Mastodon
@Portland Trail Blazers

[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (19-49) fall to The Chicago Bulls (34-35) 107-110



[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (19-49) fall to The Chicago Bulls (34-35) 107-110

by Kazekid

20 Comments

  1. I appreciate the fight to comeback and even have a chance to win that game. Duop was big in that 4th quarter.

  2. crab90000

    Lots of ref fuckery this game, but they played lazy for 3 quarters and made it entertaining for the 4th.

    Improved lottery odds, fuck it we ball, onto the next

  3. Piano9717

    Here are my thoughts on this game:

    Positives:

    * Ant has looked a lot more comfortable orchestrating the offense lately. He diced up the Bulls out of the PnR and was generating a ton of open looks for everyone, especially Ayton, and it feels like heā€™s facilitating much more naturally now (as opposed to early in the season when a lot of it felt stagnant and forced). I really like the chemistry that he and Ayton have developed, and it feels like Ayton for his part is a lot more comfortable in the short-roll openings that Ant generates. He looked like a real point guard for 99% of the game (until the last minute where he had a meltdown and made like 3 bad decisions, though to be fair he got fouled twice).
    * I lowkey liked the Simons/Scoot/Banton lineup in the fourth quarter. Bantonā€™s size allows you to play 3 ballhandlers at once without sacrificing too much size, switchability, or defense. I wouldnā€™t mind seeing more of that.
    * Banton continues to look impressive. Itā€™s nice that he seems like heā€™s contributing and playing well off the ball without dominating it like he did when all our guards were injured. I like this lower usage, secondary ballhandler version of him a lot.
    * Ayton continued his hot streak ā€“ another great game by him.
    * Reath got destroyed by Drummond in his first shift but came back in the 4th quarter and looked fantastic and was really impactful.

    Negatives:

    * I really didnā€™t like our defense for the first three quarters. We were committed to switching everything and bringing doubles against DeRozan and Vucevic, but it was basically giving the Bulls free open shots the entire game. Really not a fan of that gameplan ā€“ itā€™s ok in stretches but not going to work for an entire game.
    * We kept crashing the offensive glass way too aggressively and giving the Bulls (especially Dosumnu) free transition opportunities. This has been a recurring theme for us during Chaunceyā€™s entire tenure and I really think itā€™s just philosophically not smart (just like double teaming so aggressively).
    * Scoot got to the rim a lot which is good, but his finishing is ROUGH right now. So many missed layups ā€“ he went like 2/11 inside the restricted area tonight. Fortunately, this can be worked on, but right now itā€™s really brutal to watch. He also had a rough night with turnovers and struggled to create separation in ISOs (partly because defenders feel so comfortable gapping him and daring him to shoot the ball).
    * Kris Murray is starting to worry me with how badly he misses wide open shots ā€“ especially from the corner it feels like heā€™s always missing left and right (as opposed to long and short) which is not a good sign.
    * Thybulle getting hurt sucks.
    * Also, Camara isnā€™t usually overaggressive or jumpy but he definitely got baited into some cheap fouls by DeRozan tonight. Oh well, thatā€™s what he does ā€“ DeRozan is very good at that indeed.

  4. Bieberkinz

    After what felt like an eternity for the first 3 quarters, the Blazers turned it up in the fourth quarter and Iā€™m thankful for that.

  5. rift_reloadz

    Really wish we went to ayton at least once in the last 2 minutes.

  6. ApuFromTechSupport

    Cant wait for the L2M to say exactly how long Vucevic was in the paint for

  7. sean_buttcannon

    You know what man. Teams been looking good recently despiteā€™s the loses. That is all you can ask for.

    Also cool to see Dame there supporting them.

  8. GaviFromThePod

    am I the only one who thought that the refs totally fucked us? It felt like we were getting hit with ticky tacky and the bulls were getting away with murder.

  9. One of the best almost comebacks all yearā€¦ That extra long lineup was cooking.

  10. masta_wayne__

    Scoots strengths coming into the league were supposed to be his finishing, athleticism, court vision, and passing. The guy canā€™t finish at the rim at all. His vision is there, but he gets ripped constantly, makes terrible plays in transition – turns it over a ton. Iā€™m getting very worried about the guy. But anyway, Anfernee is the future pg of this team (thanks Olshey, one of the few good things you did)

  11. thatonekrys

    First game I’ve watched in a couple weeks, and definitely worth it even if we lost. The guys played *hard.* That near-comeback was intense, especially when they were down 16 at one point.

    They might be out of the playoffs, but these boys aren’t done playing.

  12. Aytonsconfusedface

    I don’t know how some of y’all think Rupert should be playing. That 4 minutes was terrible

  13. Critical-Adhole

    Refs screwed us with that no call foul on Banton.

  14. Next time we get a top 3 pick in the draft – just trade that sumbitch

  15. PatrickVieira

    How was Scoot? Twitter is hating on him hardĀ 

Write A Comment