to 3pt, which is actually an incredible.

 

Blazers beat the spread in both games.

 

Billups extra happy giving hugs to his former Clippers buddies.

 

what a jerk move

 

Scoot just had a night where his shot selection wasn't great and when it was a few didn't fall that should have. It's encouraging that he impacted the game positively in other ways with 9 assists, 8 boards and aggressive defense.

 

Impressive performance by the Blazers. No Grant, no Brogdon, no Sharpe. and yet they made it competitive.

 

I hope everyone is fucking around about criticizing Chauncey for good sportsmanship.

 

Ayton put up great numbers tonight but where he leaves himself open to criticism is that he was disengaged on that stretch in the 4Q when Jokic was out. He should have feasted, but he played disinterested and the Nuggets consequently separated from us.

A couple of times in the 4Q, too, that I didn't speak well for our coaching. Scoot committing that screening foul was just lack of discipline.

Speaking of Scoot, stopped attacking in the second half, settled for shots, didn't get to the line. Blah.

Good lord, how many layups did we miss in the 4Q, too? We got good shots most possessions. Make some bunnies, guys.

I said earlier that Ant is as good an offensive guard as there is in the league right now when he's one. I should have said a scoring guard. He makes some horrible passing decisions and is equally horrendous executing other times. I wonder if this is a result of taking that year off and just working on his game at IMG. Easy to work on scoring moves in that kind of setting. A lot harder to work on recognizing live defense and court sense to pass the ball.

 

Well, sure. But everyone, even Dame, has these games. Considering he is still figuring out his shot, he'll have more than most. But, to expect it to magically fix itself in year one is wishful thinking. The real key is that he's making the right decisions, and honestly, despite going 3-16, he was good in that regard tonight I thought.

 

That lineup was offensive. Just in the wrong ways.

 

I don't blame scoot for not getting into the lane much in the second half. He had absolutely no spacing around him, and when he had the ball out top, there were five guys sitting near the paint. I thought he was generally solid at not trying to overly force the issue.

The bottom line is when you're running out lineups with Walker, Minaya, and Camara on the floor (and teams don't even respect Reath that much yet), it's going to get ugly offensively, especially when Scoot is a fledgling shooter himself.

 

He's mid. We made him look all-world twice. Like they forgot to put his page in the scouting report.

 

Or not just take everyone that presents itself to him.

Guy thinks he's Kevin Durant the way he chucks up open 23 footers early in the shot clock.

 

I think that's fair. I felt he settled a bit, but, yeah, I don't even think Minaya belongs on the Blazers let alone on any other roster. I'm starting to wonder if he's Ant's cousin.

 

I actually thought his shot selection was fine tonight. In fact, I thought it was better than it was against Milwaukee. He just made more that game. And games like this will happen, especially at this stage. No worries.