Pinch Hitter

[Coolbreeze44]

Need a pinch hitter again tonight. Was only able to see the first half. I will make these points:

- There is not team I would rather beat than Portland. I hate the punk that is Damian Lillard. I hate how bad we typically play against them. I'm tired of being their doormat. This win REALLY made my night.

- There is no more annoying local announcer than the Blazers Mike Rice. He literally makes the game a burden to watch. And he doesn't know anything. He repeatedly said that Brewer was our best defender. He is just awful.

- Gotta love how Andrew took advantage of his matchups in the first half. He really seemed to have a better understanding tonight of how this NBA works. Great to see him play well.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Won the board battle. Kept them under 100. Had some bounces go our way down the stretch during some sloppy play. This would have been a heartbreaker if we would have lost, but we did just enough things right to pull it out. It's always nice to reinforce a great performance like Wiggins had with a win so he gets rewarded for playing well. We definitely need to do better from the line down the stretch though because the bounces don't always go your way like they did tonight. I feel like this is the first game in a while that they haven't been an inferno from beyond the arc which certainly helped. It's a win against a quality opponent regardless of the fact they were on a back to back. We've been a doormat for a while now and it was nice to not give up over 100 for a change.

[worldK]

There are not a lot of things not to like tonight. We gave a good effort and deserve to win. We won the rebound battle and got to the loose balls.

2 things not to like? hmm.. I would say

1. Fast break execution. We blew a couple of easy transition opportunities again tonight like we have the last few games. We only have 1 ball handler so its to be expected though.

2. 3pts shooting. We are just not a good 3pt shooting team period. 1/12 tonight and the 1 make was brewer at the buzzer in the third. Once brew made that shot, I got confident that we would actually win the game. We won tonight despite of it.

Plus 1. Andrew Wiggins. 23/10/4/3. 1st career double doulble. Made 2 crucial clutch jumpers over batum. Got to the line in the clutch just couldnt made more than half his fts. Didnt force many things tonight and look comfortable. The kid will be very very good once he develop his handle and get stronger.

There are other bright spots tonight like adrien and bazz in the 1st half.

[Coolbreeze44]

Andrew played 44 minutes tonight? Awesome

[Coolbreeze44]

Some observations while looking at the Box Score:

- Corey with 5 steals and 10/10 from the line

- Hummel plays only 2 minutes and Bud not at all and we win. Coincidence?

- The game has been over for hours. Is Thad still shooting.............and missing?

- Why didn't Andrew get a blocked shot for his effort against Lopez. That was a great play.

[kekgeek]

Some observations while looking at the Box Score:

- Corey with 5 steals and 10/10 from the line

- Hummel plays only 2 minutes and Bud not at all and we win. Coincidence?

- The game has been over for hours. Is Thad still shooting.............and missing?

- Why didn't Andrew get a blocked shot for his effort against Lopez. That was a great play.

I agree with you but Thad played a big role in the second half, he made some big shots, and stopped 2 Blazers runs late

[worldK]

Some observations while looking at the Box Score:

- Corey with 5 steals and 10/10 from the line

- Hummel plays only 2 minutes and Bud not at all and we win. Coincidence?

- The game has been over for hours. Is Thad still shooting.............and missing?

- Why didn't Andrew get a blocked shot for his effort against Lopez. That was a great play.

Forgot to mention corey. Great game from him 19/8/5/5. Perfect from the line and our lone made 3 pointer!

Adrien played ahead of hummel to match up vs kaman and did a very good job. 11 boards and 2 blocks. I like him a lot. He might be our best current rebounder. He is always around the ball. Undersize but built like a tank and tough as nails.

As keek mentioned, thad missed a lot of shots but made some crucial baskets to stop their run. The shots he missed where wide open shots so he was not just chucking it. Just couldnt shoot since he rejoined the team but is a positive this game.

I thought wiggins had at least 2 blocks this game. ! on kaman that might have been credited to adrien instead and his effort on lopez. I counted 4 blocks for him in the bucks game but was only credited with 2.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Nights like tonight give me hope. Bazz finished with an ugly stat line, but he was the catalyst in the first half that got us the lead. And it's almost like Wiggins fed off of what Bazz was doing. Those two need to play together much more.

And Lavine, although he still did some stupid things (that last driving layup he took when we needed to run clock was ultra-dumb), was mainly solid throughout. He has really improved in just 20 games.

My final comment will be about Rubio. When they showed him in the end standing up and clapping, but also looking on sort of wide-eyed, I felt like he was thinking to himself: I've got some great new shiny toys to play with, and I can't wait to get back on the court.

I guess I have one final, final comment: We'll probably go back to getting our ass kicked Friday night, and our young players will struggle mightily. But tonight was not a mirage, the talent is there--it just has to mature. And all these injuries, while leading to a bleak season so far, have no doubt accelerated that process.