[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (15-34) fall to The Denver Nuggets (24-16) 108-120
February 3, 2024
[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (15-34) fall to The Denver Nuggets (24-16) 108-120
27 comments
What a game from Scoot. 30 on efficient scoring and he did it at all three levels. Plus he drew a lot of fouls with his aggressive takes.
A mostly competitive game against the defending champs with Jerami out was like best case.
Also Scoot was fucking incredible. It’s been so fun to see him become more comfortable. Night and day difference from opening night Scoot.
Here are some of my thoughts on this game:
Positives:
* Scoot looked fantastic yet again and it feels like he’s really starting to figure some things out. He was aggressive but not hyperaggressive in transition, and he’s been pretty smart about when to push the pace. And the jump shot is starting to fall more than it did earlier in the season too. I feel like during the game I say “wow this is Scoot’s best game” for like four straight games now which is really amazing to see him grow game after game. * Idk what Chauncey told them but it feels like the entire team suddenly learned how to throw lobs after almost 15 years of not seeing lobs. Seriously it felt like we never threw lobs after Andre Miller left us in 2011. * I thought Ayton did a pretty good job bringing energy on both ends. He’s going to get crucified for his rebound numbers, but we were switching so aggressively that Ayton spent most of the game 25 feet from the basket on defense watching us get killed in the paint, so it’s not really on him that we weren’t able to rebound. * Ant had a fantastic second half after one of the worst first halves of his career (more on that later).
Negatives:
* Switching 1-5 on Jokic (or guarding him with Camara) and then doubling late is certainly interesting. I get that Chauncey is basically gambling that Murray, MPJ, and KCP are missing enough wide open threes to keep us in the game (which honestly might be our best shot at winning the game) but this wouldn’t be how I would choose to defend Denver. Especially after the Nuggets benched Aaron Gordon for most of the 4th quarter and played Peyton Watson (an actual shooter) instead, ensuring that Ayton wouldn’t be able to cheat into the paint and help, Jokic was just getting layup after layup. I get that it works for some possessions and it’s an interesting thing you can do to change it up sometimes, but it’s really poor that Ayton (our biggest and strongest defender) spent like zero possessions guarding Jokic in the post throughout the entire game. * Less of a negative than just an observation, but Scoot would really benefit from a subtle little bump or jump stop pushoff to create separation at the rim. Brogdon is a master of this (he did it twice in the early second quarter), and Ant has finally learned it this year. Oftentimes when Scoot drives he gets walled off at the rim because he goes right from a drive into a layup, but his forward momentum takes him right into the backpedaling defender who’s able to contest the layup. He’s done it a few times into a jumper, but I haven’t seen it into a layup yet and I think it would really help his game. * Ant had a really terrible first half. I will say he looked engaged on defense, and I like that he wasn’t chucking a bunch of bad shots with Scoot and Brogdon both cooking (until the last minute he had 3 FGA), but he looked really passive and even indecisive at times with the Nuggets’ high hedging defense. Ant needed to be more decisive in getting rid of the ball and hitting the short roll where Ayton had a 4-on-3 (like he did early on in the first quarter). He started putting it together in the third quarter though.
This team is fun to watch. Scoot really showed out tonight. We have an exciting future in this group
Scoot looked fucking amazing tonight and so did Ant.
I’m not sure why Chauncey keeps trying to shoehorn in Brogdon in. I’m hope Joe takes the decision out of his hand this week especially with Sharpe coming back
Scoot
Every game. More and more Scoot Doubters become believers.
Scoot with 30 in the NBA on his last day as a teenager .. just wild
It feels so good watching the progression of Scoot, would love him to keep this efficiency up.
We are never escaping the 3 guard lineup
Scoot. Henderson.
Another 30 point performance from Scoot, not bad 👍🏻 He’s growing fast
Best way to lose tbh. I’m more convinced to move Brog at the deadline.
SC00T
If it it’s Anfernee vs Scoot : one stays – one goes – why would you choose Anfernee?
Brogdon gotta go already
I can’t believe no one is talking about how boring it was to watch the 1-8 performance from Rocky the Mountain Lion on backwards halfcourt shots during one of the last timeouts. I was like, “how many tries is he going to get?”.
Do they do mascotting differently in Denver? Is the point to make audiences sad? If so, mission accomplished, Rocky.
Absolutely pitiful. You know he didn’t even call “bank” on that lucky one that went in last-second.
Ayton , man , cmon .
We have to embrace the tank & trade Anfernee. We know where this style of ball gets us. He’s too passive to be a leader. Sell high.
Becoming very apparent that the decision to continue to bring Scoot in off the bench, even with Shae out, was absolutely the right move.
Would have liked to see Reath get more shots when he isn’t missing but some players don’t like to pass.
my main takeaway from the game thread was ant is washed (?) and we need to trade him immediately if not sooner (??)
Trust the process
Good game.
Scoot continues to rise, we played the champs tough, continue our streak of playing actual competitive nba basketball.
Jesus that Denver team is good. Joker is so much fun to watch.
What’s up with Aytons numbers? Didn’t catch game, but he only played 21 min and had 8 and 4?
Idk about you guys, but I thought that outside of the second quarter, that was a pretty painful game. A horrible start in the first where the effort was good but we were ridiculously stagnant without much happening until Scoot came in and played his best quarter ever in the second. I say this as a huge fan of ant who wants nothing more than for him to be the player we all want him to be, but as well as he scored in the second half, it came with some of the most ball stopping, sellfish play I’ve ever seen from him. Scoots second quater barrage came so fluidly and naturally, where everyone felt involved and included on both ends of the floor, while Ant played us out of the game in the first six minutes of the third with some incredibly forced basketball. It worries me that he still cant get into a rhythm in the flow of an offense and needs to completely take over in order to get his shot going.
And sure, it was nice when he couldnt miss at the end of the third and parts of the fourth, but it was a sort of “at what cost?” moment. The whole second half was a three point guard lineup where somehow not a single one of them created for anyone else. I went into this season with the thought that Ant was the true future of the team, but its tough when he doesn’t add much unless hes on fire, and when he is on fire, it comes in this form of ball stopping play. A three point guard lineup losing the assist battle 34-14 is nuts. You could make the argument that Ant’s scoring was what kept us in the game, but it’s also what took us out of it after Scoot got us in it. I feel Scoot’s style of play that he showed in the second quarter is what we should be looking to build off of. I also understand the importance of a player like Anfernee in this 3pt era, but I feel in any other era Ant would be a great quick offense off the bench , but the 3 is so important now that we need a guy like him, but it needs to come in a better form than this.
Scoot has officially arrived. I have said all along that Scoot will have his chances this year to prove why he deserves to push Simons off this team. He has been outplaying Simons as of late and I think its obvious as ever that Scoot need the rest of the season NOW to play and get pushed into the deep end again. He wasn’t ready and it was great to keep Brogdon around but I have always said the deadline is when you have to move the vets and give the young guys the chance to play it out and take leaps in their development. Brogdon and Grant can both leave and Simons/Scoot/Sharpe/Jabari/Toumani/Ayton/Rupert/Murray/Reath can take up all those shots and possessions. Add in two more lottery picks to this group and THAT is how you rebuild…. By this time next year then imagine how strong the young will look then. It took a while for him to understand how to operate at this level. I think nerves and expectations really took a toll on him early but also he was faced with an injured team, an inexperienced coach, and a real lack of spacing and offensive talent around him. Now that he is understanding when to use his speed and strength, we are seeing someone that is living up to the hype that he got leading up to the draft. If he can develop a nice floater, 3 point shot, plus be able to draw fouls because no one can keep up with his combination of size, strength, and speed then he is going to be a problem. His playmaking will finally open up then because teams will have to worry about him drawing fouls or putting pressure on them as a midrange shooter. I thought his upside could be a John Wall type of player but if he is better 3 point shooter, then he can be amazing.
27 comments
What a game from Scoot. 30 on efficient scoring and he did it at all three levels. Plus he drew a lot of fouls with his aggressive takes.
A mostly competitive game against the defending champs with Jerami out was like best case.
Also Scoot was fucking incredible. It’s been so fun to see him become more comfortable. Night and day difference from opening night Scoot.
Here are some of my thoughts on this game:
Positives:
* Scoot looked fantastic yet again and it feels like he’s really starting to figure some things out. He was aggressive but not hyperaggressive in transition, and he’s been pretty smart about when to push the pace. And the jump shot is starting to fall more than it did earlier in the season too. I feel like during the game I say “wow this is Scoot’s best game” for like four straight games now which is really amazing to see him grow game after game.
* Idk what Chauncey told them but it feels like the entire team suddenly learned how to throw lobs after almost 15 years of not seeing lobs. Seriously it felt like we never threw lobs after Andre Miller left us in 2011.
* I thought Ayton did a pretty good job bringing energy on both ends. He’s going to get crucified for his rebound numbers, but we were switching so aggressively that Ayton spent most of the game 25 feet from the basket on defense watching us get killed in the paint, so it’s not really on him that we weren’t able to rebound.
* Ant had a fantastic second half after one of the worst first halves of his career (more on that later).
Negatives:
* Switching 1-5 on Jokic (or guarding him with Camara) and then doubling late is certainly interesting. I get that Chauncey is basically gambling that Murray, MPJ, and KCP are missing enough wide open threes to keep us in the game (which honestly might be our best shot at winning the game) but this wouldn’t be how I would choose to defend Denver. Especially after the Nuggets benched Aaron Gordon for most of the 4th quarter and played Peyton Watson (an actual shooter) instead, ensuring that Ayton wouldn’t be able to cheat into the paint and help, Jokic was just getting layup after layup. I get that it works for some possessions and it’s an interesting thing you can do to change it up sometimes, but it’s really poor that Ayton (our biggest and strongest defender) spent like zero possessions guarding Jokic in the post throughout the entire game.
* Less of a negative than just an observation, but Scoot would really benefit from a subtle little bump or jump stop pushoff to create separation at the rim. Brogdon is a master of this (he did it twice in the early second quarter), and Ant has finally learned it this year. Oftentimes when Scoot drives he gets walled off at the rim because he goes right from a drive into a layup, but his forward momentum takes him right into the backpedaling defender who’s able to contest the layup. He’s done it a few times into a jumper, but I haven’t seen it into a layup yet and I think it would really help his game.
* Ant had a really terrible first half. I will say he looked engaged on defense, and I like that he wasn’t chucking a bunch of bad shots with Scoot and Brogdon both cooking (until the last minute he had 3 FGA), but he looked really passive and even indecisive at times with the Nuggets’ high hedging defense. Ant needed to be more decisive in getting rid of the ball and hitting the short roll where Ayton had a 4-on-3 (like he did early on in the first quarter). He started putting it together in the third quarter though.
This team is fun to watch. Scoot really showed out tonight. We have an exciting future in this group
Scoot looked fucking amazing tonight and so did Ant.
I’m not sure why Chauncey keeps trying to shoehorn in Brogdon in. I’m hope Joe takes the decision out of his hand this week especially with Sharpe coming back
Scoot
Every game. More and more Scoot Doubters become believers.
Scoot with 30 in the NBA on his last day as a teenager .. just wild
It feels so good watching the progression of Scoot, would love him to keep this efficiency up.
We are never escaping the 3 guard lineup
Scoot. Henderson.
Another 30 point performance from Scoot, not bad 👍🏻 He’s growing fast
Best way to lose tbh. I’m more convinced to move Brog at the deadline.
SC00T
If it it’s Anfernee vs Scoot : one stays – one goes – why would you choose Anfernee?
Brogdon gotta go already
I can’t believe no one is talking about how boring it was to watch the 1-8 performance from Rocky the Mountain Lion on backwards halfcourt shots during one of the last timeouts. I was like, “how many tries is he going to get?”.
Do they do mascotting differently in Denver? Is the point to make audiences sad? If so, mission accomplished, Rocky.
Absolutely pitiful. You know he didn’t even call “bank” on that lucky one that went in last-second.
Ayton , man , cmon .
We have to embrace the tank & trade Anfernee. We know where this style of ball gets us. He’s too passive to be a leader. Sell high.
Becoming very apparent that the decision to continue to bring Scoot in off the bench, even with Shae out, was absolutely the right move.
Would have liked to see Reath get more shots when he isn’t missing but some players don’t like to pass.
my main takeaway from the game thread was ant is washed (?) and we need to trade him immediately if not sooner (??)
Trust the process
Good game.
Scoot continues to rise, we played the champs tough, continue our streak of playing actual competitive nba basketball.
Jesus that Denver team is good. Joker is so much fun to watch.
What’s up with Aytons numbers? Didn’t catch game, but he only played 21 min and had 8 and 4?
Idk about you guys, but I thought that outside of the second quarter, that was a pretty painful game. A horrible start in the first where the effort was good but we were ridiculously stagnant without much happening until Scoot came in and played his best quarter ever in the second. I say this as a huge fan of ant who wants nothing more than for him to be the player we all want him to be, but as well as he scored in the second half, it came with some of the most ball stopping, sellfish play I’ve ever seen from him. Scoots second quater barrage came so fluidly and naturally, where everyone felt involved and included on both ends of the floor, while Ant played us out of the game in the first six minutes of the third with some incredibly forced basketball. It worries me that he still cant get into a rhythm in the flow of an offense and needs to completely take over in order to get his shot going.
And sure, it was nice when he couldnt miss at the end of the third and parts of the fourth, but it was a sort of “at what cost?” moment. The whole second half was a three point guard lineup where somehow not a single one of them created for anyone else. I went into this season with the thought that Ant was the true future of the team, but its tough when he doesn’t add much unless hes on fire, and when he is on fire, it comes in this form of ball stopping play. A three point guard lineup losing the assist battle 34-14 is nuts. You could make the argument that Ant’s scoring was what kept us in the game, but it’s also what took us out of it after Scoot got us in it. I feel Scoot’s style of play that he showed in the second quarter is what we should be looking to build off of. I also understand the importance of a player like Anfernee in this 3pt era, but I feel in any other era Ant would be a great quick offense off the bench , but the 3 is so important now that we need a guy like him, but it needs to come in a better form than this.
Scoot has officially arrived. I have said all along that Scoot will have his chances this year to prove why he deserves to push Simons off this team. He has been outplaying Simons as of late and I think its obvious as ever that Scoot need the rest of the season NOW to play and get pushed into the deep end again. He wasn’t ready and it was great to keep Brogdon around but I have always said the deadline is when you have to move the vets and give the young guys the chance to play it out and take leaps in their development. Brogdon and Grant can both leave and Simons/Scoot/Sharpe/Jabari/Toumani/Ayton/Rupert/Murray/Reath can take up all those shots and possessions. Add in two more lottery picks to this group and THAT is how you rebuild…. By this time next year then imagine how strong the young will look then.
It took a while for him to understand how to operate at this level. I think nerves and expectations really took a toll on him early but also he was faced with an injured team, an inexperienced coach, and a real lack of spacing and offensive talent around him. Now that he is understanding when to use his speed and strength, we are seeing someone that is living up to the hype that he got leading up to the draft. If he can develop a nice floater, 3 point shot, plus be able to draw fouls because no one can keep up with his combination of size, strength, and speed then he is going to be a problem. His playmaking will finally open up then because teams will have to worry about him drawing fouls or putting pressure on them as a midrange shooter. I thought his upside could be a John Wall type of player but if he is better 3 point shooter, then he can be amazing.