Game Thread GAME# 70: PACERS @ BLAZERS - MARCH 18, 2019 - MONDAY, 7:30 PM, ESPN & NBCSNW

wasn't that a beautiful 4th Q?

11:03 Rodney Hood makes 16-foot pullup jump shot (Seth Curry assists) 72 - 93
10:14 Evan Turner bad pass (Cory Joseph steals)
8:47 Trail Blazers Full timeout
8:31 Enes Kanter misses 26-foot three point jumper 80 - 93
4:26 Damian Lillard offensive foul 89 - 100
4:02 Jusuf Nurkic bad pass (Bojan Bogdanovic steals) 89 - 100
2:06 Damian Lillard out of bounds bad pass turnover 91 - 100
1:35 Damian Lillard lost ball turnover (Bojan Bogdanovic steals) 91 - 100
54.0 Jusuf Nurkic offensive foul 95 - 102
29.3 Evan Turner bad pass (Myles Turner steals) 95 - 102
16.3 Evan Turner shooting foul 97 - 104

good thing Blazers were at home and Indy was shooting poorly

 

Why is Turner allowed near the court? He should be locked in a storage closet for the duration of the game.

 

I didn't even watch the game tonight, but I can confidently say that Evan Turner sucks.

 

That was a game they needed. Nate McSCRAPPY had his team playing good SCRAPPY defense. But in true Nate Mclippitylips style he has a team that can't score at the end of games and this was a blessing for the Blazers because they sure needed a CJ bucket in the last couple minutes of that game.
Seemed like Wesley Mathews was pretty burned up about losing that game the way they did. He missed a couple threes in the last minute that would have put them in a position to win. Mathews has never liked losing and he always plays that way.

I'm glad they got this win but it sure was tough to watch the end. How does Aminu have arguably his best game of the season and still look bad doing it? I think tonight settled it. Hood should probably get the start. Though Curry sure did his part hitting timely threes when needed.

What can you say about Damian Lillard that has not been said? Glad he is the player that is leading this team.

 

Good win, albeit not aesthetically pleasing at times. This really needs to be a 4-0 homestand.

 

I don't know what the numbers say, but if we aren't in the bottom five for late game execution, I'd be surprised. Seems like we are just incredibly inept at using the clock and still converting at the end of games with a lead.

 

Myles Turner looks like a young Aldridge out there.

 

I think he is a bit tougher. But i agree that guy is gonna be good.

 

WAY better. Maybe he doesn't always shoot like he did last night, but even if that's the case M.Turner plays good defense and seemed to be a decent passer.

 

It's his 4th year in the league - and he looks pretty good. I doubt he will ever be as good as LMA was at his peak - he does not have even close to the footwork that LMA has/had - but he will be a very good, borderline all-star in this league, I guess.

If anything, you look at him and you can imagine what Zach Collins might be 2 years from now (I suspect Zach will be a better defender, much better post game, not sure he will be as good a shooter).

 

Help me understand:
Dame gets trapped and our answer is to have Nurk set a pick on the double team so dame can dribble out?
This should happen once, then Terry should spot it and change the scheme to find open targets for Dame to pass and not pull up the dribble and get trapped in the first place. It seems once he or CJ is trapped we fall apart like a cheap suit.
I don't have any BB IQ (the single most overused term that I can recall) to speak of, so I would be happy to be enlightened; this is just what it seems like to me.

 

I don't see how that is possible. With CJ out you have one less ball handler. We did not have enough to begin with. You take ET out of the equation then who do you have left? Hood needs to start at SG so that just leave Seth. We talked about this scenario before we added Kanter. A back up center or a back up PG in case Dame or CJ got hurt for a few games. I am happy we went with Kanter but we still need another true PG.

ET has been worse since his return from his injury. But we know he can play better. He just needs to give us 15 solid minutes.

 

You are absolutely correct. Stotts runs pick and roll to death even when it is doing nothing but bringing an extra defender to trap Dame. I had to watch the ESPN broadcast last night and they talked about how Dame said he fixed the problem by attacking the trap quicker. Sure, that works sometimes but not consistently and probably won't be super effective for full games in the playoffs. Basically it was an admission that they weren't going to stop doing pick and roll.

I'd like to see them use Hood as the ball handler a little more but the problem is that when CJ is out they don't really have another PG other than Dame. Turner has been forced to be that role but it doesn't take pressure off of Dame when Turner isn't a threat to shoot from the outside. Curry should be able to play point but he hasn't done well setting up the offense this year and when both he and Dame are in the game it leaves us vulnerable against bigger guards on defense. I still think the solution is to play through Nurk in the high post but even he had some really horrible possessions last night.

I think we're just going to have to accept the fact that they aren't going to change much. There can't be anymore of those really bad turnovers that lead to easy fast break points though.

 

Always refreshing to see an assessment without resorting to bashing a player or player. Thanks PW.

 

Didn’t read this game thread yet, and not sure how you guys reacted.......but Myles Turner did NOT foul Dame on that 3. Looked at it from 10 angles, nowhere near him, all ball.

 

He may have but I also think it's the types of shots he is getting. They don't look for him on cuts anymore or when he is in, it is often with Kanter and a defensive big is right in the middle of the lane. So that turns him into almost strictly a spot-up 3-pt shooter and that is not what he is. He is a rhythm shooter after getting a couple cuts to the basket or fast break opportunities.

Those shots have become almost non-existent and it affects the rest of his game.

 

well then, here you go: