The Portland Trail Blazers Are SHOCKING the NBA Right Now!
Hey, we got to get to the Portland Trailblazers because y’all, you know, Chill, you were you were already on this. You know, you had called this before the season. Now, you know, there were some of us that said they would be a good team and I think that the Portland Trailbladers are going to push towards the playoffs. You know, Chill, we don’t know if they’re going to make it, but this is what we do know about Portland. They are going to make you play basketball for a full 48 minutes and you’re going to have to go to overtime with them if need be. Now Mars has said that he thinks Tammani Kamar is the best and most versatile defender in the league in terms of defender. Yeah. Most versatile. And I think there’s an argument for it. Yesterday Denny Oia only made five shots, but he was 26 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, two steals, and a block. He actually played really, really well down the stretch of the game. Tammani Kamar had 16 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Played really good defense on SJ last night. Shaden Sharp 18 points, y’all. Six to 15 from the field. Drew Holidayiday, though, starting point guard. I know Houston Rockets fans would love to have this player on their roster. 22 points, six rebounds, three assists, seven of 16. And honestly, the numbers don’t do justice just how good he was. Jeremy Grant had nine points off the bench. He continues to close for them down the stretch. Did the same thing versus Denver. Did the same thing versus the Thunder. He played very well last night. SGA little bit of a struggle bus. He was just 10 to 26 from the field, but he got 35 points, seven nine rebounds, and four assists. And he got to the line 13 times. you know, he was doing what he always does, able to continue to create contact and get to the free throw line. AJ Mitchell taking like a star level leap for a role player. 21 points yesterday. He looked really good. He was seven of 11 from the field. And y’all, if you didn’t watch this game chat, go back and watch it on NBA.com. You can go look at all the highlights because chill, what happened was is that SGA because he had to play a little bit more defense than he normally had. He had to get really aggressive, got four fouls really quickly yesterday and then Ox picked up his fifth foul down the stretch of the fourth quarter and what they did was great. This is what you got to do. They were hunting SGA repeatedly. Now, SGA, to his credit, had played good defense, but when you get in the fifth foul and you’re also the only reason your team is there right now, chill, you just can’t play the same kind of defense as normal. They hunted SGA on four straight possessions and got four straight buckets. At this point though, Chill, I was on your side, Mark. Remember, we had you all about ghost screens and not switching and not giving up. I was just like, “Yo, stop stop making him go one-on-one.” Because Denny, who’s developed a lot, yo, he would get on a drive. I’m talking Damian. He would do the swing underneath and SJ just kind of had to let go and let it fly and he would get a layup. But great job by the Portland Trailblazers. They get a narrow victory by two points, win the game at the free throw line. Chill, I’ll do the honor. The thing that I the the thing that I I have to accept the fact that, you know, 20 point leads in the NBA are not that bad. Like we can make 20 up like quickly. 20 points. And I used to think that, you know, you get you get 15, you get 18 in a hole, yo, you dead. And I’m that’s largely due to the fact that I’m still stuck on what was. No, because of the because of the invention of the long ball and because of how fast these guys play today, we could turn 20 into 12 in less than a minute. We could turn 20 into into eight in less than in less than three minutes. We can get right back in the game. And I felt like the Trailblazers when Drew Holiday got going, they got right back in that game. the the key to this and I got to give coach T I I got to go I got to give coach Splitter a lot of a lot of praise because I think what he did I think he out coached coach Dagno last night. Dagnaugh went to that small ball lineup. He’s got SGA on the floor with Wiggins, Mitchell, SGA, Miggins, SGA, Wiggins, Mitchell, um Joe and and Hartinstein. He’s he has them on the floor. He keeps his big lineup with Danny Avia Grant. He’s got Drew Holiday. He’s got Kamara and he’s got Klingan who I would love for Klingan even though he’s young. I’d love for him to start to look at the basket a little bit more because what you can’t be is you can’t just be a big out here that’s on the floor. I’d like for him to look at the basket a little bit more ox. And I think that once you know he gets more comfortable in his offense, he will. But I think that they took advantage of that small lineup. I thought that Danny Advia I thought he did a great job when we got into the meat and potatoes of the game attacking those small guys getting downhill. He punched one down the lane. Why? That should have been an N1 actually. Ox, the one that he punched down the lane. I thought that was great. Not only Not only that, I think Kamara is just getting more and more comfortable with his catch and shoot at the long ball line. And you dudes, maybe it’s the left-handed thing, but tell me if I’m out of line, and this might sound crazy. I think that D I I think that Kamara is what I think he’s going to be in terms of defense and offense because I think he’s going to be a better scorer. I think he’s gonna be a better version of what Kelly Ubé was was supposed to be. Like I think Kelly Ubé was supposed to be a really good player in terms of offense and defense. When I look at bigger, I think he I I think he I think he’s going to be a better version of that knockdown jump shooter kind of like what Kelly Ubé is right now playing with Tyrese Maxi, but much better on the perimeter. I do think that he overexerts himself a lot of times on closeouts and in fouls because at the end of that game Was that fair? Was that a fair whistle chill? 100% is a fair whistle. We have a rule in the game. He jumped into it. That was a foul. But he jumped forward. He jumped forward. Chill. Isaiah leans as far into that as he could to the refs. The refs did their best to give that to OKC. F first and foremost, they have a rule. You are in my landing space. You know that as a defender. So, you knowing that as a defender, there’s a way that you have to close out. You can’t stand up underneath a guy, especially at that juncture of the game, because you can end up getting a whistle, right? And Kamar, I think that his closeouts a lot of times get him in trouble because he he lands a lot of times in guys landing space. I think he’s great with his hands. I think he’s great as a one-on-one defender. I thought that he was as good as he could possibly be with SGA, making SGA take that tough fall away shot on the on the wing. But I I I thought he did as good a job as he possibly can. The problem is is he finds himself in those spaces where he can foul. But this Portland Trailblazer team offensively down the stretch, I thought that they were great in that fourth quarter. They weren’t good early on in the game, but I thought that they were great in the fourth quarter. This Trailblazer team, they’re on to something, man. I do. I like what I’m seeing with this Trailblazer team. But I can tell you one thing, Marz, that I’m standing on. I mean, for every one game we lose, we win eight. I think that’s 75 wins for the season. Chill. They don’t they don’t and they’re not even on that’s all I got to say about that. Like so for me to so we um I left practice last night and rushed to go catch as much of this game as I could. So I only got to see the I only got to see the fourth quarter, y’all. I’m going to admit that. I didn’t get to see the first three, but the the fourth quarter I did see was very impressive from the Portland Trailblazers. And shout out to them. I think they played with a lot of aggression on the defensive end. They’re they’re tenacious. All of that. You know what I’m saying? Really good. Really good what I saw. Shout out to Drew Holiday. I know some of y’all thought he was washed, but anyways, can we maybe calm down a little bit? We do know that what the OKC was missing what, three starters, like four. Like I mean, yeah, but OKC missing 28 starters is still one of the best teams in the league. Yeah, I do understand that. I do understand that. But what I’m saying is let’s not let’s not say let’s just because they beat OKC, let’s not make it seem like, oh, that puts the Trailblazers at the top of the West, like, oh, they beat the best team, you know? Well, and that’s that’s what I’m saying. Let’s let’s let’s reel it in a little bit. They they beat a very good team. Mars, I’m with you on that. I feel you. The OKC is still really good. I feel you. But it’s different with JDub. It’s different with Chad. It’s different with um you know, with with with Caruso and them. It’s a little different. So, although I’m still really excited about what the Blazers did last night and I think they I think they they beat OKC and beat the refs, I still I’m still acknowledging like, yeah, this is still not, you know, and I I don’t want to I don’t want to come off as like winning championship. Yeah. If I told you after games, the Blazers had their schedule was Minnesota, Golden State, Clippers, Lakers, Jazz, Nuggets, Lakers, Thunder. That’s their schedule. If I told you they’d be five and three after playing what I would probably deem to be the hardest schedule in the league outside of the Jazz, they played a lot of good teams. Now context, obviously they played the Lakers without Luca and Reeves and Bronn and they actually lost that game. But that schedule being five and three, I think you would take that if you’re a Blazers fan. Like it can really only get easier from here. Like there’s no way it gets harder than that. Like they’ve had they’ve been in schedule to start and they’ve blown out some good teams too. To your point, Morris, I mean you I mean you know I’m in Portland and the people of Portland, they’re excited for this basketball team. So you’re right about that. Like these games Portland the Trailblazers have been showing that they’re here to compete and they want to win and that’s what they’re doing. They’re competing and they’re winning some games, you know. So shout out to them. Once again, I don’t want to come off like I’m like I’m, you know, speaking down on the Blazers. I’m more so just saying like OKC isn’t full throttle. Let’s just I just want to remind us that, you know, let’s not use this as a gauge of of what that we’re not moving in, Ox. We just dating. We had a really good date. It It was nice. We had a good time. Let’s relax. We’re not Right. You know what I’m saying? She She You know, she responded to the 2 a.m. text, you know. So, that’s it. That’s all it is. Like, we ain’t moving in together. We’re not, you know, we’re not getting matching bed sets and no [ __ ] like that. No, relax. You know, we had a good time. So, I mean, and we got something good going on right now. Let’s just keep that going. So, I like I like what they doing with the Trailblazers. I do. I really like what they’re doing with the Trailblazers. I wasn’t to to your point, Damian, I wasn’t comfortable saying what I said about Houston last year. I wasn’t comfortable because I didn’t think that the Trailblazers were that good going into the season. Like I was selling Mars on Houston before the season started last year. I didn’t think the Trailblazers were that good, but I did think that they were better than what people were giving them credit for. And I thought that they were on to something. Are they better than the Mavericks right now? Yes. Yes, they are. Memphis. Mavericks. They’re better than better than the Mavericks, who might be the worst team in the conference. They’re better than the Mavericks. They’re better than the Grizzlies. They’re better than a lot of teams in the Western Conference right now. And uh I remember last year I said this is like the team of ultimate third options. Like they have so many third options. This is before they added Drew Holiday. I just thought like this was a team that was perfect for a star. Like I didn’t know which star. It could be literally any top 20 player, top 15 player can go over to this team and have everything you could possibly need. You have secondary creators, you have defenders, you have rim protectors. Donovan Klingan hit a three. Shout outs to Donovan Klingan, man. So, you’ve got depth across the roster. I think at some point if this team is like sniffing eight seed, seven seed, six seed, I wonder if they would consider a consolidation trade. Robert Williams, Drew Holidayiday, guys like this. I wonder if they would because this is a team that just lost to the G- League Lakers just like three days ago. Like we don’t remember that. Like they lost to a team without Luca, LeBron, and Austin Reeves. They lost to Nick Smith Jr. Do you think they just might have took their Do you think they just might have took their foot off the gas? 20% from three. I saw them get thoroughly handled in the fourth quarter. I I I I I appreciate the the mental approach of seeing LeBron, Luca, and AR-15 are out, so we’re just going to coast to a win and getting caught, you know? I get that. But at the same time, like I I watched them have a lead, squander the lead, and not be able to do anything about it. I watched Drew Holiday airballing shots. Like I mean, but to be fair, Pin, you you did say, and I think this is not a a gotcha. This is more you’re pointing out something that is true on both ends that they literally you just said you a 20-point lead in the NBA is not what it used to be. And I think Chill might have said that. Yeah, Chill said that. Chill said you a 20-point lead not what it used to be. Well, the three-point line has made the it’s the ultimate equalizer. If you don’t make yours and I make mine, I can beat anybody. Washington can beat the fully healthy Thunder. We I mean, we saw the Nuggets even in preseason, they played without uh I think Gordon, uh Jokic, Murray, and without uh Christian Brown. And I think the the Thunder were fully healthy. They beat him 5946 in the first half in part because of three-point shooting. I mean, if you just can’t hit threes, then anybody can catch you on a given day. And I think Portland, they’re really good. Uh, and I’ll be curious to see how they they continue to get better. I was very impressed about the Portland Trailblazers last year. They went on a stretch bars. I think they were like top 10 for three weeks, four weeks or something like that. They were performing really well. They were playing really well. Donovan Klingan. And the thing is, chill, they’re kind of biting off the OKC playbook because they’re screaming versatility. They got wings, they got guards, they got bigs, they got bigs that can switch, they got bigs that don’t have to play because you can put too much Kamar and Matis Styo at the five. So, we will see. I think over the course of the year, you might be proven right. I don’t know if top six is on the table, but for sure I can see a path where they end up being top eight. Damian, you were going to make a point about the Trailblazers. I want to uh Oh yeah. Um I think that the league moves fast. So most people have probably forgotten, but we’ve all played in high level teams and they went through that early season turmoil a little bit with Chanty Bilops and that can make or break a team sometimes when you throw in that type of drama and you’ve been with a coach for your entire preseason and last year and then all of a sudden he’s gone and Thiago Splitter has to pick up the slack and you don’t know what that’s going to look like and does he have different player preferences and all these things. So, credit to Portland to just getting on with the job, you know. I think that’s been that’s been really impressive as well. And I think Ox made a good point on Drew Holiday. I know initial reports came out that when he was traded there, he actually didn’t want to go cuz he wanted to be a part of a contender. I was someone who personally thought he was on the on the back end of what he could give to a team. But then when looking back, he probably I think I don’t think the Olympics did him any good in terms of the load cuz he went from winning a championship then he played the Olympics and then the last year with Boston he didn’t look that great cuz he probably had done too much. But he looks unbelievable for Portland. He’s been incredible. And I just want to shout out Dwreath as well cuz when they were 20 points down I know he’s Australian but he by the way please put me on to him. Who is this kid? Yeah, he’s Aussie for our national team. So, him and Jock Lande will probably fight for the center position 28. And shout outs to him because he hit three threes in a row in that game to sort of get the momentum going. And I think I think to swipe it to your point, this team has so much versatility that even if you just look at the center position, when you have Robert Williams, who’s a guy who likes to sort of play above the rim, Donovan Klingan, who’s a guy who’s just a massive body, he looks bigger than everyone on the floor and you can put him in the paint. Then you got Dar Priit who’s basically just an exclusively stretch big. And then you have Yansen who um who’s basically like a mini Jokic and he has the passing like the versatility is incredible. And I think Kamar I agree with Mars. I think that as a wing defender to me he’s the best in the league and he’s only getting better. And this Portland team’s a scary team man. Like the like Jeremy Grant coming off the bench finishing games just shows you like what the depth is for this team. they they can give you a lot of different looks and and it feel and I think we all take the first 20 30 games with a grain of salt, but with Portland, it only looks like it’s going to get better. So, like you said, I don’t know if top six is on the table, but damn, they’re going to be tough. They’re going to be tough all season. I didn’t I didn’t have them I didn’t have them as a playoff team. I had them playing their way into the playoffs before the season started. I thought that they would be that good off the strength of how good the Western Conference is. And I didn’t think that they would be, you know, a top three, top four seed. But what I vividly remember is Mars and I had a conversation, I believe it was in the summer, not this summer that just passed, but last summer where the the Houston Rockets, I think that they were maybe three games, we we’re probably a month away from the season being over. They were like three games out of the playing spot. And I really thought that this team was on to something only to find out that the next year they were a top five seed. I felt like with the Western Conference being so much better this year and the same thing happened with the Trailblazers where we were a month away from the season ending and Portland was I think they were three games out of a playin spot or playing for the playin. I didn’t think that they were as good as Houston. I didn’t think that defensively they were good as Houston, but I did think that with the group that they had coming back adding Drew Holiday in terms of the vest they had. I don’t know much about this kid Reed. That’s why I was asking you Damen who is this kid because he comes into the game like I fit. He comes into the game, he’s clapping his hands, he’s asking for the ball. There is no wideeyed bushy. There is nothing scared about him. He comes on the floor ready for action, knows exactly what he’s doing out there, and he’s going to make them he’s going to make them respect them. And I love that about him. But the fact that Sorry, real quick. Do you do you know who that that lineup reminds me of when they put DWOP out there or when they put, you know, Matis out there for the five? Do you remember the Nets in 2022 23? They would go to that five out and they would just rain threes all over the place. KD they had No, no, no, no. This is 23. So, this is after the KD era when they weren’t even that good. But what they would do is they would give teams so many issues, shield, because they had remember they had a uh Mars, it was uh uh Dorian Finny Smith was playing on that roster and so they would spread you out, but they had a bunch of switch defend Muel era era. Yep. Yeah. like and that was burners and this this version now chill that you’re seeing from Portland. It feels similar when they go to that lineup, but they’re just so much better defensively. And again, man, I got to give real shouts to Drew Holiday. I think Drew has gotten a bad rap because of last season, but when you give him an opportunity to lead a ball club and be the most mature player on the floor, he’s still a 19 five and five player, still a really good defender, and he’s developed so much as a jump shooter now that he’s a legitimate threat all the way across the floor. My issue my issue to to counter what you just said. I didn’t love the the thybo uh Jeremy Grant um Camaro minutes with the small ball lineup and I didn’t love it with going up against the Clippers because I felt like Zubac destroyed that front line. I was thinking that I felt like Thiago Splitter had to make an adjustment and he stuck with it. But last night he didn’t do that. The Oklahoma City Thunder went with that small lineup and he stuck with with clinging. He stuck with his bigs and I think that he counted that in that aspect. I don’t love that small I don’t love that small ball lineup against big teams like San Antonio. I don’t love that small ball lineup against the Clippers. No, I don’t. Or when Oklahoma City goes with Chad and Hartinstein or when they go with they go with the double big lineup. I don’t love that small ball lineup. However, it does work against other small ball lineups where they because I think that they’re bigger and I think that they’re more versatile. I do like that about them. It’s just this Trailblazer team. I think that they on to something, man. I don’t know what exactly, but they definitely are on to something. You know, give give it a little bit of respect to Thiago Splitter, you know. Yes, Thiago’s definitely for sure. But we have we have talked about JJ Reic being awesome coach. We have talked about Thiago Splitter being an awesome coach. And I think both guys, if you looked at their resume, it’s a little bit bare. It’s a little bit bare, right? With JJ, it was completely bare. Literally walked from playing to podcasting to straight to coaching. With Thiago though, it might be a little bit unknown to NBA fans that he has actually been a player development coach for the Brooklyn Nets. He’s uh you know, he’s he was obviously an assistant uh in 2025. He was named as as an assistant for the Portland Trailblazers, but he was also a um assistant coach for the Houston Rockets. He also coached Paris Paris basketball in LMB Elite, and I think they they won a championship. So all of this like growth from 20 2018 to 2025 has brought him to this point and readied him for this moment. He is 40 years old. Joe 40. We I mean I say we grew up in an era, you, me, Swiper, I don’t know how old Damen is, but probably Damen as well. Uh where coaches were regularly 55 to 60 regularly. Watching all these guys 37, 38, 40 come into the league and just connect better with this generation of players. I think it’s speaking to the Mark Dagnolas of the world, right? Again, when he was hired, he was in his 30s, right? The Joe Mazoulas of the world. Still the youngest coach in the league, literally my age, which is crazy to me thinking that I’m as old as an NBA coach. That’s nuts. So, two things, pin, well, two things, pin, really quickly. Number one, it sounds to me like Thiago Splitter when they asked him to take the job, he was like, I can do it. So he wasn’t just thrusted into this job like like Missoula was like when Missoula had to take the Boston job like we got to find somebody and oh [ __ ] we got this guy on our bench that’s like the third of it’s it sounds almost like from what you’re telling me that when this whole thing jumped off with with Chanty Bilips that Thiago Splitter was like I can do it. Yeah, give me the job. He played under Pop. Chill. He played under Pop. You cannot play under Papovic for five straight years and not get anything out of that. Of course that’s a massive experience. He played on his Brazilian national team. That is a lot of experience. He’s had a a world of basketball experience. He’s obviously a very high IQ basketball player. We always saw it with him when he was playing. And now naturally having six years of kind of on the job training, working his way up through the ranks, I think that he is respected. But because he is still that close, he’s not that far removed from being a player. He retired in 2018, right? So he still remembers the NBA as it is. There’s players probably on his team that have faced him many many times. Drew Holiday’s faced him for over a decade. So that uh I think like more so than anything. Yeah, absolutely. Luka and JJ were teammates. Exactly. And and Luca and Luca I think JJ and and Thiago and Joe Mazoula and Jordy Fernandez. I think what they’re proving is coaching is as much as it is about the experience, the big game experience, the resume, it’s about connecting with your players. And I I don’t think it’s crazy to say it’s probably a little bit easier for a former player who retired in 2018 or, you know, a guy who played overseas and is coming over now and is just 35, 40 years old for him to connect with a roster full of 25 year olds cuz the generation gap has widened so hard. right now that to me like some of these older guys like George Carl it’s like yo y’all you weren’t born in another you weren’t born in another century from me you were born another [ __ ] planet right that’s you got to remember though Tiago Tiago wasn’t the first option after John the the the see that’s part I didn’t know I remember you said you said that I did not know that yeah he option there was there was the the other coach I can’t quite remember his name he turned it down he’s connected to Chanty though yeah him and Chanty are like really close or whatever like that so and Thiago got it. But still, I mean, but regardless though, uh, Pin, what you said still still remains true. Like Thiago is doing a great job so far. That’s not So, I wasn’t saying that to discredit that. I just I’m also I’m kind of even saying that too. Like sometimes guys get looked over that are more than qualified to do it. You know what I’m saying? For whatever for whatever reason that may be. I don’t know all the Nate. I that could be his name. Uh, pin. I was listening to um I I got this from when I was watching listening to NBA radio. The other day I was driving and they were talking about it and that might be his name but I didn’t like write it down. I tried to remember but it could have been him. Could have been him.
The Panel react to the Portland Trail Blazers handing the OKC Thunder their first loss of the season and how sneaky this team really is. This team has surprised everyone so far and could continue to do so all the way up to the playoffs.
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