I'm trying to imagine a nicer win in the regular season than beating the Purple & Piss after the national media has slobbered all over them for 3 continuous hours.....even after they lose. That thought exploration may take a while..... In the meantime, thoughts on last night and how those might play out going forward: Oh by the way, Hot Sauce can shoot! I don't expect anything close to that on most nights and after a 6-6 start, he finished 1-5 to go 7-11. Still, he is a threat and that opens things up for everyone else and I expect he may close games with Dame and CJ if he is shooting well that night. Zach may fill the Ed Davis role after all. Too early too tell after just one game, but against a small-ball lineup (like he will face most of the time with other team's 2nd units) he was very active and a definite defensive presence. I don't expect him to score much but if he can stay in that 6-8 ppg range and clog the middle, he will be just fine. Speaking of defense: The Blazers minus ZCo were Turrble! The Lakers had zero, zip, nadda in terms of outside shooting and yet it was a parade to the cup especially in the 1st half. I saw a stat where 61 of their 63 first half points came right at the rim or from the FT line on drives to the hoop. It's defense like that which keeps @BonesJones thinking he can play in the NBA. That HAS to get better for this team to have any type of consistancy. What was bothersome is that there was no adjustment from Stotts early on to have the Blazer players go UNDER the screen. Blazer defenders were trailing all night and against a team that could shoot at all, they could have been in real trouble. Turner may have finally found a role. It bothers me when he goes into Charles Barkley, back it down, post up mode, but other than that, as a primary ball handler with Curry Sauce on the floor at the same time, it works. Dame/CJ: Until several buckets late, they were a combined bricklaying construction company putting up brownstones on the upper east side. Even with the late makes, they shot 15-38 (.395) but did shoot it well (5-11) from '3'. The combined 5 assists is of concern as well but most of that is from CJ who had only one and still continues to go 1-on-3 when he has wide-open teammates all around him. At this point in his career, doubt that is changing anytime soon. Nurk was solid with 16/9 in 17 miutes but this just wasn't his type of game with an extremely mobile center and the Lakers pushing the ball on every possession. Layman looked about like what I thought and outside of Stauskas, had the lone Blazer '3' for quite a while. Harkless wasn't bad especially after getting no time in the pre-season. Curry looked small against the Laker length but will have his moments. Meyers made some very good passes that got the Blazers many wide-open looks. Aminu was purposely left open time after time and his only make came when he finally attacked the basket for a poster dunk on McGee. He is going to have to hit some of those shots or at some point, move the ball to someone who can. Next chance to boo a teams star.......Saturday night vs the Spurs. Demar DeRozen will bring his FT heavy offensive game to the 'Rose Garden'. The Blazers need to protect the home court and get off to a faster start this season.
I don't like how much Rondo + mobile big defender impact the Dame/Nurk pick and roll. Let's hope this doesn't catch on. That's our best offensive attack and Rondo seems to consistently thwart it.
I noticed the very same thing. Dame really seems to struggle with Rondo. The Blazers see the Lakers twice more in the next 3 weeks.
You kinda glossed over the Collins block party. That was huge, and huge if that's his game plan this year. Chief can just go away, please. Most forgettable player from this era.
Well, Rondo is a damn good defender. But yeah, it'd be nice to see us do something to make the game easier for Dame when he has to play against a good defender. Not holding my breath. Outside of Steaksauce I feel like I've seen this team before. I will say that the second unit should be markedly better this season now that we have 1 0r 2 bench players that can actually score the ball - CurrySaunce is an improvement over Pat and Bazz. But the offense was not very good - we lived by the 3 this time, but we could easily die by it next time.
Evan at full time point opens up a lot of things. He's not an off ball wing. CJ might not be too happy with this arrangement, though -- only played 31 mins last night and all of it with Dame.
Perhaps but on defense, let with "The Blazers minus ZCo were Turrble!" Also, Collins was great but 6 blocks in one game might just be a lot to expect on an ongoing basis.
I think its important to point out that Collins had the benefit of the Lakers going extremely small, they played Kuzma at center for a while... Not taking away from Collins defensively he was a stud, but most teams arent going to put thier 6’8 and under team out there.
My game 1 Observations Good -Dame in mid season form -Stauskas shooting ability + confidence -Zach’ defense -Meyers looks like an NBA caliber player Bad -CJ still not passing and going 1 on 3 -Turner posting up and going 1 on 1 too often instead of trying to set up teammates -Aminu unreliable shooting Overall, it was as good a game I could have hoped for opening night... gives some hope going forward... but still hard to trust this roster in playoffs
Come on, FAMS. Pretty sure HCP knows what a “bro” is cuz he wears one. And I’m also pretty sure HCP doesn’t know what a “bra” is...
Game Observations: I continue to hate TNT. Nothing but Lakers cockslobber and disrespect for the Blazers. The national nedia can kiss my ass. Keep underestimating the Blazers, they feed on it. Its like not listening and feeding Mogwai after midnight. - Blazers offense played well, but they need to work to be more fluid. The offense became stagnated over and over with guys stopping and getting caught up in the defense. Keep moving on offense Blazers. - Lillard and McCollum benefited from having other reliable shooters, mainly Stauskas, to get more space and hit shots. The Laker's defense still crowded them both and it will continue to happen, as teams will be willing to let others shoot over them. Stauskas, Curry, Layman, Hark, and Aminu need to make them pay. - Aminu Aminu either needs to get better at the 3 or play inside. Thankfully his terrible shooting night didn't sink us. It will be detrimental to our offense if he continues his inconsistent ways. Teams love to give him wide open shots. He needs to hit them. - 2nd Unit is in gear. 51 points off the bench. I remember a short time ago when our bench was nearly non existent. Lillard gave the bench praise as was deserved. It played a big part in us winning the game. - Meyers Leonard came to play. He was doing the little things. The guys wouldn't pass it to him on offense or he probably would've added some points to his stats. He is looking like an NBA player. While he still made a couple of mistakes, I liked the energy he brought. - Zach Collins block fest was so fun to watch. Swat! Swat! Swat! Swat! Swat! Swat! He blocked the shit out of Lebron and the refs called a foul...bs. Zach needs to continue bringing the energy he does to both ends of the floor. His mobility and size make him formidable. Keep it up big man. - Harkless is back! He played well in limited minutes. Did a little bit of everything. When he is back at 100% the Blazers are going to be even better. - Stauskas can shoot for real. Not only was he knocking down 3s like nobodies business, he was spotted attacking the basket. He is going to have his best year so far in the league. Mark my saucy words. - Curry will have better games. In fact something I like about our roster is the same guy doesn't have to go off every night. We have more depth than people thing. Curry will have some damn good nights too. It will be fun to see him against the Warriors. - Nurkic is getting to much flack. He played well. He was called for ticky tacky fouls taking his momentum. I have no doubt Jusuf is going to take a step up this year.
Aren't you the dude that started a NEW thread late last night about coming back from work and sharing your thoughts about things?
Do 3 guys really guard CJ? The amount of time you guys mention him going 1 on 3 you would think there were 3 defenders on him every time he put the ball on the floor.
Well when you break down one (which he does consistently) there's often two more in the paint collapsing with the original defender trailing. I love CJ and his game, but with the amount of shooters we have now he could be racking up assists.
