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LeBron James

Portland Trail Blazers

Lillard and Trent can’t outscore the Lakers by themselves

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On Friday night the struggling Blazers came into the cold and blustery Los Angeles area to take on the equally cold Lakers. Both teams are feeling the results of the injury bug (because the season was rushed to start) and both are looking a little heavy in the legs. The Lakers were losers of four in a row, while Portland had lost their last three after winning six straight.

The Blazers came out flat in the third quarter and could never inflate.

Portland falls 102-93 tonight.

First Quarter Thoughts

I’m shocked that they called a travel on LeBron James to start the game. He always gets away with steps and it was called after Derrick Jones Jr. slapped him on the side of the head on a shot attempt too.

The Blazers quickly jump out in front 7-2 on a three by Gary Trent Jr. and a dunk by Derrick Jones Jr. LeBron on the other end once again tries to bully his way into the paint on DJJ, gets their pretending he’s Shaq in 2001, but he did a no-no in bringing the ball down and DJJ’s quick hands slap the ball away. While LeBron is complaining he didn’t get a foul, the Blazers miss a shot in the paint, but Jones snags the ball, kicks it out to Damian Lillard who hits a three.

Blazers are up 10-2 and it forces the Lakers to call a timeout.

Really hoping Dame has a strong start to the game tonight. He’s been off to slow starts in the last couple of weeks. Tonight while driving to get dinner outside of LA I saw a car that had an “I heart Dame” license plate in front of me. Then I looked up and saw Lillard decked out in Lakers’ gold.

Damn near a road rage incident on T.O. Boulevard. Good thing my wife and dogs were with me.

This game has such a weird feel to it. I think there would have been a lot more running by both teams to start the game looking to get a knockout blow to start the game. Instead, both teams have pushed the momentum and have tripped themselves up early. With a touch over three minutes left in the quarter, the Lakers have four turnovers and the Blazers have three. It really feels like both teams are already approaching double digits in that category.

Then again, but I don’t know about the rest of you, but this has just been a weird week.

Dennis Schroder annoys the crap out of me. I will give him credit for his ability to really work the pick and roll and the way he attacks Enes Kanter after the pick. He gets right into the lane and has really good control over his awkward floater. That shot has no business going in, but it usually does. A minute later he knocks down a three.

Let’s talk about Terry Stotts defensive decisions. To close the quarter Carmelo Anthony got the defensive assignment on the hot Schroder. A weird decision since the Lakers were running the pick and roll and getting Kanter to switch off on to Schroder in the first place. Now Melo is playing off Schroder and waiting for the pick to come and on this play, it’s not coming. Schroder pulls up for three and knocks it down. The ball was almost to the hoop before Melo reacted.

It was a weird choice. I would have gone with Rodney Hood or Nassir Little on the assignment.

Whatever, Terry Stotts is a defensive mastermind and an NBA coach while I’m a basketball blogger.

Blazers up 29-24 after one.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Rodney Hood knocks down a three to start the second quarter. Really need to get a good game out of Hood tonight. Well, need to get a good game out of the depleted Blazers bench tonight. Anfernee Simons calls glass on a prayer three over Montrezl Harrell and the ultra annoying Alex Caruso.

Derrick Jones Jr. is full of hustle tonight. I swear he already has 87 offensive rebounds five minutes into the second. He’s gotten a few defensive rebounds as well and tipped a few to teammates. This is what I’ve been waiting for from Jones for the entire year. He was supposed to come in and be a disruptor. I think it took a bit longer for him to gel and find his role within the team.

Hopefully, CJ McCollum has learned how to play defense while his foot heals.

LeBron James doing some LeBron James things and gets the Lakers within a point, this causes Stotts to bring Lillard in a bit earlier than he likes. Harrell finishes an and-1 to give the Lakers a two-point lead as they go on an 11-0.

During this stretch, the Lakers were playing a lot more physically and I think there were some fouls that should have been called. Lillard is the only superstar in the league to get hammered on a consistent basis and not get calls. It really has to be frustrating for him to get leveled on one end and then pick up a touch foul on the other end.

He’s got 20 points so far in the half. His defense is just outscore his man by forty. It works for him. I’d say that I love for him to pick up the defensive tenacity like another Oakland native, Gary Payton, but that type of defense (or any kind of defense) is no longer allowed in the NBA.

Along the lines of defense, Robert Covington has been a pretty big disappointment so far for the Blazers. His defense hasn’t been anywhere near where it has been for him in previous years, his shot is off, and he’s not really rebounding. There are periods of time that I have no idea if he’s on the court or not. I’d say the Blazers should buy him out, but we all know they wouldn’t sign anyone to replace him and let Melo play 35+ minutes a night.

Lillard finally gets a call while being fouled on a three. It’s because Horton-Tucker slid under Dame on his way down, and Lillard landed on his foot, twisting his ankle a bit. The way he landed I thought he might have torn his Achilles.

Damn near gave me a heart attack.

Before the last-second tip in to end the second half, Enes Kanter had been 1-6 in the paint tonight. Every single one of his shots has been hard off the front rim. It’s not like the Lakers are shoving him hard out of the paint on his shots either. He’s been pretty open, just bricking each and every shot.

Speaking of bricking everything.

The Blazers’ bench has been more trash than Kyle Kuzma tonight. Lillard has outscored the bench 24-8 in the half. Gary Trent Jr. was the only other Blazer player to score in double figures with 10 points.

Halftime Thoughts

I’m thankful I didn’t have to see Caruso or Schroder over halftime.

Also, this halftime seemed pretty short.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Terry Stotts once again gave the team Ambien over half and instead of breaking down defensive breakdowns, he told them a story about a floofy rabbit, and they all had six minutes in a REM cycle before they were rushed out to start the third quarter.

Blazers have three turnovers and have given up seven points in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter.

This Ambien and storytime theory is the best one I have as to why Portland is so bad time after time in the third quarter. There is no real reason for this. It really can’t be that the other team makes proper adjustments and Stotts doesn’t at the half, can it?

The Lakers also have Schroder and Caruso out together to start the third quarter. There are many reasons that I think Frank Vogel is a bad coach and this is one of them.

After Covid wraps up and things can get back to normal, if I saw Alex Caruso out on the street I may bump into him just to see if he falls down and tries to get a foul called on me.

We’re about eight minutes through the third quarter and the Blazers now have six turnovers and hey look at that. That three-point lead at the half has turned into a six-point deficit.

The Lakers are out hustling the Blazers on both ends of the floor, knocking down threes, getting steals, Alex Caruso dunking and screaming on fools. This is not what you are supposed to do in a third quarter. All one of you youth coaches out there who reads this, record the Blazer third quarters, and show this to your eight-year-old second grade team. Let’s start to get to them at a young age and teach them to not ever suck in the third quarter.

This shot chart is a lot more kind than it actually appeared for the Blazers in the third.


Portland 3rd quarter shot chart against the Lakers.

Portland 3rd quarter shot chart against the Lakers.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

After three minutes into the fourth, the Blazers have not picked things up at all from their terrible third quarter performance. The Lakers pushed their lead out to 15 points with LeBron James on the bench. With seven minutes left in the game, the Blazers had more turnovers (15) than bench points (13).

The Blazers are a step slow.

Example: The Blazers ran a high double pick and roll with Lillard, Kanter, and Covington. Lillard had both Caruso and Morris follow him as he dove to the sideline. He stopped and passed to Covington at the top of the three-point line. LeBron dove out at Covington who held the ball instead of passing to a wide-open Gary Trent Jr on the wing. Morris was still on Dame when LeBron came out and crowded Covington’s right side. Trent was on his left. By the time Covington looked to pass, Morris was back on Trent, and Portland ended up turning the ball over.

A possession later Covington took a three from almost forty feet while double-teamed with over six seconds on the shot clock. This was the point in the game where it was pretty much over. The body language of the Blazers changed.

And that was the game.

BOX SCORE

Next Up

The Blazers get the weekend off before taking on the Charlotte Hornets on Monday at 7:00 PM.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers defense beats the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-107

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On Saturday the Blazers needed a big second half to beat the undermanned Houston Rockets in overtime. Tonight they came into Los Angeles to take on the Lakers team that beat them in the first round of the playoffs about 75 days ago.

As you recall the Blazers won the first game of the series and the Lakers took care of business the next four. Both teams made some supporting cast adjustments in the week and a half offseason.

The Blazers focused on adding to their defense and it paid off with a big win against the defending champion, Los Angeles Lakers, 115-107.

First Quarter

The Blazers started off really slow. Derrick Jones Jr. missed two wide-open three-pointers and a reverse layup. The Lakers allowed Jones to be open by using three guys to pick up Damian Lillard as soon as he crossed half court. This has been the playbook for every team so far this year against the Blazers. Throw as many men at Dame as you possibly can as soon as he crosses half court.

He had one decent look early in the first.

This has worked and wide open Blazer players have not been able to take advantage of being wide open. There is too much indecision by everyone else not named Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum.

Without Carmelo Anthony tonight, Rodney Hood was the first person off the bench and he found Gary Trent Jr. in the corner for a three. A few seconds later Trent hit another three and cut the Lakers lead down to two, 20-18.

Portland was on the verge of getting blown out early. They could not stop LeBron James and they forgot to guard Kentavious Caldwell Pope along the three-point line. It looked like the Blazers were to get blown out early because of mistakes on the defensive end. These were the same mistakes that they made all of last season too. Not enough rotation and leaving people open on the wings and corners.

The Lakers finished the quarter on a 10-2 run.

Second Quarter

The start of the second quarter has long been an issue for the Blazers (same with the third), but tonight led by Anfernee Simons and Trent the Blazers started the quarter off on a 9-0 run to take a 31-30 with just over nine minutes left in the quarter.

Trent and Jones forced three turnovers by the Lakers to start the quarter and Jones played some really solid defense on LeBron James, forcing him to miss his first two shots of the quarter. McCollum hit a three right out of the Lakers timeout to push the lead up to four points.

The Blazers’ energy was a lot more than the Lakers could produce in the first six minutes of the quarter. The cuts on offense were crisp and the defense was able to stay home on the three-point line. This is the type of defensive effort we thought we’d get from minute one with the Blazers this season.

And it was mostly the bench unit that was doing all of this work for the Blazers. The bench was the weak spot for the Blazers the last two years and has been in two early games this year. Tonight though, the bench is playing with heart and energy. This type of scoring is not going to happen every night from the bench, but if Portland can give out this energy from the bench each game then we are looking at a team that is going to potentially go deep in the playoffs.

Have to believe if Charles Barkley put $100,000 on them to win the West.

CJ McCollum attacking the mid-range game hard tonight. The Lakers are focusing too much on Gary Trent Jr. from deep and that allowed CJ to work the middle of the defense and get two easy jumpers from the circle.

The Blazers continued to attack the middle of the Lakers defense allowing Jones Jr. and Robert Covington to get easy backdoor baskets.

This might have been the Blazers’ best quarter early this season. Their offense was efficient and their defense allowed them to keep the lead. The way the game started I really thought it’d be the Lakers up by about thirty at the half.

Third Quarter

It shocks me a bit that I have not been able to mention Anthony Davis yet. He’s 1-5 from the field so far in the game. Robert Covington has done a solid job of covering Davis so far in the game. A minute later Lillard hits a three right in the face of Dennis Schroder.

I have a feeling that Dame really likes scoring lots of points on Dennis.

Here is where the Blazers and their infamous third-quarter struggles show back up. After Lillard hit that first shot of the quarter to give Portland a 61-54 lead, the Lakers scored the next 15 points. Too much isolation from the Blazers, spending way too much time out high above the arc, and not running enough motion, and too much congestion up top. The Lakers used this lack of space to force the turnovers and that led to easy baskets.

Schroder was especially problematic for the Blazers. He knocked down two threes and had some free throws. He was the catalyst for the big run by the Lakers.

Back the other way, Robert Covington continues his awesome defensive play. A block led to an easy runout for the Blazers, a CJ three-pointer and Portland is feeling it. The next possession down for the Blazers, the Lakers forgot to pick up Dame, who casually strolled into a 30 footer to cut the Laker lead down to 73-71 with about four and a half minutes to play in the third.

Rodney Hood had a nice series of basketball where he hit a nice caddy corner three and then on defense had a gorgeous strip block of Anthony Davis that led to more Blazer points. A few minutes later he had an amazing spin move dish to Enes Kanter for an easy two and then Lillard hit a three to cut the Laker lead to one.

Derrick Jones Jr. is a freak of nature.

Fourth Quarter

Coming into the quarter I’ve been impressed with the play by Enes Kanter tonight on both ends of the floor. He hasn’t been a total defensive liability so far in this game and has been in a good position on the offensive end. I thought he had been thoroughly outplayed in the preseason by Harry Giles and thought we’d see Giles getting a handful of minutes at the 4-5 rotation.

A man who could probably get more minutes is Gary Trent Jr. He only has three three-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. He’s is feeling it to start the quarter. His shot is so pure in the quarter it is barely hitting the net. He’s given the Blazers a 96-91 point early in the fourth.

Get this man a contract extension.

The Lakers brought back Dennis Schroder at this point to shadow Trent — it was more than a shadow, he played Trent so close they were sharing the nucleus of atoms. It looks like Trent got a little banged up before the Lakers called the timeout and afterward we didn’t see a whole lot of movement on the offensive end from him over the next minute. Terry Stotts brought back in Dame.

LeBron James went on a personal 5-0 run and Harrell got into the action by hitting a shot over Kanter to tie the game. Harrell hits the free throw to give the Lakers a 99-98 lead.

Jusuf Nurkic hit a runner over LeBron, followed up by threes by Dame and CJ put the Blazers 106-101 with a skosh over three minutes left.

The Blazers were a little lost on offense when Trent first left the game and it quickly got everyone involved in some form.

That was until Damian Lillard looked at his watch and decided it was Dame Time. Another three and then an And-1 one.

He iced the game.

Close Out

This was the best I’ve seen the Blazers play in their first three games. Gary Trent Jr. was huge with 28 points off the bench, the Blazers as a team had 45 points off the bench. Derrick Jones Jr. was a thorn in LeBron’s side all night, especially in the second half, and Robert Covington made life a living hell for Anthony Davis all night.

That is one of the better full team efforts for the Blazers over the last couple of seasons. Their defense showed up in huge times of need time and time again tonight. There were points where the Lakers were on the verge of blowing them out, but the defense stepped up and got multiple stops in a row on at least eight different occasions tonight.

That is huge for this team.

Next Up

The Blazers are sticking around DTLA for a couple more days as they take on the Clippers on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Lillard out for Game 5 with right knee sprain

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Portland Trail Blazers confirmed that Damian Lillard will not play in Game 5 of Portland’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, August 26th.

While this absence will likely end Portland’s season, the healthy remaining Blazers are expected to play (or at least start) in Game 5. There has been no official word on their availability or any Terry Stotts-induced restrictions.

Relatively speaking, this is pretty good news for Blazers fans, who are used to assuming the worst when it comes to injury reports—especially knee injuries to star players.

Lillard has averaged 30 points and 8 assists this season with a 62.7% true shooting percentage. Dame left Game 4 in the His loss is impossible to overstate for a team that has struggled to support his scoring in the bubble.

The Blazers lost their third straight game to the Lakers on Monday night after snatching Game 1 in Orlando. Game 5 is scheduled for tomorrow night at 6pm PT on TNT. If necessary, Game 6 would be on Friday and Game 7 would be on Sunday.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Lakers destroy Blazers on Kobe Day

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

With today being 8/24 it was not a shock that the Los Angeles Lakers got out and put a butt whooping early on the Portland Trail Blazers on Kobe Day. I thought it was going to be one of those games that after the initial six minutes the game would level out after the initial rush of emotion by the Lakers.

The emotion did not level out and LA kept knocking down some really tough shots and built a 30 point lead at halftime and they never looked back.

First Quarter Thoughts

The Blazes did not get off to a good start. With it being Kobe Day, this was to be expected. A lot of emotion on the Lakers side, but the Blazers were not even close in hitting their first six shots. LA got off and running to a 15-0 run before CJ McCollum got a mid-range jumper, then a steal by Jusuf Nurkic and lay-up. Portland started to show some life, but then the refs got involved.

Portland was more aggressive attacking the basket, getting slammed by both Anthony Davis and JaVale McGee with no fouls being called. It’d be nice if the refs called the game down the middle. The Lakers are a better team up and down the roster, especially with the Blazers missing three players. It’s not like the Lakers need these extra foul calls.

Anthony Davis continued to kill the Blazers from the long mid-range game and also the free throw. He went to the line nine times in the quarter and had a total of 16 points. Portland defended him really well in the first half of Game 3. Then in the second half they moved to this off defense and started to make him take long mid-ranger jumpers. He’s hitting them and there has been zero adjustment over the last three quarters. He continues to kill the Blazers there.

I shouldn’t be shocked as Terry Stotts is one of the worst at making adjustments in game or in between games… or at all.

If it wasn’t for Nurkic getting ten points in the quarter the Blazers would be down by 30 points. He actually looks motivated. He’s banging inside, looking for people to dunk on.

Gary Trent Jr. looks locked in on both sides of the court to start the game. Most of the other Blazers do not.

Second Quarter Thoughts

LA came out and knocked down some threes to start the quarter. And these shots were actually contested. The Blazers’ perimeter defense has not been terrible like it normally is. The Lakers are making some long, tough shots. There isn’t much you can do about it when things are falling like that.

Really enjoyed the speed and intensity that Anfernee Simons used when he came in for Dame to run the point. He put Nurk in position for two easy baskets, caused a turnover, and kept the pressure up. Gary Trent Jr. was playing solid on the defensive end too.

The officials continued to call a terrible game. The Blazers continue to drive and get mugged on their way to the basket. The latest example is CJ driving on Danny Green, Danny swiped, got all arm, held the arm, ball went out on CJ for Laker ball. CJ then got a tech. TNT proceeded to show a replay of said play that got CJ the T. Chris Webber proceeded to talk about how the NBA has the best officials in the world. Too bad the Blazers couldn’t get a decent announcer all series.

Had to deal with both Mark Jackson and Chris Webber. I’d rather have Reggie Miller at this point. Can’t believe they haven’t given Doris Burke a look for this series. Would kill for a night of Joel Meyers and Antonio Daniels.

The officials have been pathetic and incredibly lopsided the entire series.

Anyway.

LeBron kept knocking down threes, refs kept missing calls, Lakers went up 30, scored 80 points in the half and have a 29 point lead.

Third Quarter Thoughts

The emotional high of Kobe Day has continued as LeBron James does a pull up 38 footer and it goes right in. The Lakers are shooting just about 65% for the game up to this point. There isn’t much you can do about that.

Probably a good time to mention the Blazers are about negative $60M in a cap hole next year.

Refs are still allowing the Lakers to assault the Blazers. LeBron on a swing throw elbowed Carmelo right in the jaw, nothing was called, until Melo knocked the ball away, and LeBron swiped him. Just a reminder that Hassan Whiteside got a flagrant foul call on just about the same type of play in the 2nd quarter.

Damian Lillard got hurt. He did a a jump stop on the wing, landed awkwardly, and then had a hard time moving up and down the court. Sotts pulled him with about six minutes left in the quarter. He hasn’t come back from the locker room as of yet.

Lillard has been announced out for the rest of the game with a right knee injury. Going to be interesting to see how severe that injury is. His knee had a weird reverberation when he landed. Nervous that is going to be some sort of ligament strain at best. It’s those types of landings that equal ACL tears.

Fingers crossed that is isn’t that.

On the bright side, the Blazers outscored the Lakers 36-32 in the quarter. Going to take the victories on where we can get them.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

We are going to get a bunch of garbage time basketball here in the fourth quarter. Hopefully the young guys get some quality play and can improve on some aspects of their game for the next season.

Damian Lillard is going to get an MRI on his knee tonight.

Wenyen Gabriel and Hassan Whiteside hit back-to-back threes. Did not see that coming in any type of basketball, especially in a playoff game against the Lakers.

Not much else worth mentioning in the fourth quarter.

Next Up

Game 4 on Wednesday night at 6:00 PM. Hopefully there is a Game 6.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers let Game 3 slip away to Lakers, 116-108

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Thursday night the Portland Trail Blazers did not show up to play in Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers. The whole Blazer team looked tired, disinterested, and like they spent all day before the game drinking of CJ McCollum’s wine. There was zero excuse for their poor effort.

Game 3 started off a lot differently. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were red hot in the first quarter, leading the Blazers to a four point lead in the first, but after that the Lakers chipped away at the Blazers with a big 29 point half by LeBron James, and then the inability to stop Anthony Davis in the third and fourth quarters led them to a 116-108 victory.

Portland was outscored by 15 in the second half until Gary Trent Jr. and CJ made a couple baskets that didn’t really matter.

Blazers had 34 from Lillard, 26 from CJ, and a big 20 from Melo.

LeBron had 38 and Anthony Davis had 29, 25 coming in the second half.

First Quarter Thoughts

Portland’s defense looks a lot more active early. They are forcing the Lakers into bad passes and playing strong in the lane. Anthony Davis isn’t getting easy looks like last game with both Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside starting side by side tonight. I have worries about that lineup when they move Davis to the five and have four other shooters on the floor. On Thursday night Terry Stotts did not counter that lineup at all and the Lakers killed Portland from the three point line. Stotts isn’t known for his in game adjustments, but he has to be better at this in Game 3.

Damian Lillard does not look injured at all. He’s got his left index finger taped up to his middle finger. His shot looks so pure tonight. So far it has the perfect arc, perfect rotation, and it’s coming from everywhere on the floor.

Terry Stotts is also making the Blazers run some offense tonight. They aren’t just running high pick and rolls, but there are a lot of back door screens, double screens off the ball, and this has freed up CJ McCollum for easier looking shots. CJ is 3-4 with an early seven points. He’s only averaging 17 for the series, so this is big for Portland.

The Blazers defense tonight is a lot more active. They are helping, but not getting out of position. Lillard has really active hands and he is the one doubling on Anthony Davis. This is making Davis uncomfortable and he’s having issues controlling the ball.

It appears that Stotts does have a strategy with lineups tonight. It looks like Carmelo Anthony is matching LeBron, while when the Lakers move Davis to the five we are seeing a center and four guys who can cover the perimeter. I expected Stotts to make some of these moves tonight, but I didn’t think they’d be this smart. I half expected him to double-down and maybe run a third center out there for some reason.

Portland looked good while all the starters were out there, but when Mario Hezonja came into the game things changed. And not for the better. Portland’s bench only had two points in the combined 14 minutes they were out there in the first quarter.

Lillard had 14 points and Blazes led 29-25 after the first quarter.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Portland and CJ ran an ISO play to start the quarter and to my surprise CJ knocked down a three. He did it again a minute later and CJ has 13 already for the night. The Lakers were playing JR Smith mostly on him to start the quarter, but after eight points in two minutes the Lakers move the younger and more athletic Kyle Kuzma over to CJ. CJ proceeded to miss his next two shots.

LeBron James is looking to control this game with his scoring. He’s attacking all levels of the Blazers defense and has been to the line eight times already. The rest of the Lakers are not making shots at the moment.

James is not letting Gary Trent Jr. guard him on the outside tonight. He’s taking him right to the post every single time tonight. James proceeds to deliver body shot after body shot to Trent. Portland has helped well. Anfernee Simons had a solid steal on a James post up that led to Carmelo Anthony getting his first basket of the night.

Anthony has been playing some good defense tonight. He’s been really good keeping Anthony Davis in check tonight. He’s making Davis do the exact opposite of what he normally wants to do. He’s really getting jammed up tonight.

Portland is pushing the ball a little bit more than normal off Laker misses. This has led to some easier baskets for the Blazers. The latest being a four on two that results in a wide open Damian Lillard letting Anthony Davis wildly fly by him and knocking down a wide open three pointer.

Lillard is also playing inside a little bit more than normal. He’s posted up Alex Caruso a few times already with some solid success. He’s taking a page out of Melo’s playbook and it’s working out. he then attempted to see if Anthony Davis had a pulse and tried to dunk on him like Shawn Kemp did to Alton Lister back in the 90’s.

Davis blocked the dunk, but it was really aggressive and I’m here for it.

We’re shaping up to see a game of superstars. So far only LeBron James is the only one doing anything for the Lakers and CJ and Dame are the only one’s doing anything for the Blazers. All the role players for both teams are not doing anything in their roles.

The Lakers shot 31 (missing 11) free throws compared to the Blazers eight in the half. Haven’t seen this big of a free throw disparity since Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference Finals.

Third Quarter Thoughts

The Lakers immediately hit a three to open third quarter scoring. LeBron hits another on the next possession and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hits his second of the quarter to give the Lakers a 67-64 lead three and a half minutes into the third quarter.

Jusuf Nurkic showed some aggressiveness on a huge dunk where he was hit multiple times. It should have been an And-1, but since Nurk wasn’t wearing purple jersey it was not a foul. The reffing has been an absolute joke and heavily favored to the Lakers side for the entire series.

LeBron James picked up the fourth foul on Carmelo Anthony early and after that Melo seemed to get really upset. He knocked down a corner three and then hit five straight mid range jumpers to get him 13 quick points in the corner. I don’t think any of his shots hit the net.

Not only is Melo having a solid scoring night, but his passing has been top notch too. He’s had some gorgeous passes that resulted in dunks for both Nurk and Whiteside.

The Lakers are getting Anthony Davis rolling in the third quarter. The Blazers are playing off him because they are scared to even touch him because every time they have they have been called for a foul. They are letting him take uncontested jumpers and he’s hitting them unlike the first half. Going to need some sort of change going into the fourth quarter. They aren’t being as physic
al or switching with him like they did in the first half. That’s what got him out of sorts, and of course the Blazers don’t continue with something that works.

Lillard had a quick eight points in the final minutes of the third quarter to keep the Blazers in it. He kept the lead from being in double-digits. If it wasn’t for him the Lakers would be looking to close things out early in the fourth.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Jusuf Nurkic has been absent for most of this game. He came into the fourth with only four points and four rebounds in 23 minutes. He had been a crucial part of the Blazers throughout the seeding games and the play-in against Memphis. Against the Lakers he has been pretty much a non-factor. The Blazers rely on him for rebound, defense, and at least 15 points a game. For whatever reason he hasn’t been able to do that against the past their prime JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard.

The Blazers really do need Nurk to step up for the rest of this series. He’s letting guys guide him out of the lane. They aren’t even pushing him or shoving him. He’s allegedly the Bosnian Beast. He needs to be in there crushing ribs and making things hard on opposing big on both sides of the court.

So far in the fourth he has a big rebound, a changed shot, and two big dunks.

The Lakers continue to get easy baskets in the quarter. Dwight Howard has two dunks and Anthony Davis has another one. Two of the dunks were uncontested.

The Blazers, Nurk especially, continued to let Anthony Davis take wide open 15-20 foot jumpers. He wasn’t hitting any rim on any of the shots. He went from not being able to find the bottom of the net in the first half because the defense was different each time he touched the ball. The second half the Blazers played off his front and let him shoot jumpers which he happily hit.

The game really started to break down in the fourth quarter. Both teams really had a hard time knocking down shots late. They both looked tired and there was a points in the game where only three guys for each team made it across half court. One time it was three on three for about twenty seconds.

The effort from the Blazers in the fourth was just pathetic. They usually bounce back after bad third quarters, but they looked gassed once again. The lack of depth is really starting to get to them.

Next Up

Game 4 is on Monday at 6:00 PM PST.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers no show in Game 2 against Lakers

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Portland Trail Blazers were riding high after a big game one victory, so high in fact they forgot to show up to play Game 2 on Thursday night. They never were really in the game after the first six minutes of the game.

Anthony Davis dominated and Damian Lillard dislocated his finger.

There’s not much to really say about how bad this one was. Blazers lose 111-88.

First Quarter Thoughts

Everyone knew that LeBron James was going to come and push the offense. That’s exactly what he did. He got a couple of quick baskets and then started looking to get his teammates involved and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope rewarded him by knocking down two three pointers and JaVale McGee had a couple of easy dunks.

Portland played the entire first quarter flat footed on defense and it left them scrambling all over the court to chase shooters. The Lakers were only 2-8 in the quarter on threes, but that could have been a hell of a lot worse. Alex Caruso, Markieff Morris, and Kyle Kuzma each had wide open looks for three.

Carmelo Anthony came out really strong and attacked LeBron James early and often. Melo was only 1-4 in the quarter, but he made James work on defense and put some body shots into LeBron. Those will come in handy later in the game…. maybe. LeBron James is a freak of nature athlete.

In the middle of the quarter Damian Lillard started to heat up. He got eight points in about a minute and a half. The next possession CJ McCollum comes down and dribbles for 23.9 seconds without a pass, and takes a contested 22 footer. This seems to happen a lot. Way too much.

Blazers don’t hit 20 in a quarter for the first time in the restart.

Second Quarter Thoughts

The poor Portland defense has come out again in the second quarter. They are letting the Lakers run a layup line to start the quarter. There is zero rotation and zero help off the high screen and rolls. The Laker bigs aren’t even rolling they are staying stationary and LeBron and Kuzma are taking it right to the basket.

Gary Trent Jr. continues to show why he should be starting next to Damian Lillard next season. He’s picking up LeBron James full court, banging with him, and still able to knock down shots on top of it. He’s turning out to be an unexpected special player. He has the edge to be a top defender in the league and his shot is so pure.

Terry Stotts had some really intriguing lineups. He ran with a three guard and two center lineup against a four guard and a small forward. The Lakers of course killed the Blazers on just about everything they ran on offense.

Outside of Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. no one could do anything for the Blazers on offense.

Then there was Anthony Davis. He has been allowed to go over the back on rebounds on both ends of the court, run into guys and draw fouls that should have been on him. I have lost all respect for the man over the last 12 months plus.

There has been nothing good about this first half.

Third Quarter Thoughts

The third quarter is usually the Blazers worst quarter and it has been no different tonight. This might be the epitome of a bad quarter. Their rotations were slow and non-existant, they couldn’t make a shot from anywhere. They were simply gassed.

Damian Lillard might have broken his left index finger.

Blazers down thirty.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

This quarter was played by all bench players for the most part. Jaylen Adams and Jaylen Hoard got their first minutes of the restart.

Every Blazer on the active roster scored tonight.

Next Up

Game Three against the Lakers is on Saturday at 5:30 PM on ABC.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Lillard and Blazers beat the Lakers and refs, 100-93

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Portland Trail Blazers played some of the best basketball through the first eight seeding games. Carmelo Anthony found his old self, Gary Trent Jr. was a superstar in the making. Through the first three quarters the Blazers battled the Lakers and the refs.

Damian Lillard would not let the Blazers fold. He led all scorers with 34.

First Quarter Thoughts

Wenyen Gabriel is getting the start for the injured Zach Collins. Gabriel is not going to be on the floor long, he does have foul trouble issues, but in the minutes that he’s there he will frustrate whoever he is guarding. He’s been under the skin of Anthony Davis early. He’s not giving AD any room to shoot, making hustle blocks, racing out for huge dunks.

He’s done more in four and half minutes than Zach Collins has done in eight games.

He did pick up two quick fouls, but did make a huge impact early in there.

Carmelo Anthony and Damian Lillard got going early too. They were able to take advantage of a terrible Lakers starting backcourt. Lillard and Anthony both took Danny Green, the Lakers best perimeter defender, to task. Baiting him into a three point foul and then Carmelo backing him down into the paint from 28 feet away.

So far both LeBron and Davis have been content to kick the ball out to “shooters” for the Lakers. This is not paying off at all. The Lakers are 0-8 from three in the first ten minutes of the game. Portland continues to switch decently well and force the Lakers into tough shots. The Lakers run a lot of ISO with both AD and LeBron. This is not the game they want to play, they like to get their offense set. Portland is making things very chaotic for the Lakers on offense.

This might be the best quarter of defense the Blazers have played since the restart.

Frank Vogel attempting to put Alex Caruso is just laughable. He doesn’t have the foot speed to stay in front of Dame, so he gave up a couple layups from Dame and then when he played off he gave up a three. Lakers started trapping Lillard toward the sideline. This is going to leave either Carmelo Anthony or Gary Trent Jr. open for a three.

Blazers took a 36-25 lead into the second quarter.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Something to watch throughout the series is who is guarding Carmelo. It doesn’t appear that the Lakers want to put either LeBron James or Anthony Davis on him. Anthony is has scored easily on Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma, and Markieff Morris. Melo did the same back down and turn around move on each play and had the same result.

LeBron James decided to start taking over the game at this point. He started attacking the rim, the Blazers started to collapse all five players around him, so he started finding shooters who then started knocking down shots. The Lakers went on a 13-1 run with all of Portland’s ten points coming from the foul line in the first six minutes of the quarter.

The Lakers are a much better team when LeBron gets everyone else’s confidence up.

Everything slowed down when Dwight Howard tilted the rim. It continued to slow down as Anthony Davis started to get to the line on just about every Laker possession. He had three fouls called against the Blazers by dropping a shoulder into a set Blazer defender. The refs were terrible in the second quarter. If a Blazer breathed on Davis a foul was called, but then he gets away with hitting both Melo and Nurk on shots with nothing called.

This quarter really felt like a Knicks-Bulls battle from the early 90s, but with more foul calls. There have been 47 free throws shot in the first half of this game. The refs got way too whistle happy and did not let a flow develop in the second quarter.

The Blazers did shoot seven more free throws than the Lakers in the half, but it really felt the other way. Both teams both had 16 fouls called on each other too. It was such a hard quarter to watch and follow.

The Blazers need to not let the third quarter slip away from them like always.

Third Quarter Thoughts

CJ McCollum started the third quarter extra aggressive. He really needs to get going in the game and he hit a big three to open up the scoring in the half and then a pull up jumper at a lunging Anthony Davis. He has looked shifty in this quarter, the Lakers can’t stay in front of him this quarter.

The suspect officiating continues. Anthony Davis literally jumped on top of Wenyen Gabriel for an offensive rebound, then jumped on his again as he went back up and Gabriel picked up his fifth foul of the game. The refs are letting Anthony Davis get away with everything this game.

Portland has had excellent ball movement in the quarter. They are moving the ball around and finding open shooters. They haven’t been able to knock down the open shots, but they have moved away from ISO ball. CJ has eleven points in the first eight minutes of the quarter.

This third quarter has not been pretty at all. The Lakers have played down to the Blazers third quarter standards. Through the first nine minutes the Blazers have outscored the Lakers 17-13. Both teams are not shooting well at all and each team is both under ten turnovers for the whole game. The defense has not been great by either team. This is such a weird game so far.

Quarter ends sloppily, but Portland actually won a third quarter. They outscored the Lakers by two, 21-19, and take a 78-75 lead into the fourth quarter.

Again, this was such a weird quarter.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The fourth quarter is not starting off much better. The Lakers made their big run when Lillard was on the bench to start the second and they tie the game on a Kuzma corner three. This immediately gets Lillard up off the bench. He got less than five minutes of total rest between the end of the third and checking back in with 10:12 left in the quarter.

The fourth has been all Kyle Kuzma. He’s attacking with abandon and Portland can’t stop him. He gives the Lakers a six point lead with just over eight minutes to play. Portland looks spent and has no answer for anything that the Lakers are doing right now.

With the 11-0 run it looked like the Lakers were ready to put this game away. That is when Damian Lillard hit two straight three pointers to tie the game and CJ a possession later gave the Blazers a 89-87 lead with a gorgeous mid range jumper.

WIth under five minutes left Anthony Davis and LeBron James missed four consecutive free throws that could have given the Lakers the lead.

Damian Lillard hits a 37 foot three to give the Blazers a three point lead with under three minutes left. Melo follows that up with another huge fourth quarter three pointer. Carmelo needs to be re-signed by the Blazers right now for next year. Figure out the roles later. He’s a great fit on this team.

Next Up

Blazers take a 1-0 lead into Thursday (8/20). Tip is just after 6:00 PM PST.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers beat Los Angeles Lakers in their first game since the death of Kobe Bryant

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Damian-Lillard-Kobe-Bryant-scaled.jpeg

For the first time since the death of Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers took the court against the Portland Trail Blazers. Being down in LA in the days after I’ve never seen the city more together and more unified. The love the entire city of Los Angeles, Southern California — hell, the world has shown for Kobe, Gianna, and the other seven people who perished on that mountainside on Sunday.

Kobe Bryant decal on the court at Staples Center.

The city is more lit up than the entire holiday of Christmas. There is more purple and gold all over Los Angeles than a victory parade. Usher did an amazing rendition of “Amazing Grace” as the start of the tribute to Kobe. Spotlights showed brightly on the retired jerseys of #8 and #24 up in the rafters of Staples. Ben Hong then played the background cello as a highlight video of Kobe played.

I don’t know why, but this all feels way to surreal. It’s hard to imagine that Kobe Bryant is gone. I wasn’t a fan of Kobe growing up, but seeing him evolve from an arrogant kid to an amazing father and Oscar winner. Being a Sonics fan and watching him destroy the Sonics over and over again. Like the time he dropped the eight three-pointers (a record at the time) in the middle of his feud with Ray Allen.

It’s time for the game.

The Lakers win the tip and LeBron James takes the 24-second violation to start the game. Damian Lillard took the 8-second violation. There is this weird energy to start the game. The Lakers are definitely off. The building is pretty quiet to boot. I thought things would be a lot more raucous.

A note that Carmelo Anthony did not travel with the team tonight as he is grieving still. Wenyen Gabriel got the start in his stead tonight. He’s playing really hard tonight. I’ve always liked this kid’s game. He will be a solid role player

Lillard and CJ McCollum have started off the game by attacking the middle of the Lakers’ defense. Getting in and around the paint to make some easy baskets to get themselves an early lead. LeBron and Anthony Davis combine for a couple of dunks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hits a three to give the Lakers a 23-19 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter.

Nassir Little checks into the game and hits back to back threes. His shot has really been improving as the season has gone on. I knew he was raw and it’d take a little time for him to adjust to the speed of the game. He’s definitely the starting small forward of the future. He might not be a superstar, but I have a feeling he’s going to be really good.

Anthony Davis has his shot dialed in. He has 18 points in the first quarter. He’s doing this with tears in his eyes.

CJ McCollum knocks down a three and the Blazers have a two-point lead, 38-36 lead after one.

The second quarter has not started well. It’s a lot like the start of the first quarter. Things are off. LeBron James outside of two dunks is not playing like the normal LeBron. He has six assists and is finding Dwight Howard abusing Caleb Swanigan in the paint for two of those.

This second quarter has been pretty painful to watch. The Lakers have thrown no less than seven passes straight to the Blazers in the first half. It’s bad. It’s not like miscommunication either. It seems like they are deliberately passing the Blazers the ball. LeBron has missed a few easy layups too.

Side note: What the hell is Kyle Kuzma doing with his hair?

Now that Damian Lillard is back in the game the Blazers are scoring points again and have retaken the lead at 58-56. A crap call on Trevor Ariza allows Avery Bradley to sink two free throws to give the Lakers a 62-60 lead at the halftime. Blazers did a great job limiting what Anthony Davis did in the second quarter, holding him to only two points.

There was a scary moment just before the half where Davis did block a Damian Lillard shot. Lillard went hard to the ground and looked like his head bounded off the court. Upon replay review, it didn’t, but he did land hard.

Damian Lillard collects himself after a hard shot from Anthony Davis. Photo courtesy of Bruce Ely.

We start the third quarter with a dunk by Hassan Whiteside for a dunk to tie the game at 62 and LeBron answers with a three. Wenyen Gabriel delivers a great hustle play that leads to Damian Lillard tying it up at 65. Man, Staples feels like a, and I’m sorry for saying this, a morgue.

Logo Lillard has shown up in LA, he knocks down two long-range threes to get the Blazers a five-point lead. Mario Hezonja checks in and Terry Stotts puts him on Anthony Davis who scores seven of the next ten points of the game. Danny Green scored the other three thanks to a foul from Hezonja.

I always want Hezonja to be good, he has the talent to be good. We have seen flashes of him being good. He got drafted top five. With about four minutes left in the third, he blows a wide-open layup. Like wide open and the ball wasn’t even remotely close to going in. The Blazers need to find someone to take Mario’s minutes at the deadline.

Maybe we can get a little more Nassir Little.

The refs are off in this quarter. Lillard got fouled hard on three straight possessions, twice going to the basket and he took a charge which was called a block. He then got mad. Like real mad.

How mad?

That’s how mad he got. He then got a four-point play and hit another three to give the Blazers another lead. At this point, he has 23 points in the quarter and 42 for the game. He has erupted since he got the technical foul. The Lakers have resorted to triple-teaming him as soon as he comes across the halfcourt line. This allows for Gary Trent Jr. to get a wide-open shot from 16 feet and the Blazers are the first to 100.

The Blazers take a 103-96 lead into the fourth quarter. The lead should have been bigger, but a dumb play by Swanigan allowed Davis to get a four-point play and Kyle Kuzma (and his stupid hair) is killing the Blazers on the offensive glass.

What we have learned, well should have learned is not to make Damian Lillard mad. My wife says Portland is being a little rude beating up on the Lakers in the game.

Blazers push their lead up to 12 in the first three minutes of the fourth. The Lakers continue to look out of sorts. It’s not like they had been playing all that great before the death of Kobe Bryant.

Pope, Kuzma and LeBron James have cut the lead down to three. Damian Lillard is now back in the game. This is a typical Blazers game this year. They have not been able to sustain leads when Lillard is on the bench. You know the other team is going to make a run when Dame is on the bench. You just hope it’s not too big and Lillard has enough gas to finish out the game.

Hassan Whiteside is having another quiet 22 points, 10 rebounds, and five block night. He’s been so solid for the Blazers this year. He should be the defensive player of the year.

Kyle Kuzma has been a menace all night for the Lakers. He’s been the biggest reason that the Lakers are not down more than twenty in the fourth. Anthony Davis is having a big scoring night, but Kuzma is making all the big rebounds and getting crucial baskets.

The Lakers kept making plays to get themselves back into the game, but the Blazers always had an answer. A Hassan Whiteside fadeaway 15-foot baseline jumper put the Blazers up 125-117 with 52 seconds remaining. Lillard puts the Blazers up 10 with 30 seconds left to seal the win.

Damian Lillard 48 points, 10 boards, and nine assists, Whiteside had 30, 12, and five, CJ had 19, and Gary Trent Jr. had 10 off the bench. Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 37.

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Uncategorized

Ranking the 2019-20 NBA Small Forwards

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Kawhi-Leonard.jpg

These rankings are going to be a little bit different without Kevin Durant sitting at the top. Maybe Kawhi would have knocked him off the top and he could have been number two. We’ll have to see how things shake out next year and if Durant comes back at all for this coming season (doubt it).

30. Troy Brown – Washington Wizards

There have been quite a few Wizards coming in dead last in the rankings here. That’s not a good sign for their season projections. I do think we’ll see a big jump from Mr. Brown this year. I think he has the game to average almost 15 points a game and probably flirt with 7-8 boards a game as well. Would like to see him take the next step defensively as well. He’s got quick hands and decent footwork.

29. Andre Roberson – Oklahoma City Thunder

It’s almost been two years since Roberson has been on a basketball court. His knee pretty much exploded. People say he looks good in his recent scrimmages, but there is no way he’s the lockdown defender he once was when he comes back. He better have worked on that jump shot while he was out.

28. Justin Jackson – Dallas Mavericks

I am not sure what we are going to get out of Jackson this year or even he’ll finish the year as the starter in Dallas. The Mavs have the personnel to run a good three-guard lineup and move Luka Doncic to the three full time.

27. Kelly Oubre Jr. – Phoenix Suns

Inconsistent. That is the one word that you can say about Oubre. He has a ton of potential, but he’s never been able to put the mental game together to match his physical game.

26. OG Anunoby – Toronto Raptors

Poor Anunoby. The man who has been tasked in replacing Kawhi Leonard. Anunoby isn’t a bad player, but he’s not a top-level player at the position. I really like the kid though. He’s a ball of energy. I think he gets to double figures most nights in scoring this year and his defense should be decent.

25. De’Andre Hunter – Atlanta Hawks

I don’t quite know how to rank Hunter yet. He was a little up and down in the preseason (which rookies isn’t). This ultimately might be too low for him. The Hawks are for sure going to be a nightly watch on League Pass though.

24. Kyle Anderson – Memphis Grizzlies

This actually is probably too high for Anderson. He’s a solid defender and after five years his offensive game has never really developed as it should have. He has a ton of skill and potential, but I’m not sure if he’s going to reach it.

23. Glenn Robinson III – Golden State Warriors

This was projected to Alfonzo McKinnie, but he is now no longer with the team and I’m stuck in traffic at the time of this publishing.

22. Nicolas Batum – Charlotte Hornets

We’ve seen a steady decline in Batum over the last few years. He’s probably the best scoring threat outside of Rozier on the Hornets roster. Maybe?

21. Taurean Prince – Brooklyn Nets

Prince will hold down the fort until Durant returns. Again, another guy with a ton of potential and now that he’s got a good point guard in Kyrie he might be able to bring something to the table.

20. Jonathan Isaac – Orlando Magic

Points improved last year for Isaac, but his three-point shooting went down (he took more and therefore missed more) a couple points, but nothing to be worried about there. Isaac should take another jump up in the scoring and also start to become a little bit more of a lockdown defender.

19. Kevin Knox – New York Knicks

Knox should a lot of promise as a rookie, but it’s the Knicks and well. God knows what is going to happen next there. He’ll probably be traded for Gallinari, who will then sign with Denver in July.

18. Tony Snell – Detroit Pistons

As long as Snell keeps this starting job he should average double figures for the Pistons. He showed flashes of good defense last year, hopefully Casey can get a little bit more out of him this year.

17. Andrew Wiggins – Minnesota Timberwolves

I probably should have put Wiggins at #30 to appease the internet basketball community. He can be a good scorer, but he doesn’t care at all about playing defense. He needs to get the mental portion of his game figured out and soon.

16. Otto Porter – Chicago Bulls

I’ve been a fan of Porter since his Georgetown days. Year after year he continues to improve and get better. He should have a career year with the Bulls this year.

15. Brandon Ingram – New Orleans Pelicans

Will Ingram finally live up to being worthy of the #2 pick in the draft in 2016. He’s another person with a ton of potential, but for some reason or another hasn’t put it all together. With Zion being out for a few weeks he’s going to be able to work on his chemistry with Jrue Holiday and hopefully become a solid second option for Nola this year.

14. Rodney Hood – Portland Trail Blazers

I think we get a big season from Hood. After a slow start in Portland (and his career), we should see a big jump in his scoring and in his rebounding this coming season. As the year goes along he’s going to get better and better with Dame and CJ.

13. Will Barton – Denver Nuggets

Barton is this high because of the potential he has. He’s often hurt, but when he plays he’s good. The bad thing here is both Torrey Craig and Michael Porter Jr. are breathing down his neck for PT. If he gets hurt and misses an extended amount of time he’s probably will not get his starting gig back.

12. Cedi Osman – Cleveland Cavaliers

We should see another jump from Osman this coming season. It’s hard not to cheer for this kid.

11. Harrison Barnes – Sacramento Kings

Barnes might have found a home in Sacramento. He’s never lived up to the hype he had coming out of UNC (unfounded if you ask me) and has been ostracized by each fan base that he’s played for. I think he’s finally in a comfortable situation and we should see him post nearly 20 points per game this coming season.

10. Eric Gordon – Houston Rockets

The dude gets buckets. Not sure how many chances he’ll get with both Westbrook and Harden dominating the ball on most possessions, but when he gets the chance he’ll let it fly and knock down threes.

9. Joe Ingles – Utah Jazz

Ingles is one of the better defenders at the position and gets in the head of opponents really well. Look how he destroyed Playoff P two years ago for verification. We could see an uptick in scoring from Joe this year, but his value is guarding the toughest wings in the league.

8. Gordon Hayward – Boston Celtics

Hayward is this high because I think he’s going to have a big bounce back year without Kyrie. He’s going to mesh a lot better with Kemba and play well with both Tatum and Brown. I predict he’ll lead the Celtics in scoring this coming season and play some kinda okay defense.

7. T.J. Warren – Indiana Pacers

Warren is going to get lots of buckets in Indiana this year. While Oladipo is out he’s going to be the main scoring threat for the Pacers. He had some scary good moments in the preseason and I think that will carry over to the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see how he meshes with Oladipo when he returns.

6. Khris Middleton – Milwaukee Bucks

Middleton got paid and I think he’s going to play up to that contract. He should be an All-Star going forward. Middleton should average over 20 points a game this year and play pretty good defense on the perimeter. Giannis will make his job easier in the scoring department.

5. DeMar DeRozan – San Antonio Spurs

It seemed like he had a hard time adjusting to life in San Antonio last year. He still put up numbers, but they were much quieter than they were in Toronto. I watched quite a lot of Spurs games last year and he seemed to disappear for long stretches of time and Pop pulled him in weird moments when you think he’d be on the floor to close out a contest. I think we’ll see him have a big bounce back.

4. Tobias Harris – Philadelphia 76ers

He should be the second scorer for the Sixers this season. With Embiid and Horford holding down the paint he won’t have to worry about battling for too many rebounds and focus more on his defense and scoring.

3. Jimmy Butler – Miami Heat

Probably the second-best two way player in all of the league. After having to share the workload in Minnesota and Philly last year, Butler now has his own team. He’ll be the Heat’s only real scoring option to start the season.

2. LeBron James – Los Angeles Lakers

Man, there has been no better for so long. For the first time ever LeBron looked mortal and the Lakers missed the playoffs because of it. He had to carry a lot last season with some inconsistent teammates. Outside of Anthony Davis things won’t change much, but for the first time ever we could see LeBron embrace a second fiddle status behind Davis.

1. Kawhi Leonard – Los Angeles Clippers

He’s the best two-way player in all of the league. He should be an MVP candidate, but the load management will keep him from being a serious contender.

Other posts in this series:

Ranking the 2019-20 coaches
Ranking the starting centers
Ranking the starting power forwards
Ranking the starting shooting guards
Ranking the starting point guards

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Portland Trail Blazers

Three Blazers make the Sports Illustrated Top 100 NBA players list

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
800px-Damian_Lillard0.jpg

The NBA is only a couple weeks away from starting training and it’s usually about this time of year things are slow and Sports Illustrated releases their Top 100 players NBA players for the coming year. This year three Blazers are bookended between Andrew Wiggins (#100) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (#1).

SI releases the list over the course of a week. On the first day of release, not a single Blazer was mentioned and then finally on day two and coming in at #78 was Jusuf Nurkic. The center seemed to come in a bit low for me coming off a career year. Yes, he is coming off a horrific broken leg, but he is still better than the like Domantas Sabonis, P.J. Tucker, Ricky Rubio, Harrison Barnes, Thaddeus Young, and Caris Levert. I agree with Montrezl Harrell being in front of him, but both Harrell and Nurkic should be ranked in the upper sixties.

It takes a bit before we come upon our next Blazer. The thing that jumps out to me is that Lou Williams is criminally under-ranked at 53. We see guys like John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, Myles Turner, and Marc Gasol ranked ahead of him. Sorry, but Lou Williams is much better than those guys and should be ranked in the low forties at the very least.

At #32 we reach CJ McCollum. Before having a knee injury at the end of the year CJ was on pace to have a career year. There was even some discussion of him being snubbed from the All-Star Game. He and DeMar DeRozan could have probably switched places, but CJ is pretty fairly ranked here.

We see a lot of guards popping up on the list now, guys like Mike Conley, Chris Paul, Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell, Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Kyle Lowry. We also hit a run of bigs with Pascal Siakam, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Draymond Green. We also get an appearance of Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook is ranked at #12 and Jimmy Butler at #11.

At #10 we finally come to Damian Lillard. This is a pretty fair ranking. I would argue that we could lift him up to #9 over Paul George, but you won’t get too much argument from me here. Lillard is one of the premier players in all of the league and it’s great that he is finally getting his just due.

The final eight are Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and the aforementioned Giannis. This is the first time in years that LeBron isn’t ranked at #1. I’m also really surprised that Zion Williamson didn’t get shoehorned into the top ten. He doesn’t even make the list.

What are your thoughts on the list?

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