Game Thread GAME# 57: PELICANS @ BLAZERS - FEBRUARY 21, 2020 - FRIDAY, 7:30 PM, ESPN & NBCSNW

Starting to get worried

 

As if the season wasn't lost long ago?

 

I thought CJ did really good job in the 1st quarter he sit people up and ended up with 7 assist. But after that he went back to CJ mod and only got 3 assist and he still put up 22 attempt and still bad with 3 ball and his defense was just has bad. One thing I noticed last night the player CJ was on is the guard that attack offense very seldom they attack Trent when he was in there. When Simons was in there they attack he too.

 

Hard to disagree; it’s just that it’s so much more noticeable when you are taking L after L to teams you should be beating.

Should meaning we are better than them... at least when healthy.

Frustrating, but it is what it is I guess.

 

Yeah this is atrocious. We look like a team missing most starters and is being forced to play an old veteran who couldn’t find a job for two years and a bunch of young guys! What’s going on?!

 

Not a lot about that game to be positive about but i like looking for things to build upon and that have gone right.

We did get some looks from Little. He is moving well and seems to be healthy. His shot seems to be getting better and it looks like the work in the gym is paying off. He had a couple good catch and shoot opportunities and he seems like he is getting in better position on defense. I liked to offensive boards and hustle plays.

Gabriel did some things out there as well. Came up with some hustle plays. He can't shoot but he doesn't seem to try either. He has to work on the fouls still but he doesn't fear defense. Stotts gave him 14 mins but of course he came up with 4 fouls. Good thing was the Pels were missing FT's.

CJ had a solid night. Not sure why all the hate on this thread? 10 assists and 27 points with 6 rebounds. The guy didn't stop passing. Players stopped hitting shots. CJ was running the team well on offense but he did notch 5 TO's trying to get the ball into the post or to players around the rim. Couple of those turn overs were other players fumbling the pass. Melo was creating shots but he missed a few. 6-17 shooting very easily could have been 10-17 with two missed layups and a couple wide open looks that just didn't fall from three. The good thing is he was getting to the FT line. 6-6 from the line from Melo.

Whiteside didn't score real well but he was still 9-16 with 19 points 56%. 12 rebounds by most is a good night but it seems we have come to expect 18-20? He was in Foul trouble so it effected his minutes or i'm betting he gets well over 15 rebounds and scores 24-26? Couple ticky tack fouls for Zion put the Blazers in a tough situation dressing only 9 players. In what world is 6 blocked shots bad? The guy is a shot blocker. His job is to contest shots. When a guard lets their man get around them they need to stay in the play. When Hassan blocks a shot it is up to the other defenders to stay in there and clean up the block. I really don't understand the "Empty Stat" argument just because the block was corralled by the Pels and they still scored.

Gary Trent had yet another good night. 5-11 and 3-4 from 3. He continues to improve and he is doing well in certain situations on defense.

Trevor Ariza also didn't do bad at all. 13 points 8 rebs 2 asts 2 stls. Seems like he will continue to play good all around basketball.

Bottom line the Blazers lost this game because of depth and foul trouble that made lack of depth even worse. In the Moda they gave the Pels 33 trips to the foul line and the Blazers 25. Gave Zion 10 trips to the line. Also there were some posts about the zone on the inbound plays. Stotts used 4 different defensive looks on inbound plays and 4 different lineups with the 9 players he had available. The end result was little different in each. Sometimes you just lack available talent.

A bunch of posts about defense. Yep they are bad on defense. Defense is the toughest part of the game. It's the "TEAM" part. For very obvious reasons the Blazers are bad this year. Injuries lack of set rotations and a mix mash of bad or very bad or very Young players needing to be on the court hurts defense. If you have to play Swanigan/Gabriel/Little/1M/Melo and you have high expectations on defense then you are gonna be disappointed every time.

 

"Sometimes you just lack available talent."
Take out emotion.....
Add a pinch of common sense and a touch of honesty....
And there, my friends, is the true story of the 2019-2020 Portland TrailBlazers.

 

I expect them to be average to slightly below average, not absolutely horrible. I also expect to see some consistent defensive improvement throughout the season, and I haven't see any.

 

You don't get "Improvement" unless you have cohesiveness and stability in the line ups. They are not playing the same players as they were last month or even two weeks ago. Certainly not the players they played in December. Nope not even the players they had in training camp. "Consistent Defensive Improvement" takes just that "Consistency"

You don't get "Average" or even "Slightly Below Average" playing players that are not average or slightly below average. Even more so when they have not played together.
When you field Swanigan, Gabriel, Hoard, Little, 1M, Melo you are not playing average defensive players.
Absolutely agree they are horrible at defense right now. But I also have tempered my "Expectations"

 

That's not true. You dont need "team cohesiveness" to close out properly. You dont need team cohesiveness to box out properly. Etc.

Gabriel is an average defender at worst. Made some great plays last night. Stifled Ingram on a possession. Hoard hasnt played in a while. Little isnt bad. He doesnt get enough run. We shouldnt be this bad defensively, and theres no excuse for the issues we are having, because theyre silly, inexcusable mistakes instead of having overmatched personnel, and it hasn't improved at all. Theres no excuse for not improving some of these things through 57 games, but people will sure as hell search for them.

 

Also, a lot of defensive issues that people are excusing with a "lack of cohesion" arent cohesion based, and should be translatable over any NBA personnel. This isnt figuring out timing on a pick n roll offensively (an actual cohesion based thing). And if it was due to a lack of cohesion, then it should be improving...

 

Gabriel sucks. Shouldn’t be in the league.

 

Lmao. Good one.

 

Imma save this post.

 

Wow? I'm sorry. I really view the game much much differently than you do. Players need to be in position to close out. Being in position takes defensive spacing and trust. If that isn't "Cohesiveness" then i don't know what is?

Seriously? There are no less than three opposing players waiting for a rebound on any given free throw and usually at least two on any given shot. If you don't think it takes working as a team to box players out correctly i just don't know what to tell you?

This absolutely speaks volumes! You honestly think Gabriel is an NBA level player? Obviously this is why you post things like this....

Delusional at best. Remember. I've seen you play.

This is particularly funny because everything the Blazers are doing should never be "translatable" but there is absolutely ZERO credit given to guys Like Derrick Favors, Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and last but not least the #1 Pick in the NBA draft Zion Williamson. Sometimes the other team is fielding better players and those players are starting to gel. Sometimes the other team deserves some credit.

I agree with you The Blazers are playing horrific defense. We disagree in why. I'm good with that. Have a nice day. Gonna go catch my Nephew's games today. Pretty stoked about getting a chance to see him play.

 

Sometimes when I get frustrated I just remind myself of this and Im like eh I guess thats just how this seasons gonna go.

 

Most of the time, players have to close out harder if theyre not in position, since they have to cover ground. So its not a "must be in position to closeout" thing.

What you said about close outs doesnt make sense, since the problems with our closeouts are improper technique and jumping at pump fakes. It has nothing to do with original positioning. Do you know what a closeout is?

We do see things differently. Everything I say is based off of learning the game through playing experience and film study.

You box out your man. Its really not that complicated. But what would I know about playing the game the right way?

And I say this in defense of you saying I'm delusional: You dont know what you're talking about. I've played college ball, and learned a TON from that experience. Stuff that you'll never know, mostly because you're too stubborn to learn it. Instead, youre talking out your ass saying I'm the delusional one. All because I make a joke about how bad we look knowing guys like you will take it seriously and latch onto it, and because I dont think Gabriel is hot garbage. Hahahaha.

 

You just totally contradicted yourself. So if they are not in position it's better you say?????

 

Howd you gather that...?

I'm not going to continue to explain things to you since you wont honestly listen.