Game Thread GAME# 59: BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - MARCH 4, 2015 - WEDNESDAY, 7:30 PM (PST), ESPN & CSNNW

Isn't that EXACTLY the adjustment Stotts made last night that won us the game?

BNM

 

Actually, you could argue not keeping Jordan in the game cost them the game. Even though Jordan missed like 6 free throws in a row the Blazers weren't scoring on the other end. It was only when he took Jordan out with 2:30 left for Hawes that the Blazers went on a 7-0 run to get the game within 3.

 

Am I the only one who sees this as a problem? We shouldn't be in a double digit deficit to begin with. Yeah, we've pulled quite a few out but it's clutch play by the PLAYERS down the stretch that's winning. Stotts isn't a terrible coach but he is not a guy that's gonna take us to a championship imho. We have way too much talent to be playing the way we are. We had no business winning last night and we played a depleted team, I'm happy for the W but we should never have been in the position to lose that game at any point when the team we played was missing their starting 3+4 (Who is an all star) and their reigning 6th man of the year.

 

Also kudos to David Guthrie for giving Doc a T in the first quarter last night. Doc was all over him, trying to intimidate him to get an edge later in the game, but Guthrie wasn't having any of his shit and let him know right away. I'd hate to referee Clippers games with all the non-stop whining and flopping from the players, but it starts at the top. Doc was way over the line last night, jumping all over Guthrie and even chasing him down during a time out. Nice to see Guthrie let Doc know he was the one calling the game last night, not Doc.

BNM

 

I guess he deserves credit for figuring it out eventually? But when non-coaches have been seeing this problem - dating back to last season - how much credit does he actually deserve?
Stotts is far from being a Nate/Mo coach - nobody is claiming he's bad. But he's not that great, either. He's just a fairly run-of-the-mill coach in today's NBA. Much like SG there's a dearth of coaching talent these days.

 

100% this... And the "hack a Jordan" maybe didn't capitalize in points, but it surely got into the head of Jordan. Maybe that mental game was why he did that "brain fart" after the CP3 miss at the end of regulation. Then that snow balled and completely took Jordan out of the game in OT

 

Exactly. The hack-a-dope nearly didn't work because we couldn't do shit on the offensive end - which is where Stotts is supposedly a genius. Instead we relied on players making low-percentage jumpers in the closing minutes of the game, rather than executing good offense. Stotts didn't win the game, Nic did. With a helping hand from Doc.

 

See this is another thing I disagree, with respect of course! I think the "hack-a-jordan" was a perfect chess move that got into the head of their best defender. By the time Jordan knew what hit him, the Blazers tied the game and put even more pressure on that mental midget

 

Hack-A-Jordan is effective but I HATE playing Lawyer Ball. It sucks that we had to do it for the chance to win.

 

Yes it was. Down by a bunch with time running out is a tad late. Luck prevailed this TIME, assisted by Jordan holding the ball instead of dunking the damn thing.
This should be a wake up call for Stotts, not the genius award presentation.

 

Well, the clippers use flops and pussy ass whining to get them into the position they were in to start. I think if both teams played "straight up" basketball, we would have pummeled them!

 

I don't necessarily disagree with the strategy - I'm not taking issue with that. Given the fact that LAC was scoring at-will against us it was a decent strategy. But in order for it to be successful you've got to capitalize on the offensive end, and we weren't. Doc made a mistake by trying to go offense/defense when he didn't need to - his defense was keeping us from putting any pressure on them to perform on the offense end. And after Jordan missed 6 straight FTs the odds say he's going to make a couple.

 

That's not necessarily true. Yes, their whining is UNBEARABLE but we had 11 more FTA than them last night and that's including sending Jordan to line intentionally. We got a lot of calls go our way surprisingly.

 

You definitely have a point on this game, but the two previous games was not the case. We had control of both those games until the refs fell victim to their whining. The refs completely took us out of our momentum and the tide turned, which completely took us out of our game.

 

Don't get me wrong bro... I was pulling my hair out on how easily the Clips used that Blitz approach to the pick and roll. I am 100% with you on wanting, needing fucking demanding Stotts do something to solve that problem.

 

I think the Starting line up should be
PG Batum
SG Arron A.
SF Wes M.
PF Lamarcus
C Robin L

Lillard comes in to run and ISO offense when Lamarcus sits.

Much better defense and Offense with extreme change ups.

 

LOLz

 

Nope, that's a psudeo-Point Guard running a lineup with no other legit shot/play creator. The offense would be even more cluttered, Damian is our best player, he is what drives the ship. The team needs to do their part in giving him space to work, he isn't Jordan or LeBron... He can't just dominate double teams.

 

I think you will see more and more teams shut him down with the double team. He isn't even close to being our best player.