[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (19-49) fall to The Chicago Bulls (34-35) 107-110
March 19, 2024
[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (19-49) fall to The Chicago Bulls (34-35) 107-110
14 comments
I appreciate the fight to comeback and even have a chance to win that game. Duop was big in that 4th quarter.
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
Great loss
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 he’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. Banton’s size allows you to play 3 ballhandlers at once without sacrificing too much size, switchability, or defense. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that. * Banton continues to look impressive. It’s nice that he seems like he’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 – 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 didn’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 – it’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 Chauncey’s entire tenure and I really think it’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 – he went like 2/11 inside the restricted area tonight. Fortunately, this can be worked on, but right now it’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 – especially from the corner it feels like he’s always missing left and right (as opposed to long and short) which is not a good sign. * Thybulle getting hurt sucks. * Also, Camara isn’t usually overaggressive or jumpy but he definitely got baited into some cheap fouls by DeRozan tonight. Oh well, that’s what he does – DeRozan is very good at that indeed.
After what felt like an eternity for the first 3 quarters, the Blazers turned it up in the fourth quarter and I’m thankful for that.
That Banton no call is a killer
Really wish we went to ayton at least once in the last 2 minutes.
Cant wait for the L2M to say exactly how long Vucevic was in the paint for
You know what man. Teams been looking good recently despite’s the loses. That is all you can ask for.
Also cool to see Dame there supporting them.
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.
Now we just need warriors to lose to the knicks
One of the best almost comebacks all year… That extra long lineup was cooking.
Dominayton
Scoots strengths coming into the league were supposed to be his finishing, athleticism, court vision, and passing. The guy can’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. I’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)
14 comments
I appreciate the fight to comeback and even have a chance to win that game. Duop was big in that 4th quarter.
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
Great loss
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 he’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. Banton’s size allows you to play 3 ballhandlers at once without sacrificing too much size, switchability, or defense. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that.
* Banton continues to look impressive. It’s nice that he seems like he’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 – 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 didn’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 – it’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 Chauncey’s entire tenure and I really think it’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 – he went like 2/11 inside the restricted area tonight. Fortunately, this can be worked on, but right now it’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 – especially from the corner it feels like he’s always missing left and right (as opposed to long and short) which is not a good sign.
* Thybulle getting hurt sucks.
* Also, Camara isn’t usually overaggressive or jumpy but he definitely got baited into some cheap fouls by DeRozan tonight. Oh well, that’s what he does – DeRozan is very good at that indeed.
After what felt like an eternity for the first 3 quarters, the Blazers turned it up in the fourth quarter and I’m thankful for that.
That Banton no call is a killer
Really wish we went to ayton at least once in the last 2 minutes.
Cant wait for the L2M to say exactly how long Vucevic was in the paint for
You know what man. Teams been looking good recently despite’s the loses. That is all you can ask for.
Also cool to see Dame there supporting them.
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.
Now we just need warriors to lose to the knicks
One of the best almost comebacks all year… That extra long lineup was cooking.
Dominayton
Scoots strengths coming into the league were supposed to be his finishing, athleticism, court vision, and passing. The guy can’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. I’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)