[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (1-1) defeat The Golden State Warriors (2-1) 139-119

36 comments

  3. Deni is my Lord and Basketball Saviour.

    We’re undefeated in the Master Splitter era.

    I love this team so much already. The pace and defense are unreal and such a breathe of fresh air.

  6. Game notes:

    * Hell of a response after everything that transpired in the last 24 hours. And awesome first win for Splitter as head coach.

    * Shooting 47% from three is cool after the brickfest in game 1 lol.

    * Holy COW is this defense fun. Just insane ball pressure – suffocating, relentless, and no real weak points (besides Yang I guess). Even Sharpe mostly held up in that end – we really can feel the absence of Anfernee tbh.

    * As Lamar said, this team is super fun when pushing the pace, and when the shots are falling. The shooting is definitely going to be up and down this season, but the style of play is so refreshing to watch.

    * The pace is super fun, even older guys like Grant and Jrue are pushing the pace after made baskets. Super fun to watch especially when we aren’t forced to slow the game down and grind out halfcourt possessions (which can turn super ugly with this roster and basically live and dies by Shae and Jrue shot’making).

    * That stretch in the late third and early fourth quarter when they kept turning over the Warriors and hitting a bunch of threes was super super fun.

    * The small-ball lineups with Toumani Tisse and Kris really won us the game. When both of them are hitting their shots they are amazing. Kris in particular looked like a real rotation player – just always in the right place at the right time on both ends of the court (like usual) but he hit a three! And Tisse looks like he’s more confident putting the ball on the ground and attacking closeouts. And Tou was awesome as per usual.

    * Speaking of Tisse, he looks super athletic and doesn’t look like he lost a step at all after being injured for such a long period of time. Great to see.

    * Maybe all the JG slander was premature. So far he’s been finishing amazing around the rim which is the biggest thing he wasn’t doing last year. Maybe the knee soreness was real or something who knows but this version of him is awesome.

    * Deni is awesome, 26 points with 0 FTA is huge. Also, self-creating threes off the dribble is a huge evolution to his game – we’ll see how comfortable he is at that over time but it looked fantastic.

    * Jrue with 11 assists and making a ton of great passes. I like it when he sets the table next to other scorers. I don’t love it when he has to manufacture his own shot off the dribble in the halfcourt.

    * Maybe didn’t show up on the stat sheet per se, but I feel like DC got a lot better over the offseason. He looks more mobile, able to hang better on the perimeter and run the floor, and his hands have also gotten a bit better as well. There was a possession in the 4th quarter where he caught a tough pass at his legs and outwrestled Gui Santos for an and-one. I don’t think he would have made that play last year.

    * I thought Shae was playing a little bit too sped up, like he’s pressing or something. No idea what’s actually going on inside his head, but it feels like he doesn’t quite have the pace or patience he was displaying during training camp and preseason. On the plus side, he had a number of nice dribble drive kickouts and less bad moments on defense than last year. Overall I think I like the process but really gotta hope the shots (especially the layups) start falling at some point. And he had some good drives and moments in transition too.

  8. Murray was FANTASTIC tonight. Don’t expect him to play this well every game, but damn that was nice tonight.

  18. You couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Tiago Splitter era. This defense and pace is unreal! Such a fun watch.

  24. I don’t wanna exaggerate but this honestly might have been one of the more important wins in this franchise’s history, considering the absolute whirlwind of the last 48 hours. Proud of how these guys responded. Rip city.

  31. Just proud of these guys. They looked like a professional basketball team tonight, despite the bullshit from our previous coach. I love Tisse and love Wesley. Tiago Splitter looks legit. Happy to be a Blazer fan tonight.

Leave a Reply