Game Thread GAME# 67: BLAZERS @ MAGIC - MARCH 20, 2015 - FRIDAY, 4:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

Hopefully another chance for Afflalo to have a great game against a former team.

 

What the hell is going on here? I go out of town for a few days and we lose to 2 crappy teams!? Well then......I guess I'd better stay on the computer for the rest of the season if you guys can't maintain the forum mojo any better than that. The madness stops now!

 

I don't know what I was thinking....I'm so emotional....a complete homerotic break.

 

Miami and Washington are very good teams. They both have tremendous starting lineups when healthy.

 

A couple of road losses has Portland looking to get back to it's winning ways and along comes a good team to do just that. The Magic while seemingly a decent team just might not be able to put together a healthy starting unit that would be able to scare most NBA teams. Really a pregame on this is a bit hard with all the "Questionable" players. What we can do is look at trends. Even looking at the last time these two played doesn't really work. The Blazers were without Lopez and Freeland. Started Kaman and really had these guys down and were looking at a blowout in the first half. The Blazers then started a trend of letting teams back in it by letting up on opponents when they get a large lead. Nicola Vusevic caught fire and blasted his way to 34 points and 16 rebounds. He pushed the Magic right along and actually made the Blazers have to play 4 quarters.

The Magics offense is not rated real high and they have problems with ball movement. They can ISO a bit too much and they depend on Mid range shots. Problem is they don't make a lot of them. When they try to move the ball they often fall victim to turn overs. They do have a couple three point shooters. Channing Frye will try to stretch the floor and Oladipo will take some. If they are hitting them they can make any game interesting.

Orlando also has some problems defending good offensive teams. They can force some turn overs because teams seem to take more chances against them. There have been quite a few highlight reel type shots at Orlando's expense. The fact is Aldridge will pose huge problems for them. There is just no way Channing is going to stop LaMarcus. If we see the kind of ball movement the Blazers can do they will be in for a very long night.

Lots of people wondering about Damian Lillard. When are we going to see "Dame Time" again on a consistent basis? Where has his shot gone? Why isn't he able to play against the greatest PG's? Is he ever going to be what we are looking for in an All-Star PG? The fact is Damian Lillard is a great PG. He is just still learning how to play at this level. People who are really watching him can see he is evolving his game. Teams are not going to allow "Dame Time" any more. He has become so good that teams now must take him seriously all the time. The book on Lillard is absolutely do not let him get an open look from 3. Do not allow him to drive to his right and take away his right hand. Pound him early and make him pay on every drive! Absolutely do not let him have an easy open mid range shot. Contest everything. When Aldridge was younger we watched this also. Teams took away the things he was doing. Eventually he kept adding more things and now he will never be stopped 100%. You can take some things away but he will get his. Damian Lillard will continue to add things Like the Floater and he will get better with his left hand. His ball handling will improve and teams will start to overplay him just like Parker. He will never be CP3 or Williams but he will be Damian Lillard.

Couple good matchups to watch will be AAA vs Oladipo and Lopez vs Vucevic. If the Blazers hold even on these this game will go into the win column.

Pick today is Damian Lillard. Blazers have too much fire power and the Magic just don't cover shooters well.

Go Blazers!

kjironman is a fan!!!

 

Nice write up Kjiro.

 

One Player i missed was CJ? This might very well be a game he could go for extended minutes and drop 20. He has been moving well with and without the ball plus he seems to be catching onto the system pretty well.

 

Nice preview. This should be a "W" as long as we don't turn it over 20 times and go 5-27 on 3PFG. Need to come out with defensive energy and protect the ball. If we do that, we'll coast to an easy win even if we don't shoot that well. I'm sure our guys remember last year's drubbing at their place, probably our low point of the year. We're pretty close to "must win" territory after losing the last 2 and looking at Memphis and Golden State coming up. I hope you're right about Dame busting out tonight, but he's got a tough matchup with Payton who locked him up pretty good earlier this season in PDX. He is way overdue though, so we'll see. He should be around 40% on 3s like he was last year. It's probably too late for him to flirt with that since he's slipped all the way down to 34%. Batum matchup with Maurice Harkless or Tobias Harris is one to watch IMO. When he's able to create offense we are so much more dynamic. He's at his best when he gets about 15 pts with 7/8 assists. Give me some of that tonight and big lead in the 4th so we can rest our guys for Memphis.

 

Magic warming up



I think we can take them.


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I hope Vuacic or however you spell his name doesn't drop 34 on the Blazers again.......

 

I don't like east coast games. It's 9:30AM here.

 

nice to see us look like were ready for vacation so early.

 

Maybe a slow start is what we need?