Game Thread GAME# 1: NUGGETS @ BLAZERS - OCTOBER 23, 2019 - WEDNESDAY, 7:00 (PDT), ESPN & NBCSNW

My concern has nothing to do specifically with Denver. It has to do with defending teams who have 3 pt shooting bigs. It has been a weak spot for years.

Relying on CJ to hit clutch shot after clutch shot like he did last year in the playoffs is not the solution I want to rely on every time.

 

If anyone wants something positive we can take away from this game: We actually outscored Denver by 32 points in the paint. That's crazy. We scored 54 points vs Denver's 22. They shot 62% on threes, even if every shot was wide open that's an anomaly. I think if both teams shoot anything near their normal percentages this is a going away win for the Blazers.

We averaged 48 PIP last year. Denver 52. Denver won the paint battle in our playoff series, so did the Warriors (by a significant margin).

 

I appreciate Lillard acknowledging the team's and his mistakes.

 

If Vegas isn't a valid measurement then why does pretty much everyone consider them every year, summer after summer? The reason they underrate the Blazers is because of Stotts and Lillard if you read and listen to most analysts. I agree it's not complicated at all.
Like i said i don't know your prediction but if you are 8-9 games over Vegas you will be disappointed to say the least.

 

I'm kind of torn on this also. Not sure they have 50 win talent without Nurk and with Whiteside as a replacement. I also wonder what effect Gasol will have? Baze didn't hit shots in preseason or against Denver the way i had hoped. Stotts seems to be searching for a good rotation? I wonder how long that lasts? I also wonder if Whiteside will sulk if he gets pulled and the same goes for Hood?
The West is tough. Winning 50 might be very hard to accomplish no matter how good they are playing.
Point was above. 50 wins has always been considered successful. 50+ would be great in my book. If you are expecting well over 50 with this roster and against the teams in the west you might be a bit delusional about exactly how much talent this team has?

 

If our guards made 40% of their average numbers this is a win. It was a bummer to lose, but given how poorly we shot and all the times the ball cleaned the rim, this felt like one of those games that just wasn't going to go our way no matter what. If we were on we would have been them by 20.

 

I heard a crazy stat on the radio yesterday and I can't remember the specifics but it was something like 40% of the Nuggets made shots were without a blazer within 4 feet of them. Did anyone else hear this? I'm not sure where to even look that up.

 

I don't know what the percentage was but it sure seemed like the Nuggets had a ton of open shots, especially the three's.

now, with a bunch of new faces, I suppose it's expected that the defensive rotations were bollixed. But there's also been a lot of legitimate concern about a downgrade in perimeter defense. Portland is replacing the perimeter defense of Aminu-Harkless-Turner-Hood-Curry-Layman with Zach-Hood-Bazemore-Simons-Hezonja-Tolliver. Just look at the starting forwards: Zach is a good interior defender but he's not the perimeter defender Aminu is. And Harkless is a better defender than Hood. Bazemore may be a better defender than Turner, but that's about the only exchange where Portland doesn't appear to have downgraded the perimeter defense

 

It's too early to judge our defense. Defense takes communication and that takes time with all the new guys we have. I think they'll figure it out.

 

Probably from second spectrum. Someone on realGM said that the Nuggets got 16 open threes and hit 10 of them for 60%. Portland got 8 and hit one of them for 12.5%. Now I don't know if these stats are exactly accurate but from the eye test they seem about right. If both teams shot 50% on their open 3s this would have been a Blazer win.

Still, it doesn't say much about HOW they got those shots. The Nuggets definitely moved the ball better and generated more of those open looks.

 

Vegas consistently underrates us by a number of games. This is common knowledge. Yet you're acting like they're accurate. They're not.

Why the hell should I read and listen to analysts that barely watch the team? Makes no sense. You're gauge for expectations is based of Vegas and analysts and they've been consistently wrong.

This is a 50-win roster. Period.

 

Who is expecting "well over 50 (wins)"? You complained about the roster all season last year. So they finally get rid of the guys you can't stand and replace them with the types of players you said you wanted, and now the roster is worse than last years? It's like you want to bash the roster so that you can say Stotts is doing a great job if they do well.

 

I'm definitely glad to not see Moe + Aminu as our starting forwards, and ET + ML gone doesn't hurt either. I was mostly good with the moves this off-season Tolliver was probably the most questionable one IMO. I guess for me I'm just mainly worried about their young talent Zach and Simons, and also the west has so many talented teams.

 

Here we go. Whatever.
Enjoy the game tonight.