NBA/Blazers 2026-27 Thread

[bellsduck]

Honestly a great performance by just about everyone tonight.
Jrue and Clingan were tremendous. Sidy valuable minutes.
Scoot only 1 turnover. Lillard didn't force things after a slow start and may have had one of his better games in a long time

[pezsez1]

Jrue and Clingan heard me! Go Blazers!

[Phalanx]

What a fun game. The Blazers played well down the stretch, and got contributions from several guys, including Sidy with a couple of threes. He doesn't always feel like a legit contributor, but tonight he did. Jrue was unbelievable, easily the best of the guards tonight* on his way to nearly a triple double. The guy is just always in the right place, and he literally guards everyone on Denver, including Jokic. He's the sort of player I have always envied other teams having that would make all the smart plays and beat the Blazers, and now he is on our side. Amazing player, especially at his age. Lillard still hasn't found his three point shot, but he made a decent contribution in the 4th quarter before Nori took him out. He can't drive past anyone, but he still knows how to get plenty of foul calls. Deni didn't shoot well, but had a flurry of plays at the end to help seal the win. Toumani, as always, is the horse on defense and made a clutch three at the end off a nice pass from Jrue that felt like the dagger. Clingan is an amazing rebounder and he is getting the timing down on those lob plays after struggling with it the first several games. Overall a solid team performance against a smart but plodding Denver team who missed a lot of wide open shots tonight and then made a bunch with guys draped all over them. Blazers are still undefeated on the road, which is impressive for a new coach. Nori is looking like a solid choice.


* With apologies to Youngblood, who had a +22 tonight and would therefore automatically be Pez's team MVP.

[pezsez1]

Yes, Dame had a "decent" contribution with 20 pts on 5-11 shooting and 9-10 from the free throw line, and a clutch jumper to put Portland up by 6 after Nori re-inserted him for the final few minutes. Brilliant move by Nori to wait until just the right time to put him back in!

That's the kind of all-around effort this team needs though. Glad to see Jrue finally assert himself on the offensive end, he was huge tonight and we needed everything he did. Funny enough, I think Deni actually had the worst +/- of all the starters, even though he seemed to be toying with Denver over the final 6 minutes.

[Phalanx]

Yes, Dame had a "decent" contribution with 20 pts on 5-11 shooting and 9-10 from the free throw line, and a clutch jumper to put Portland up by 6 after Nori re-inserted him for the final few minutes. Brilliant move by Nori to wait until just the right time to put him back in!

That's the kind of all-around effort this team needs though. Glad to see Jrue finally assert himself on the offensive end, he was huge tonight and we needed everything he did. Funny enough, I think Deni actually had the worst +/- of all the starters, even though he seemed to be toying with Denver over the final 6 minutes.

With 6:22 left in the 4th, Lillard takes a wide open shot from near the logo and it bricks so hard, it bounces to a waiting Aaron Gordon who passes it to a streaking Braun who makes the uncontested lay-in to get back to within 3 because Lillard couldn't even be bothered to get back on defense. Denver guards love it when they play Lillard because they get free baskets. Nori took Lillard out right after that and he did come in later and made the lucky shot that rolled around before going in, but then he was on the bench in the final minute because Nori needed guys who played defense to protect the lead, and Lillard doesn't play defense. Lillard was credited for only 11 shots, but he had quite a few more misses that got bailed out with foul calls. If he had taken any more shots the Blazers would likely have lost the game. Hopefully Nori can continue to keep Lillard's poor shooting in check like he did tonight.

Just to review though, according to you, 6 of 14 when Ja does it is 'not great production', but 5 of 11 when Lillard does it is 'brilliant' and 'clutch'. I'm just trying to calibrate for future reference.

[pezsez1]

Dame's clutch shot was money all the way! That's why Nori put him in, was for moments exactly like that. Dame wasn't the only person Nori took out for that final Denver possession because, yes, at that point all that mattered was defense. If you watch the games carefully you'll see that Nori often rests Dame for the middle of the fourth quarter so that he's fresh for the final minutes. What happened tonight had nothing to do with Dame missing one shot. He was the team's second-leading scorer and shot well from the field, and more importantly he got to the foul line (and shot 90%) and was vital in keeping us in the game. Only a fool wouldn't play Dame during crunch time.

EDIT: Man, you just reminded me AGAIN that we could have had Aaron Gordon for Anfernee Simons. Man, what a missed opportunity, possibly the most underrated blunder of the failed Olshey era.

[Phalanx]

"He shot well from the field" = 5/11. Noted. Lillard went 1 of 5 from three, which means he is now at a torrid 32.7% clip from downtown on the season, which is 9th on the team, having now been passed by Jrue (38.7% from three) and Sidy (33.3% from three). At least he is good at taking the balls from the rack and shooting them when nobody is guarding him and Steph isn't there though. That's what really counts.

I guess Nori is a fool, because he didn't play Lillard in the last minute. Instead, Jrue and Scoot were out there to close the game and keep the lead. I'm glad Nori foolishly coached them to victory tonight.

[pezsez1]

Lillard shot 5-11 from the field and 90% from the free-throw line for 20 points, second-best on the team. That's a good night! Not sure what else to tell you. He played the crunch minutes that mattered most, only leaving the game when all we needed was one more defensive stop.

If your irrational hatred of Damian Lillard had any rooting in reality then Nori wouldn't have put him in to help put Denver away.

Dame finished the night with 30 minutes, which is right on the upper end of his per-night average so far this season. He wasn't pulled because a 3-pointer went off the back iron lol.

Again, not sure what else to tell ya. Just relax and enjoy the show.

[Phalanx]

Congrats by the way to Jrue for reaching the NBA top 25 all-time in assists last night, passing Mike Conley. There are several names on that list who made stops with the Blazers - 13. Andre Miller, 14. Rod Strickland, 17. Lenny Wilkins, and 18. Terry Porter. So now we can add Jrue's name to that list of elite passing point guards. He might be able to break into the Top 20 by the end of the season if he stays healthy, which would be a nice plank in his Hall of Fame case.