CJ, Stotts, Melo, Kanter, and Simons. You cannot run with those guys as your main guys and bench players..
I see a lot of talk about CJ and something for Beal. Gimme Jimmy Butler first. Or, if the Clippers are out in R1, PG.
I suggested we trade him for an expiring and got a lot of shit for it. But i think wed be better with np as our 3 a legit 3 and any decent backup pg
Gonna be pretty funny when he drops 40 and pretty much decides game six. Believe me when i say CJ will play a better game Thursday.
Of course he gonna play better, he was dogshit and we lost because of him, but I think you have to see it differently, CJ is not a Star, sure he's capable of scoring 30 or 40, but we won't win anything with him and his contract. He has to go in summer
I'm upset about CJ's lack of production/efficiency, but not furious as him being paired with Dame has been a mismatch for years IMO. It is who he is. A talented scorer who would be better with his own team, but that won't happen here and he's not as good when he has to be a 2nd option. Combine that with some of his deficiencies (some of which are similar to some of Dame's) and sadly this isn't a surprise.
CJ was -7 in FIFTY ONE MINUTES. He shot badly, but not as badly as Dame last game. Meanwhile RHJ was MINUS TWENTY-ONE in just 9 minutes and Anfernee was -15 in 15. CJ just made an obvious fuckup (to go along with his poor shooting) but he's not the main reason we lost.
He may/may not be the main reason, but to compare what he did to RHJ (10-day contract guy converted to the end fo the season) and Ant (back up rookie deal guy) is a bit apples to oranges. CJ only being -7 is because he was on the court for so much of the time that Dame was literally carrying him up and down the court.
He was the guy with the ball in his hands the vast majority of that time. Perhaps it was the other way around.
Nurk and CJ have the basketball IQ of a potato and it was on full display on more than one occasion - outside of the “obvious” fuck up. horrible shot selection. Dribbling like his hair is on fire, looking down, while surrounded by people. (Predictable turnover that led to a bucket.) And how the fuck does Melo get called for a travel in that situation. Complete mental meltdown. Dude has been using the same move for years and completely blows it. oof. I cannot even rehash this game but our 3/5 of our most seasoned, tested players played like absolute rookies.
This is laughable. Basketball is a team game. They lost that game as a team. There are so many other reasons the Blazers lost. I will not dignify this statement and list them but they are numerous.
Fact is we lost because Denver beat us....if anything stopped us in this game it was Nurk fouling out...so the refs beat us as well. CJ didn't have a great game but neither did other players...should take nothing away from Dame's epic attempt to take this game on his own....he came close. We were down 22 pts early....by the 2nd OT of course our guys were gassed trying to come back and make it a game....they did that but couldn't get over the hump.....I call that game a respectful loss.
it will be hard for him not to play better since he was dogshit last night he'll also be getting almost no defensive attention because it's just about certain Denver will twist their defense toward Dame after game 5. When an opposing defense creates enough space that CJ can draft off of Dame's wake, he usually plays better. That's been the case for 6 seasons but don't fool yourself, CJ is quite capable of two shitty games in a row
I think CJ is going to bounce back as well. As will Nurk. Just not sure we'll have anything left for game 7
