Or he could be a chemistry killer as well like he was in Minnesota and Chicago. Philly has a talented team, but they aren't necessarily a cohesive unit like Portland and Denver.
Only problem with that, IMO, is Butler thinks he's the lead dog. He tries to set the tone for chemistry but he doesn't realize not all players respond to his kind of motivation. I don't know if he could come to Portland and accept this is Dame's team. He sets the tone here. Boogie is the guy I think really could have benefited from playing with Dame. I think he respected Dame and would defer to Dame and not being seen as the savior but just a great player having fun would have suited him.
And he was quoted after the game as saying he probably took one too many. Talk about awareness of what he wanted to accomplish, and how. People also need to realize, CJ faces just as much defensive pressure as Dame in the playoffs. The difference is, Dame either picks up the dribble prematurely, or exposes the ball too much while splitting the defenders. He's gotten a lot better at it this year, but he still does it regularly. CJ is too tough to get a read on for the doubles to slow him much. The higher the stakes, the more important that skill set becomes.
Yeah, seeing how George became Westbrook's Robin makes it easy to see him as a guy who will take on the personality of whoever is directing the emotional course of the team. Naturally, he comes off as an empty vessel in terms of emotion.
This is true. If you look at Dame's shot chart, for the most part, it looks a lot like Harden's. There's hardly any midrange looks. CJ has a more varied attack, but Dame is by far the better playmaker/finisher. We need both and finally after 4 yrs of them being the mainstays, we've found some synergy. Last night reminded me a lot of Game 1 vs GS where CJ was cooking anyone who guarded him.
Yeah, as much as I love CJ, and prefer his game over Dame's (one guy takes whatever shot the defense gives him, contested or not, while the other hunts for the shot he wants), I have more confidence in Dame's closing abilities and mental consistency. The Harden comparison is interesting, because he's got such an insane ability to stay engaged on every possession throughout a grinder of a game. Dame has a lot of that himself. In the spirit of the thread title, I don't own CJ an apology per se, because I've always been a huge believer in him. However, I do owe CJ/Dame somewhat of an apology, for the synergistic reason you mentioned. I've long said they're limited by being too redundant, rarely playing well at the same time. They're starting to have more games where both are on, such as Game 6. Of course, most nights are more like Game 7, where one is hot and one is cold, but they're getting pretty good at one deferring to the other as needed.
The defense Zach played and the shots he blocked, while playing with 5 fouls, was special. Most guys playing with 5 fouls would let guys make layups. Not Zach. There is no back down in that guy, no matter what the situation.
My God, someone else watched that show. Hey, you're a young guy (who gets all the girls, as your avatar attests, ps you owe me beer for that) how is that possible?
Loved this: CJ McCollum said he didn't need any extra motivation to perform after scoring 37 points in the Portland Trail Blazers' game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets. The Blazers are headed to their first Western Conference finals since 2000. "Honestly, I got enough motivation. I got it out the mud, I went to Lehigh University. You know what I'm saying? No one has ever been drafted there so for me, it's about showing what I can do every night and keeping the door open for the next mid-major," said McCollum, who shot 17-for-29 on the field. McCollum said he channeled LeBron James on a key chase down block in the 4th quarter. "I just went and got it, Bron-style. Shout out to my guy Bron from the 330. It was mini version of LeBron's block on [Andre Iguodala]. Definitely didn't get up as high but it was a cool play. It's something I'll remember; I might have to get a picture of that one," added McCollum.
