Game Thread GAME# 4: BLAZERS @ SPURS - OCTOBER 28, 2019 - MONDAY, 5:30 PM, NBCSNW

Play Little !!!!

 

They sent Brown to G league. But he is in Tesax so who knows?

 

Blazers vs Spurs

Huge win last night! Huge loss last night!

We will address both. First the win. Portland played a gritty game and in the end were in a position to get a win. Wins on the road can never be taken for granted in this league. I felt the Blazers kind of wore them down. Stotts made some good calls and he adjusted well in the face of adversity. I said it in the game thread that i originally thought he should have used that challenge earlier but he did a great job in saving it for when the game was on the line. Hats off. Lillard was as good as you could ask for in that game during the second half. CJ was the CJ we all know and love/hate but you have to admit. CJ was not just scoring he was passing the ball well and looking for options.
Now the Loss. Losing Zach is gonna hurt. Losing any starting player right now hurts. The Blazers started the season with two bigs on the bench. Having three of them is unfortunate to say the least. Lets hope the MRI today gives some positive news. Any way you cut it he is out for this game and probably a couple weeks. Report is dislocation and that will take time.

Spurs are at home and have a day off. Blazers playing on a B2B. This is not such a bad thing on the fourth game of the season. They are still fairly fresh in the season. If you are going to do a B2B it's better to play it in the first few games. (Yeah i'm stretching for a positive). Spurs are reporting no injuries. The feel i am getting is the Blazers need to come out stronger at the beginning of games. Even more so on this game. The shots might not want to fall late in the fourth.

This is a game Whiteside can have a huge effect. If the Spurs are going to play Aldridge at center Hassan can work on blocking shots and rebounding. KP was hitting shots from the Logo last night. Aldridge shoots the mid range. Pressure LMA's shot and gobble up rebounds. That is a good way to beat the Spurs. Though the reports are that the Spurs have made rebounding an emphasis this year. Tim Duncan coaching might have something to do with this?

Blazers again have an advantage in the back court. Murray and Forbes are no match for Dame and CJ. The advantage for the Spurs comes at the SF. DeRozen will be a handful like usual. I think you again will see Hood having a big effect on offense but if the game is close at the end you will again see Bazemore get the defensive call. The Blazers are just starting to see how effective Hood/Bazemore combo is. I like it so far.

Pick for this game is Whiteside. He can be the factor the Spurs cannot control. He has also been shooting well from the line. No longer can teams just foul him. Happy to see this! Another possible factor will be Mario. He might be a good sub if Skal is not up to the task. Mario plays with an edge. Aldridge doesn't like to be uncomfortable. Mario is good at making players uncomfortable. Defense will be what wins this game if the Blazers can play it well. Make it an ugly game!

Go Blazers
Kjironman is a fan!!!

 

My guess is Stotts will give Tolliver playing time tonight. Its predictable. If he sucks again, it should be the last time for awhile.

 

Hot take, Hood and bazemore both start. GT gets some back up minutes and skal gets more back up minutes

 

This game is a classic schedule loss. But this early in the season, we might have a shot.

 

I think having both Hood and Baze in the game at the 3 amd 4 in something we can do against the right team.
I do however think that having one of them guard Aldridge isn't a great idea.

 

Has Aldridge finally embraced being a full time C?

 

I think he'll start z3.

I hope he starts Skal.

I doubt he'll start SuperMario because our bench playmaking weakness.

I wouldn't be surprised if he started Hoard. This is the type of thing he's done over and over again, play the 3rd stringer as the starter so as not to disrupt the rotation.

 

Starting Tolliver has the smallest effect on the rotation, so bet on it. I hate it.

 

One thing is clear: we need a hell of a game from Whiteside on both sides with Collins out to win this game

 

Of course, at the beginning of the season every game is a big game. However, it feels even more so than usual.

In our first 20 games, many who have examined the schedule think we'll be lucky to be 10-10.

If we win, we're 3-1. If we lose, we're 2-2 ("You're welcome" - Captain Obvious)

3 of the next 5 (after this game) are against Philly, LAC, and Brooklyn.

 

But if you do who is going to run the 2nd unit?

 

LA is going to FEAST on us tonight, but I think we get the W.

 

Mario doesn't "run" the second unit anyways. His assist % is an abysmal 4%. He basically holds the ball and makes the first pass. That's not really hard for anyone to do. You could have Baze do it, CJ could do it, Ant etc. It's not really complicated and the Blazers don't get assists anyways.

We're abysmally low in assist % right now. We have no playmakers outside of Dame and most of our possessions are Dame/CJ isolations. We shooting really well from inside the arc. Dame and CJ are finishing well at the rim, and we are controlling the paint against other teams. But it would definitely be nice to see other players get involved.

 

Our passing sucks, not just assisting. This is by design.

We are 30th in the league so far with only 204 total passes per game. Don't think we should make too much about an individual ast% yet.

 

Yeah, I don't know how much I make of that though. Look at the past few years. The bottom 5 is made up of a lot of good teams, and consistently the same ones: Rockets, Thunder, Cavs, Raptors, Blazers, Wizards (when they were good).

When you have the best isolation players in the league you don't really need to be too fancy - at least in the regular season....