Forensic Fan Game Seven, 11/9/12 v. DEN From the Top: Win, 116-100…the box score shows that it was a heckuva game to watch and good for washing the taste of the LAC debacle from our mouths quickly. The Blazers got out to a hot start (64 first-half points) that they managed not to cough up, and held the Nuggets to their season average while themselves posting another highly-efficient game, shooting over 50% from 3. While the game was an up-and-down affair, there was never a point where it looked like DEN was going to win this game. Player of the game: Coach? You could have gone with LaMarcus Aldridge’s 28 and 9, but Wes’s first-half shooting, his hustle and his defense are what the Blazers “thrived” on last night, and for that, he gets his .jpg in the sun. 21 points, 5 made threes, countless "about to take the roof off!" plays...Congratulations, Three Moneyz (W3$$Y W3$)! Monster Games ™: Once again, no double-doubles, but pretty close. LMA with 28 and 9 rebounds, RoLo with 12/9, Nic with 10/9. All around solidness. Ho-hum. Points Per Shot: While overall FG% was kind of garbage yesterday, the team’s efficiency was supremely bailed out by good offensive rebounding (16) and hot-as-fire 3pt shooting. They actually shot better from 3 (51%) than from 2 (43%)—which was useful, since they only earned 14FTs and made only 10 of them. Every starter shot less than 50% from the field, but added enough 3’s and FTs to bump over 1 pps. LMA had 28 points on 26 (?!) shots, Wes had 21 on 19, Damian had 11 on 9, Robin 12 on 12 shots, and Nic had 10 on his 11 shots. Today’s winner should have been Blake (can’t do a ton better than 3 pps) but since he didn’t get 5 shots up today’s winner is Kaman, with 12 points on 9 shots (1.33). Coin Ratio: Lots of goodness to go around here, as well. Blake Busted a Buck with 4 assists on only 3 shots (all made). Damian was doing his CP3 impression, with 7 assists on 9 shots (77 cents). CJ got into the distribution game a bit and had 3 assists over 4 shots attempted for a 75-cent ratio. Overall the team’s 27 dimes were only eclipsed 5 times all last year, and the Blazers only shots 100 FGA or more 3 times. So a special night all around. Rebounding/Defense: Lots of rebounds to go around today. Blazers got 51, but still lost the battle 55-51, including giving up 18 offensive rebounds. Points in the paint were huge for Denver and their 56-30 advantage kept them from getting torched. Mozgov had 16 rebounds (4 offensive—because goodness knows he’s not shooting to get points) and Faried 7. But worth a mention here is our old friend JJ Hickson. JJ came off the bench in his first action this season, and 15 minutes later was promptly back on it with 5 fouls. That said, he went for 8 points, 10 rebounds and 3 turnovers in those 15 minutes. For going balls-out on at least one end of the floor, JJ—we salute you! Bench: 34pts/12reb/8ast/5blk/5to in 70 minutes. “Butters” McCollum just missed qualifying for the Coin Ratio, as he had 3 assists and 6 points on 2-4 (2-3 3pt) shooting. Kaptain Kaman’s 12 points and 8 rebounds in 19 minutes complimented the awesome (6-7!??!) long-range shooting of Barton, Butters and Blanky. But the story of the bench was Steve Blake. Not only did he come back from a horrible outing @ LAC with a 3-3 (all threes) night for 9 points and 4 assists (fairness requires me to point out his 3 TOs as well), but all is forgotten after a move reminiscent of Professor Andre Miller doing what the refs wouldn’t and punishing Blake Griffin for flopping like a beached dolphin, in which he…well, here ya go (from our friends at CSNNW). So all in all, bench seemed to do their job. 34 points and a combined +/- of +17? I’ll take it, and I’m sure Coach Stotts will, too. But let’s go to Emmet for today’s Bench Grade of the Game. Questions for the Group: Do you like seeing the 5-man bench unit (Red team?) out there, or Damian with the bench? If Nic is down for a few days, would you like to see Wright in the starting lineup, one of Barton or CJ start at SG to move Wes to the 3, or go big with someone like Robinson or Leonard in the starting lineup? Take today off, and have a blessed Veteran’s Day. If you’re up to it, go ahead and thank a Veteran without all the awkwardness of “Happy” Memorial Day. Just be on the lookout for clowns like this: See you on Tuesday night when the Blazers host 3-4 Charlotte.
"Questions for the Group: Do you like seeing the 5-man bench unit (Red team?) out there, or Damian with the bench? If Nic is down for a few days, would you like to see Wright in the starting lineup, one of Barton or CJ start at SG to move Wes to the 3, or go big with someone like Robinson or Leonard in the starting lineup? " I think it depends on the match up. Against Lance/Kidd-Gilchrist.... you can't start CJ. But against other teams I would not mind seeing it. It seems like our players are all tight with Wright, so for chemistry purposes I think he needs a shot at playing. (I think he was the only player not to play least night) I would prefer giving Claver a shot, but Wright may be the smart move at this time.
I am a big fan of length. I hate the idea of moving Wes to SF where he will be undersized & starting CJ where he will be undersized. I would rather see Wright or Claver get the start for Batum. Barton is too small (light) to play SF in long stretches as we saw last night...
Go with Wright and Claver. Stotts seems to like to give guys a few games to see what they can do. Now's his chance.
Claver makes sense for our starting lineup. While he isn't the shooter or distributor that Batum is he can rebound and play defense similarly.
No way! The best length would be using Aldridge at SF and starting Kaman at PF. Seriously the front court of Aldridge, Kaman and Lopez would be devastating to the other team. Their SF would be in some serious trouble! Who's he going to guard?!?!
Aldridge has mad range anyway. He can knock down the three at the same efficiency as Batum. Also, Aldridge's passing has been much better. I would love to have him pass to kaman in the post! Hahaha
