Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 5: THUNDER @ BLAZERS - APRIL 23, 2019, TUESDAY, 7:30 PM, TNT & NBCSNW

It would be good to sees someone off the bench have a really good game. Curry seems the most likely. Maybe Hood can get going as well because they are going to need more off the bench as the series get tougher.

 

Maybe it just matters if the sweeper has a nice hat.

 

I think that's a good way for them to make sure they lose game 5. With that lineup they have little rim protection and rebounding. The floor opened up a lot and allowed Zach to be an important factor, and when Kanter was in it gave us a great option in the post. I thought they were stupid to go away from Adams for so long. I thought he must've been injured.

 

Not to mention that Portland was sitting on the ball due to their double digit lead.

 

Exactly. The girlfriend was wondering why the Blazers didn't attack all the gaps in the defense. She's still learning and now understands more about possession and running down the clock....but even she could see that there were gaping holes in that scheme with no rim protection.

 

I'll be happy with this season if we just win this series. Beating the hated thunder without nurk. Just the mere fact that we won a series vs a team at full strength

 

I won't. I want the championship. This year. We have a good enough team and the path is clear. When you have a chance to win it all, you do it. 2014 & 2016? Those second rounds were "Just happy to be here." If we defeat the Thunder, we're aiming to win round 2!

 

Was disappointed SA didn't hold serve on their home court and go up 3-1. I'd rather have HCA against the Spurs than be on the road against a young Nuggets team gaining confidence. That said, I think we can beat Denver has well. Just have to get Game 5 here and then Game 1 in Denver if they win.

 

If OKC wants to purposely take their 3rd best player out of this series to run better traps then this series is over already.

We did better last game but without Nurk the Thunder have a clear advantage with Adams who has been money in the paint but for some reason (selfish stars) they fail to exploit it.

 

It's crazy that OKC is hiding their "good defender", while Dame - until recently known as a poor defender - is going up against both Westbrook and George (on the switch) and mostly shutting them down.

 

Good thing I got my tickets when I did. After last night, the price probably doubled.

On second thought, maybe now would be a good time to sell

 

Right? It's baffling. Adams got played off the floor last night. Stotts is coaching circles against Donovan this series.

 

Shuffling through various threads this morning... I had to go back and make sure we won.

Does everyone know we just won a huge game 4? People seem salty.

Go Blazers, all of them. Yes, Even ET, Jake and Rodney.

It's the playoffs. We need EVERYBODY for game 5!

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Schroeder started this game in place of either Ferguson or having Grant move to the 5 and Adams starts on the bench. Either way our gameplan should remain the same, make Westbrick shoot jumpers and good things will happen.

 

Yeah, but there are a couple of problems with this for OKC.

First, playing for that kind of energy for 5 minutes against a team not expecting that desperation ploy and keeping it up for longer stretches against experienced guards that now have seen it are two different things. And, in the end, we started to figure it out, we made them pay and it didn't slice much of anything out of our lead.

Second, the officials really let OKC play during that stretch. Dame got hit going to the hoop and there was no call. Dame clearly establishes position for PG's baseline drive and gets called for a block. Guys are getting ridden up the floor. That's not going to happen again to the extent it did in Game 4.

 

I said this in another thread but I'm gonna echo it again here.

Blazers are doing to PG what the Pelicans did to Dame and CJ. Difference is Dame and CJ are attacking the traps better now. It also helps that they don't have Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis doing the trapping, as Steven Adams is not nimble enough to jump out on the picks and recover to his man. It's jarring that Kanter is actually playing passable pick and roll defense and challenging shots at the rim, while Steven Adams is getting played off the floor because the Blazers are attacking him in the pick and roll. It's literally the opposite of what you expected to happen this series.

At one point in the 3rd quarter they started putting Grant on Kanter and Adams on Harkless just so Enes couldn't set the screen on Dame. In the 4th they just gave that up completely and took Adams out of the game entirely.

I think that's pretty solid coaching from Stotts. Now if he would just cut ET out of the rotation altogether....

 

I just don't want to play Torrey Craig. That dude is a monster whenever I watch him.

 

No. We don't need ET. Do you want to win game 5 too ? Well having his ass on the bench at all time increases our chances.

 

I'd rather play the Spurs. Without Nurk, Jokic is a huge problem. Against the Spurs we can out Aminu on Aldridge and he'll do a decent job. They don't have anyone scary at center. I think we match up well better against them than Denver.

But let's worry about closing this series first