Game Thread WESTERN FINALS, GAME 2: BLAZERS @ WARRIORS - 5/16/19, THURSDAY, 6PM, ESPN

I know to some I'm probably being super annoying and I thought it would be a situation where GS is just the better team and we ran out of gas. I never thought I'd say this but we can beat GS even without Nurkic. That is why I'm so frustrated.

So far we have a coach who got defensive that his game plan to leave Curry and Thompson wide open was incredibly poor, doesn't really have anything to turn to when our guards get trapped other than to hope they can get out of it, and then claims he didn't really have any options in our last timeout other than just give the ball to Dame and hope he gets a shot up.

We could be talking about having a chance at going to the freaking NBA Finals right now.

 

We were in position to do that, and our shooting guard missed some very good looks late. It's as simple as that. Our defense was fine - we stopped scoring in the last 4.5 minutes.

 

Refs called the first half fairly. But I knew they'd even it up in the third.

They did so by allowing what I thought was excessive physical contact against the Blazers on every possession. There were only a couple of blatantly bad calls in the third, but letting GS get away with all that grabbing and pushing was enough.

I'd hoped we'd get a fair shake in the 4th, and it started out okay, but then the bad calls and no calls started adding up. Yet the Blazers still almost (should have) won.

I think the Blazers are better than Golden State.

I think the refs will let us win on our home stand.

I also think the Blazers are going to lose the series.

I hope I'm wrong on the last one.

 

Phil Jackson had arguably the best players in the league on his teams

 

Shots will be missed. Coaching is 100% controllable.

 

Big facts.

 

Infuriating loss!

So many wtf moments:
-Leaving Klay (and sometimes Steph) for wide open threes in order to help on scrubs or go for steals.
-Playing NO Center or PF for a stretch..."(Stotts)lets see if we can get rebounds now...No?! hmmm, interesting" +in the huddle quote "A few lucky bounces went their way" (/Stotts)
-Turner in the game at the end instead of Hood. I guess that game 7 didn't transform him into a good shooter. (Stotts)"Well, That's weird" (/Stotts)
-Iggy pushes Dame into Steph shooting the three and that's a foul on Dame and three shots.
-Crapping the bed in those last minutes. We'll never handle opponent alley hoops.

*Whoriors allowed to foul and do moving screens whenever the refs feel like it - but that's nothing out of the ordinary, really.

I fucking hate Golden State! i want to see them back at the NBA's sewage where they belong. I hate Donkey Green and i hate Lakers fans!

 

Anfernee Simons couldn't have done worse in the last 3 minutes cold off the bench. Perhaps he would have even passed to a wide open teammate a couple of times instead. Missing shots is part of the game but CJ went MeJ when it mattered most and came up Felton doughnuts.

 

Warriors fans are pretty insufferable. Especially the ones that were clearly not fans until 6 years ago. The guy sitting next to me yelled profanities on literally every play while his girlfriend basically sat there expressionless. Not to mention the moment they sat down he literally verbally berated her about something for about 10 minutes. Pretty sure if they lost the game he would have went home and beat her.

There were a good amount of Blazer fans at Oracle. Sad we lost, but series isn’t over yet. Regardless of what happens I hope they take a hard look at Stotts. I don’t really know who is better at this point though. Certainly not a retread.

 

I'm generally against retreads too, but we need someone with playoff experience and/or championship experience. Someone who has coached deep into the playoffs. Was listening to a Zach Lowe pod with SVG and it was eye opening how smart this guy is.

Really wouldn't mind him to replace Stotts. Ya he has at times worn out his welcome and has a huge ego, but he knows the game. He has been on the staff of a championship team in Miami, and led Orlando to the finals. He gets strategy and understands how the game is changing.

We might be worse in the regular season, but he'll more than make up for it in the playoffs.

Also, sidebar. How much were tickets? I'm eyeing game 7.

 

I paid 190 each for upper level center. But they were crappy seats. Oracle has glass railings in every upper level section for some reason that obstructs the view somewhat. Also I was next to the aisle and people kept coming in and out the whole game. Fucking annoying. Whoever designed Oracle should have been fired a long time ago. No wonder they’re moving to a new arena next year. I know the Rose Garden is one of the nicer Arenas, but Oracle has got to be the worst nba venue I’ve been to, and I’ve been to Bankers Life Fieldhouse...

 

losing a 17 point lead in the blink of an eye with one timeout and no subs is on stotts. letting them go on a 7 0 run very late with no subs is stotts. stotts was able to get by against really solid teams but against Kerr and gsw his style fails and will continue to fail until he grows as a coach , which is entirely possible. stotts got his ass whooped and he will grow or go.

 

Not sure this is all on Stotts. Dame and CJ did they thing where they basically panic and toss up contested step back midrangers when the opposing team is going on a run. Bad habits from years prior...

 

Agreed....although bad habits often enabled by the coach IMO.

 

Your right there not playing well but I was more referring to Kanter not Aminu. It really surprised everyone saying Aminu is doing what Kanter is doing for his belief but haven't heard or read that's Aminu doing it. When the conversation comes up to Stotts he only mentioned Kanter doing it and no mention of Aminu.

 

That's better than I expected.

Im in Indy and Bankers is really nice though. Not a single bad seat in the house and I've sat in the last row in the corner.

 

Phil Jackson had great players when he coach them championship. Jordan pippen Kobe Shaq when didn't have those players he didn't win shit.

 

Bankers is an old arena though, especially by nba stadium standards. I remember paying like 50 bucks for lower level tickets for the eastern conference finals against the heat there. Was the game where Lebron had a huge dunk in the first quarter and then scored like 7 points the rest of the game.

But yeah, surprisingly decent prices for a warriors game. Cheaper than the games in Portland even, but again, Warriors fans are such front runners it’s annoying.

 

haha Moda is actually 4 yrs older than the one here. You wouldn't think it so.