Game Thread 2023-24 Game #17 - BLAZERS @ PACERS - NOVEMBER 27, 2023 - MONDAY - 4:00 PM PST - ROOT

They want you to think it's been all bad and he hasn't improved. The fact is he's improved every single game he's played.

 

Scoot > Bouyea

 

The last two games give me more confidence that Chauncey is molding a two way team. Winning solves a lot of issues.

 

TJ McDoogle had 0 points and 3 turnovers. And the Indiana crowd gave him a big ovation. I must have missed that dude playing well in previous games. He looked like summer league bench fodder tonight.

 

Being healthy helps too.

 

We took 18 3's tonight less than any team that has played so far.
Nice to dont have to depend on so many 3's.
Grant, Ayton & Bog took 6.

 

Great games for DA, Mal, and JG. Mal and JG will have suitors come the trade deadline. Scoot improves. A few flubs down the end there that make your heart skip a beat but that's the way she goes.

Also holding that IND offense to 110 is solid. It's number 1 in the league with the best PG in the league too (imho). Feel like Halliburton cooled off a bit in the second half but maybe it was my imagination.

 

The vets really carried the team tonight. Two good road efforts in back to back nights.

 

I wasn’t able to watch the game, but I see Sharpe had 6 assists; how was he getting those? Was he being used like a Point Guard?

 

No, he wasn't being used at the PG, but did make a few nice passes after he drew a defender, and he also made the simple play a couple of times for assists. He came up empty on 3 fast break/advantage situations, which I'd love to see him clean up after having a couple against Milwaukee as well.

 

Sharpe is an underrated distributor.

 

The shot will come back. I just want to see Sharpe and Scoot show ANY improvement from game to game. That's all I'm asking for.

 

He was the unsung hero for the win tonight.

He had 2 errors at the end that almost made him the villain... but he made a LOT of excellent plays

 

You mean for Sharpe, yes It has to come back to because whe have seen him shoot well

For Scoot, he needs to establish he can shoot at a decent clip. I've no doubt the other aspects of his game will come together soon. The past couple games, small sample but encouraging

 

Very nice win despite three maddening turnovers down the stretch - each worse than the one before. But it was nice to be in a position where a turnover could cause me to freak out like it did.

 

Just a few random thoughts I didn't get to make last night because I had other work to do:

-- Grant's a legit star. He can consistently make tough shots against good defense even in tough situations. He's benefited from not playing with Dame in that he's had the opportunity to show he can be a leader on a team if maybe not the leader on a contending team. Even when Ant comes back, Grant is the best player this team has.
-- For all the hype and promise, Scoot is often comically bad. He just doesn't seem to have the natural feel for the game of the player I saw in the G-League. He's like a football player hooping in intramurals. That's not to say he won't be great eventually, but, right now, he's got a lot further to go than I ever would have imagined. Even for a rookie, he looks well behind the curve. For a guy with two years of pro experience, this makes me wonder just how good of development guys get in the G-League.
-- Our discussions about our "window" aren't worth a lot right now. By far our best players are our older guys.
-- I'm inclined to keep Brogdon the whole season unless some team gives the Blazers a sweetheart deal at or before the trade deadline. Watching him play and seeing how much he gets out of limited athleticism is a better teacher for Shaedon, Ant and Scoot and even Rupert and Camara than anything they would have learned playing with Dame or hearing it from Chauncey. The Blazers would get more out of having him here a couple of more months mentoring the young guys on the current roster than trading him for a mid-round first-round pick used on another young guy to just try to figure it out on his own.
-- If the refs can't get it right on a replay where Turner clearly pulled on Shaedon's jersey to the point they overturn the correct call, then there's no point in having replay at all. That might have been the worst call in a Blazers game all-time, considering they had replay and changed what was the right call to the wrong one when there was indisputable evidence Sharpe was fouled.
-- This team's going to be very, very interesting once Ant returns. He covers the one area where it struggles -- shooting. Seeing what the Blazers have done without him, without Timelord, with Scoot and Murray essentially non-factors, to get up 26 on the Bucks and beat the Pacers on the road on the second game of a back-to-back is a testament to the way this team was constructed. It doesn't have a player like Lillard, but it has a lot of solid players and can win games -- or at least let's say be competitive -- in more ways than they Blazers have been able to do in years. It won't be a playoff team or even a play-in team, but it's going to make some opposing teams' fans throw their remotes during the home stretch for the playoffs, too.

 

Are the glasses helping Scoot shoot? I think he has shown some improvement.
Here is one thing i watched last year. Sharpe was completely lost on the court for the first couple months but slowly started to look like he knew what was coming and what was going to happen. I see the exact same thing with Henderson. He is just so lost on most plays. It gives me hope that he will improve. I did watch a few non box score things that he did that show he is indeed paying attention and things are coming around. Remember at this point he has played a total of 8 games. Rookie wall hits him at 40 then he gets his real looks at the season at around 60 games when this team can go all in and play him.

 

goggles baby!

 

big difference is Sharpe was already able to shot. Scoots shot is just so bad.

 

Yeah it’s pretty broken/brutal.
Not sure he will ever be considered a good shooter.