on sirius nba some commentators were laughing at portland's prospects defensively against the lakers. Plus Nurk said he is not sure if he will stay.
No matter how much people hate it Mario is going to get around 10 minutes a game, if not him it will be Ant. I personally would rather see Mario get the minutes cause Ant gives nothing. Mario has hit some some big shots and has had some nice steals in the bubble games so far.
The topic is cutting down Dame and CJ's minutes. You and I both have wanted a backup PG for a while but that didn't happen, did it? So your solution is playing Wenyen at guard? Mario or Anfernee are the only two options I see to give Dame and CJ a break. Not an ideal solution, just the only one I see. We will need Wenyen as well at forward when Lebron and AD foul out the others.
Some could argue it's to be expected given their inexperience, but I really did think Simons would have contributed more this year coming off his summer league performance. Where's that guy? What I mean, is where is the guy with confidence, that shoots with no hesitation, and attacks the hoop undeterred? I still like the guy on paper - great athlete that can shoot and handles - but his head is in a mess. If he'd gone the college maturation process, I think he'd be a nice player. Collins is running out of excuses. Maybe a backup post was his ceiling all along. Olshey could really use a good draft.
or, be in foul trouble 2 minutes into the game he should try position defense more and shot-blocking less
Always have at least two of Dame, Cj, Trent in the floor at any time. Always have at least one of Dame and CJ on the floor. When Dame is in he’s PG. Otherwise CJ is the PG.
Gabriel and Mario are two completely different players and not really interchangeable. With the lakers bigs it will be even tougher for Gabriel as he tends to get his shot blocked close to the rim and against similar sized players. Hezonja helps take the pressure off of our ball handlers and Gabriel can;t do that. Both should be playing very limited minutes.
Yeah, there was a time late in the 2nd quarter he was clearly hobbling to the bench for the timeout and then never came back. Hopefully a mild sprain and quick recovery.
You play them 48 if that's what it takes. Who cares if they get worn out when they're so close to going home for the offseason? It's not ideal, but playing your best players long minutes is wayyyyyyy better than playing inferior ones when you're down to your final few games (as we have been since the bubble started).
Given not having Ariza and Hood for the perimeter 3 and D, is there an other option? It’s all about outscoring teams now to advance. Bubble opponents shot almost 50% 3pt against the Blazers in 9 Bubble games, yet the Blazers still went 7-2. I don’t see that as sustainable for opponents which is why playing the Lakers is going to be such a challenge. They aren’t a 3-pt reliant team. On the flip side, they will struggle defending the perimeter. If the Blazers don’t start hitting open threes, which they haven’t outside of Trent and Lillard in Orlando, it’s an easy series for LA, isn’t it? If the Blazers start hitting open threes, then the pressure moves onto the Lakers. Steal a game early. Regression to the mean is going to happen at some point for opposing 3pt %.
We don't know when he injury his ankle just might have something to due with his minutes declining in the past games.
LeBron has done that in 11 of 13 years of playoffs; 42.7mpg when he won his first title. 41.9mpg last time he was in the playoffs at age 33. Even load mangement Kawhi last year averaged 39.1mpg
