Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 6: NUGGETS @ BLAZERS - JUNE 3, 2021 - THURSDAY, 5:00, TNT & NBCSNW

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Darkwebs, Jun 2, 2021.

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In your opinion, was Lillard's performance in Game 5 the best ever in an NBA Playoff game?

Poll closed Nov 28, 2021.
  1. Yes, not even close.

    14.5%
  2. Yes

    25.5%
  3. No, but if the Blazers would've won the game, my answer would've been a "yes"

    38.2%
  4. No

    21.8%
  5. No, not even close

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. EGame

    EGame "You're the only one of these fools I trust"

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    Yeah I'm not sure what this guy is going for and I don't think he knows what hes going for with the comments hes making.
     
  2. Terry Stawts

    Terry Stawts Member

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    Yeah CJ should have... been crashing the boards on those 50 foot fade aways
     
  3. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    Hmmm.... so who's alt account is this?
     
  4. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Postgame Notes – June 3, 2021
    Denver 126, Portland 115
    First Round, Game 6


    TEAM
    • Both teams made 15 three pointers; Portland was 15-of-36 (41.7%) while Denver was 15-of-34 (44.1%).
    • The Trail Blazers recorded seven steals and seven blocks, while the Nuggets had eight steals and three rejections. Portland’s seven steals were a series-high, and seven blocks tied marks set in Games 2 and 4.
    • The Trail Blazers had six players score in double-figures, including all five starters. Portland had six players finish in double-digits 21 times during the regular season.
    • Portland’s 2020-21 season ends after six games in the first round, falling 2-4 to the Denver Nuggets. The Trail Blazers have reached the postseason in each of the past eight seasons, the longest active streak in the NBA.
    • Denver advances to the Western Conference Semifinals to play the winner of the series between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers.

    PLAYER
    • Damian Lillard led Portland with 28 points (8-20 FG, 3-11 3-PT, 9-9 FT), four rebounds, 13 assists and two steals. His 13 assists tied a postseason career-high (May 22, 2021 at DEN).
    • Damian Lillard finished with 35 three-pointers in the series, setting an NBA record for most three-pointers made in any playoff series (33 - Donovan Mitchell, 2020 vs. Denver).
    • CJ McCollum added 21 points (9-21 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 1-2 FT), four rebounds, three assists and one block in 38 minutes.
    • Norman Powell had 17 points (6-13 FG, 3-6 3-PT, 2-2 FT), four rebounds, two assists and one steal. It was his third-highest scoring game of the 2021 postseason.
    • Jusuf Nurkic recorded 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field (3-4 FT) to go with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
    • Robert Covington finished with 11 points (3-3 3-PT, 2-2 FT), 10 rebounds, three steals and one rejection. It was his second consecutive double-double.
    • Carmelo Anthony scored 14 points (5-9 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 3-3 FT), to go with five rebounds, four assists and one block off the bench.
    • Anfernee Simons had nine points (3-3 3-PT) and one block in 21 minutes.
    • Nikola Jokic led Denver with 36 points (13-22 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 8-8 FT), eight rebounds, six assists and one steal. Jokic’s 36 points were tied for the fifth-highest postseason scoring total of his career.
    • Michael Porter Jr. scored 26 points (10-19 FG, 6-12 3-PT), all in the first-half. It was the highest scoring half of his career, including both regular and postseason. All six of his three pointers came in the first quarter, tying an NBA playoff record for threes in a quarter (A. Walker, 2002 and D. Lillard, 2021).
     
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  5. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Thursday, June 3, 2021 Final Score: POR 115, DEN 126


    HEAD COACH MICHAEL MALONE

    On Michael Porter Jr. big first quarter:
    "It was huge, he had 22 points in that first quarter. Nikola (Jokic) got in foul trouble, and I loved seeing Michael so aggressive. He had 26 points in back-to-back games and he’s only a second-year player, so Michael is only going to get better than he already is. It was important for Michael to get off to that start because he kept us afloat.”

    On limiting Damian Lillard in the fourth quarter:
    “My coaches let me know that Dame (Damian Lillard) fell in the fourth quarter, and I believe he hit his head pretty hard. Knowing Damian Lillard, knowing where he’s from, he’s probably not going to use any excuses. Dame is a warrior and I have the ultimate respect for him but I think once he hit his head, he wasn’t the same after that. We did a good job, but I don’t think he was right after falling down and hitting his head. Obviously, he requires a tremendous amount of attention, we gave him the requisite amount of attention.”


    On Nikola Jokic this series:
    “Nikola has been incredible for many years now and I think in our four wins in this series, he averaged 36 or 37 points a game, probably close to 10 rebounds, and around 6 or 7 assists. That’s why he’s the clear cut MVP because we can take anybody away from our team, if we have Nikola Jokic we are going to find a way to compete because that’s how great he is. I told the team at halftime that we have to get Nikola going on offense, he got in early foul trouble and only took seven shots in the first half, our best player can’t have seven shots at halftime. I liked his energy, he was much more aggressive on the catch and when you see an aggressive Nikola Jokic, that is a welcome sight and he becomes really hard to guard because he’s going to score or get somebody else a wide-open shot and that’s what makes him great in my book.”

    Michael Porter Jr.

    On his play in the first quarter:
    “My mindset was focused on starting the game hot for my team because I knew they were going to come out super aggressive and my mindset was to weather the storm as much as you can and help my teammates feel confident to make plays themselves. I knew it was going to be rough out there so I was just shooting and being aggressive.”

    On winning Game 6 in a hostile environment:
    “We got a lot of dudes who are tough players. I had my moment in the first half and then I cooled off the rest of the game. Jokic obviously took over but the way Austin (Rivers) and AG (Aaron Gordon) had their moments and then Monte (Morris) in the fourth quarter. We have a lot of dudes who are capable and we are a deep team so it was a total team effort tonight.”

    On team fighting through adversity:
    “I think we have such a tight-knit group that we just don’t listen to the noise. I don’t think Jokic has social media, I don’t get on social media so we don’t really hear some of the noise, it helps us stay locked-in. We believe in ourselves, we are constantly encouraging each other in the locker room. We did it last year, a lot of people were saying that we couldn’t come back from 3-1 and we did it twice. I think we’re just used to having to believe in ourselves.”

    Nikola Jokić

    On what moments stood out in this comeback win:
    “I don’t know, I think we played with a lot of focus, even when they were up a lot. I think we actually stayed as a group, and then in the fourth quarter it was a tie game. When Monte [Morris] made a layup or a three to get us the lead, that was maybe a big moment. Actually I think Austin Rivers made a three from the left side of the court, I think that was a big three. I think JaMychal Green played extremely well, he maybe didn’t score a lot but I thought his presence was really good for us. Monte was really good for us, he made big shots, he played really mature basketball. made a big corner three, Mike [Michael Porter Jr.] carried us in the first quarter, so I think it was a team effort.”

    On where their team’s belief in themselves comes from:
    “I think you try to not get mad at someone, you know when [they] take a bad shot, except me, I get mad at everybody, but just for a second. But we’re playing team basketball, we are really team oriented, like Mike [Michael Porter Jr.] had a really good going, and everybody works for him to get going. So when he’s scoring, everybody works for him to shoot more. So like I said it’s really just a team effort, very team basketball, so I think everybody’s enjoying it. So even if you lose, we know we play as a team, so we lost altogether.”

    On how he balances including his team in the play and going himself:
    “I mean it just happens in the game, so sometimes like in the first quarter, I was not even that aggressive, I didn’t want to force it. Why force when I have a really good guy, really good score, so why do I maybe make him angry so I can sacrifice myself a couple minutes or a quarter, so he’s scoring and he carried the team [Michael Porter Jr.]. So I think it just happens in the game you know, sometimes the ball will find me, sometimes I get the guys open, so it’s just the way we play basketball.”
     
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  6. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS

    “Before you ask your question, I’d just like to say congratulations to Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets. They outplayed us. They deserved to win the series. They did a great job on both ends of the court. So my hat’s off to them, wish them well in the next series because they certainly deserved to win this series.”

    On the Trail Blazers play in the fourth quarter:
    “I don’t know, I kind of tend to stay away from the word ‘meltdown.’ It sounds a little over the top, but we didn’t make some shots, they made some big plays. It was a tight game. Actually, it was the time before that when we had our lead, I thought that was a time where we lost our composure and offensively, we got a little stagnant and got them back in the game. But when it was 108-108, credit to them. They made the plays and we didn’t.”

    On Portland missing close shots:
    “Look, it’s frustrating to lose the game. It’s frustrating to lose the lead. It’s frustrating when some things don’t work out. I don’t know what you want me to say on that. Things don’t go well, it can be frustrating, yes.

    On fighting hard the whole series:
    “I thought we played hard. In the playoffs, everybody plays hard. To fault effort in the playoffs – some teams, different players play it differently, but I thought we competed well. You look at game 3 and game 5, their three point shooting really hurt us in those two games and was the difference in those two games. We had our good moments and they had their good moments. I’m proud of our guys. I told them after the game we put ourselves in a great position. We won 10 out of 12 at the end of the season to get the six seed to stay out of the play-in game. That showed a lot of character in what we did at that point of the season. It’s disappointing to lose in the playoffs. There’s no question about that. Denver is a good team. Jokic is a great player and everything goes around him, but I couldn’t be more proud of what we did to get ourselves in the position to be the six seed and obviously I’m very disappointed with the outcome.”

    On the season as a whole:
    “It’s been a tough season, it’s been up and down. I think a lot of people have talked about this, it’s almost like last season and this season were kind of rolled into one long season. Last season was very challenging for a lot of different reasons and then you roll into this season, and our expectations were high. I’ve said this before, what we were able to do with Nurk missing 35 games and CJ missing 25 games, there’s a lot to be proud of, of what we did in the regular season. I know it can be frustrating at times, but when those guys came back and as I mentioned, at the end of the season, to do what we did was pretty impressive. I think we had been written off and we weren’t, and that showed a lot of character on our guys. But there’s no question, it was a challenging season I think for every team in the league. A lot of players and coaches have talked about the combination of last season and the bubble and rolling into this season, I think it was a challenge for everybody in the league.”

    On deciding whether or not to challenge the foul by Jusuf Nurkic on a Nikola Jokic three-point attempt:
    “I did consider it. The reason I didn’t was one, our coach behind the bench with the replay had video that said that he fouled him. And the other one was Nurk said, ‘I barely touched him.’ Well, if you barely touched him, that’s going to be a foul. So those were the two reasons why I didn’t.”

    On how to improve the team in the offseason:
    “I’m not avoiding that question but I think now is a little too early to think about what we have to do for next year. Neil and his staff, there’s a lot to go into that. We have free agents. There’s a lot that goes into that question and I’m just not prepared to answer it at this point.”

    DAMIAN LILLARD

    On his thoughts after the game:
    “I have no idea. I had a great summer (last summer) preparing myself for the season, I had a lot of things going on personally down the stretch of the season and got right and closed out the season how I wanted too. I came into the playoffs healthy and with my mind right and ready to go. My only concern was making the playoffs and making a strong push. To come up short and for our season to end on our home floor is disappointing, that’s as far as I am with it right now. I’m not really thinking about the other stuff, we’ll see what happens but I haven’t even thought that far out.”

    Thoughts on first-round exit:
    “Just because we make it to the NBA and become successful people, it doesn’t take away that we have our own lives, life happens to us like it happens to everybody else. I don’t think this makes it any worse, it was bad. My family and my loved ones come before basketball. I don’t think this would have made any better or worse. When you put everything into it and you come up short, it’s disappointing.”

    On his collision with Nikola Jokic in the fourth quarter:
    “He rung my bell a little bit, I was going after the ball and he came in from the side so I think his shoulder just hit my head. I was a little shook up from it, but after that hit it kind of knocked me off my game a little bit because it was a blow to the head. It was a tough collision.”


    On his message to the team:
    “We fought through a lot of injuries this season, we hit some adversity and stayed together like a true team does and we went to battle. We don’t make excuses, it was a disappointing ending, it’s not what we wanted. We don’t hang our heads in no situation but we just came up short.”

    On the season Nikola Jokic had:
    “Throughout the season I go back and watch every game possible. I’ve seen a lot of his games and I think he is the MVP, he’s played every game, he does everything for his team and I think we got to front row seat to that in this series. He’s making three’s, he scoring on the block, he’s scoring at the free-throw line, he’s making other guys better, he’s everything for them. If there was any year where I think there was a guy like him that could lead his team to a championship, it would be this year because of how open the (conference) is. In my eyes, I feel like any team can compete and go get it done which is why it’s even more disappointing for me because I feel like if any year you can shoulder the load and go get one, it was this one.”

    On how he and the team can improve for next season:
    “The last two years we have been at the bottom on defense, so we got to be a better defensive team. For me, I got to do what I always do; sit down with my trainers and the people that watch me closely and listen to what the truth is. Work on the things I got to be better and more efficient at, attack it and keep making strides and improving as a player and individual.”

    CJ McCOLLUM

    On the Trail Blazers play in the fourth quarter:
    “I’ll have to go back and watch the film. I think we scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. So we didn’t make shots. Defensively to only give up 28 I don’t think we did a terrible job. A lot of it was fouls towards the end of the quarter, but I think they just did a good job at moving the ball. And a good job at forcing us into tough contested shots. We missed some shots we normally make as well. Credit them. They played a great series and played a great game. For us to be up double digits in the majority is tough.”

    On his overall thoughts on Game 6:
    “I thought everybody played as hard as they could. Everybody was locked into the game understanding what was at stake. I don’t think people miss shots on purpose. I don’t think people… Sometimes the game just doesn’t go your way. Everybody played, everybody competed I think it’s more so credit to them. They played well.”
     
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  7. SIeepwalker

    SIeepwalker The lone sane poster

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    Stotts is a terrible, terrible coach.

    All series we have been KILLED when we didn't have Nurk to guard Jokic, and he purposely went away from that late in the 4th. Clown
     
  8. stampedehero

    stampedehero Make Your Day, a Doobies Day Staff Member Moderator

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  9. Almir

    Almir Well-Known Member

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    After disapointing night i mean morning actually, match finished around of 5 am in my time zone, now i slept, it is 1 pm, nice weather in Bosnia, i cool off my head, and now want to say again something without that first angry which i had after the match.

    Stotts is worst coach in the world. He is not a coach at all. The onky reason why Blazers and Dame are wasting time without trophies. The only reason why we are out of PO.

    He did not trust his player who told him to challenge three point foul. Key moment in the match.

    My head is cold now. I f.ck whole Stoots close and wide family members with 21 years old and older.
     
  10. garbagetime

    garbagetime Member

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    Locally, every move is overhyped about this team. Their offseason moves with Covington et al were supposed to bring the title here. Acquiring Powell was supposed to bring the title here. Anthony was supposed to bring the title here. Because I live in Pdx, their bullshit is always in my face and the media bullshit about them is hype and is not based in reality. They just don't tell it like it is. Lillard is one of the best players in the league, but CJ could not guard a double amputee. Anthony can't defend anyone except maybe Jodi Allen. But, that reality is never brought out. It is always Lillard, Lillard, Lillard as though having the best player in the league is all the team needs. It takes a team to win a title, not just having the best player in the league.
     
  11. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    no more needs to be said
     
  12. garbagetime

    garbagetime Member

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    I didn't overhype the Blazers. I figured they were better than a team with no point guards and a couple of forwards with essentially no playoff experience. I still ask: How the hell did the great Blazers lose to a team like Denver? I am not going to go into the details of explaining it. It is sufficient to say that the Blazers are just not that good despite all the bullshit one reads in the Oregonian and hears from the homer broadcasters.
     
  13. garbagetime

    garbagetime Member

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    Stotts may not be the worst coach in the world. However, I would guess that over 50% of the people writing on these boards could have done as well (poorly) as Stotts did when Lillard is on the team. Stotts did nothing to overcome whatever deficiencies the Blazers had after considering Lillard's excellence. It takes a team to win, not just one player; and a team win includes good coaching decisions and management. As to the latter, Stotts failed miserably. To have all your players and lose to a team without its point guards is a disaster and alone is the reason Stotts should be fired. On the other hand, it is fine with me if they keep him. I like seeing the overhyped Blazers go bye-bye in the first round most of the time. It's just too bad we don't get to hear those homer broadcasters explain how they were totally wrong about the Blazers. All hail to the Nuggets for overcoming their time of troubles.
     

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