Game Thread 2023-24 Game #7 - BLAZERS VS GRIZZLIES - NOVEMBER 5, 2023 - SUNDAY - 6:00 PM PST - ROOT

I’d rather just keep Williams. What is Adams going to do for us?

 

It's obviously about accruing another FRP.

 

Malcolm Brogdon to New Orleans makes too much sense. With CJ going down, they have no PG/playmaker. José Alvarado hasn’t played yet this season either. New Orleans has an abundance of picks as well.

 

You can control taking an insane number of threes when we are not at all a good three point shooting team.

 

Exactly. If they'd just dunk it every time, they'd score like 150 points a game.

Run the dunk play!

 

Almost half our shots in this game were threes. We shot 31% from three. That’s….. not good. We also shot 20 fewer free throws in this game compared to last game.

 

didn't see the game...what happened?

 

These games are a lot more fun when I’m completely focused on developing Scoot and Shae. I don’t enjoy watching our vets Jack up shots.

 

offensive rebounding, it's a new Blazers weapon. 16 tonight. What does Portland do with it?? Kick it out, swing it, jack up triples.

 

You can also control getting Ayton some open Aldridge mid-range jumpers, not something closer where he needs to adjust his shot.
The one I did see he put it in like a free throw, in the last game against Memphis. It looked like free points to me.
Ayton seems to be just as good or better shooting farther away from the hoop (out to a long/mid-range 2), which nobody on his team including the coach seems to know.

 

With the way defenses are going to scout us, I suspect we'll see a lot more teams packing the paint, and daring us to beat them outside.

While there are some alternatives, it can be real challenging to attack a defense who doesn't respect a teams outside shooting abilities. Contested 2's vs open 3's might be the decision we're forced to make.

 

IIRC, didn't the Blazers set some kind of record last season for losing leads in the 4th Q? maybe it's a Billups trademark

 

Not much. Rob didn't twist the knee and it didn't buckle, he just hit the deck and I didn't even see him bang it. So to me given his history if what he did tore his meniscus that's really a bad sign for him. I think it's more likely a pinched meniscus or a bone bruise but both of those wouldn't necessarily keep him out of action but are pretty bad for him too because it just means that knee is has no cushion or in technical terms is very arthritic at 26 years old. Honestly we'll just have to wait to hear from the team but I'm betting the team will say he's fine and might just need a little rest.

 

I thought his knee collided with the defender

 

I feel like i never saw contact it felt more like a studder step he wasnt expecting type of thing.

 

Rob’s health is why we should probably move him.

 

The rest of the league is obviously aware of his health issues and I'm sure our offers will be discounted accordingly.

Best case scenario with him and Brogdon is they stay healthy long enough some team may start to believe the injuries are less of a concern.

 

watching it again... all im seeing contact wise is up top, it looks like his foot stops but his weight and his knee kept going with a slight twist to it and it pitches him back onto the ground with help of jacksons forearm

replay @ 1:28:30 on league pass if anyone cares to look at it

 

I just rewatched it and JJJ's ass hit Rob's left thigh and Rob goes down, not awkwardly at all, like he was taking a charge. Then he grabbed that bad right knee. Rob was even in good guarding position with both knees bent. The only thing that could have hurt him on that play would have been the impact of JJJ's weight not against that knee but on Rob's body which is obviously supported by both legs.

Like I said, the fact that that hurt him doesn't bode well for him but everyone pretty much knows that knee isn't great. Hopefully some win now team will want him because he hasn't missed a lot of playoff games and is really useful off of the bench when he plays. I just think we need to cash him in for whatever we can get, assuming he's good enough to keep playing at the capacity he's been playing. I doubt he has a lot of seasons left in him and that means him helping a team win now is where his value is at not a team looking to the future like we are.

 

I made the mistake of praising Grant and Brogdon today. Shocked that the offense is so bad that Billups is just running iso's for them. Completely disgusted with it. I would rather see them lose by 20 points but at least moving the ball around. Those two were pretty cold all day, but atrocious in the last three minutes. To make things worse, instead of trying to get the ball in Sharpe's hands earlier in the shot clock they were dumping it in his lap with little time to work with. Mays and Walker getting nine shots each is probably five each too many when they aren't hitting anything. I do not want to see Grant and Brogdon putting up 20+ shots each. Damn. Horrible to watch. Now the tough stretch begins. Back to reality. Hopefully less iso ball and chucking. Need to start running an actual offense.