Game Thread PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1, GAME 2: BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - 4/20/16, WEDNESDAY, 7:30 PM (PDT), TNT & KGW

I'll be at this one

 

Harkless was all hustle and was doing great game 1, the problem was foul trouble, something anyone guard in griffin is going to suffer from because of star calls. I think you bring harkless off the bench but give him more minutes than the starter. Start someone simply to eat star calls on griffin. At least a guy like kaman is crafty and can fuck with him while using up his fouls. I also wouldnt mind seeing 5 minute of cliff Alexander. Give griffin 3 hard fouls and give the clippers a look they havent seen on film.

 

Kaman and Plumlee to start? I like that idea.

 

Additionally id like to see roberts run more true point guard. Dame can play off the ball and cj I think has the handles to create better off the bench. Id say start cj but bring in roberts at the 8 minute mark, let him run point for dame till 2nd quarter then let him run it for cj till 8 min in or so when you bring dame back.

 

Roberts / Dame / Henderson /Davis / Kaman should be our perfect lineup, then. I will scream if Stotts doesn't play this lineup at least 24 minutes tonight.

 

Hacking Jordan is not what got them back in the game. If you look closely at the play-by-play:

They sent Jordan to the line at the 4:01 mark, the Blazers missed their next shot. Still down 8.

We would miss our next shot after that too. After Chris Paul makes 2 free throws with 2:53 left, we're down 10. Not working so far.

We turn the ball over and foul Jordan again. He again misses both. Nic gets fouled and hits the 1st. Jordan is substituted out. Nic hits the 2nd. Now we're back down 8 and Jordan is no longer in the game. So Jordan has now missed 4 FT's in a row and we haven't gained a point.

We let Redick shoot, he misses. Aldridge hits a shot. We're down 6. (no hack-a-Jordan)

Both teams miss shots. Then Batum steals and Wes hits a 3. We're down 3. (no hack-a-Jordan)

After a timeout with about a minute to go Jordan returns. Reddick hits a shot, Afflalo hits a shot and then Batum hits a three pointer. We go to overtime.

So even when Jordan didn't hit any of this free-throws we didn't gain ground. We got back into that game by getting stops on defense and hitting shots.

 

Need to make contested shots all night to beat this team and out rebound them....go Blazers

 

Hacking Jordan increased the number of possession the Blazers ended up with. Whether they scored on those possessions is not necessarily a reflection of how well the scheme worked. The Blazers hacked Jordan 3 times within that 1.15 minute span. Jordan went 0/6. That is three extra possessions the Blazers had a chance to score on while very little time ran out the clock. If they didn't hack Jordan, I would argue the Blazers would not have had enough time make the comeback.

The secondary effect of Jordan going 0/6 is that it actually forced Doc Rivers to take out Jordan and his defensive presence with 2:38 left. From 2:38 to 1:05 when Jordan was subbed out for Spencer Hawes, the Blazers got two free throws from Batum, a jumper from Aldridge, and a three pointer from Matthews to cut it to 82-85.

I am sure if you ask Stotts or anyone on the team they will tell you hacking Jordan worked. Hell, go back and watch that game, then come back and tell me hacking Jordan didn't have an effect on the game.

 

I'd argue the Blazers were much more effective on offense when they weren't fouling every time down the floor. So yeah they got more possessions, just like the Clippers, but the possessions weren't amounting to anything while they were fouling.

As far as taking Jordan out, I don't think his defense would have come into play when Batum stole the ball and Wes pulled up for a fast-break 3-pointer...

And Jordan is not going to go 0% too often.

But I agree to disagree, I don't think it works.

 

I remember watching that game, and Jordan's defense definitely stifled the offense until he went out.

Either way, you said you've never seen it work. Even if you want to take the stance that it didn't work in the Clippers game, this wasn't my only example. Blazers won a playoff game hacking Howard.

 

LOL... thanks for letting me know there was an exception to the rule.

 

It's one example. I'm sure there are more. When teams start hacking it's because they're already down big. No shit they're still going to lose most of those games.

 

Would love to see us step up our overall defensive intensity. At least match their physicality out of the gate until the refs stop us. Maybe switch up our defensive looks a little. We can't let them just pound the ball into the paint all night and hope they miss. I also hope we have a counter to the instant double team on Dame that they're looking to do every time down the floor.

But I also won't be surprised if we see more of the same shit and hope that they sleep on us, and we just shoot the lights out from 3.

Go Blazers!

 

Thunder storm coming to the metro area...hopefully it doesn't knock out power during the game.

 

@HCP Did you choose the song for that video?

 

I disagree to a point. Yes, he's a smaller center. But let's remember: he's going up against Jordan in this series. And, not only is that dude HUGE, he's also one of the top 3 or 5 Centers in the entire league. It's no wonder Plums is sucking against him.

Now, I will say that his reverse dunks drive me up a fucking wall. I wish to hell he wouldn't do them.

 

THIS! Well said!

I will continue to say, until I am blue in the face, that playing Hack-a-Jordan is NOT a winning strategy against the Clippers. They are too good to be much affected by one guy missing free throws. They are MORE than capable of picking up the slack of two missed shots.

I do not understand why the fuck this is such a hard concept to get. Just because the rest of the league does it, doesn't mean it's a sound strategy for every team. Especially us. We are not good enough against this team to win with a Hack-a strategy.

 

Hack a whoever is a dumb idea; I finally understand why:

If a guy shoots 43% from the line, he's going to score as many points as a team shooting 43% over a sufficient number of shots. From a shooting perspective it's not useful.

But it gets you more possessions... But those possessions are generally slow court possessions, not fast breaks. You're not making stops where everyone is out of position in transition. A rebound off a missed free throw is orderly and everyone is guarded going up the court. Runs are rarely half court speed. They happen on fast breaks, even slower ones.

You eliminate your opportunity to make something special happen. You're not getting a steal or forcing a stop. You aren't riding momentum. You aren't creating extra possessions for your team only. The opponent still gets a possession and will score at a fairly normal rate even for awful FT shooters. Stops are what you need and FTs are not a stop, even for bad shooters.

So what does hack a whoever to? It slows you down, lets them set up their defense on you, lets them rest a little on the court, prevents them from getting flustered, and forced your offense into the half court. Dumb dumb dumb.

 

Funny the game starts at "7:30" , yet the arena is empty.