Pups vs Blazers

[Coolbreeze44]

Let's not forget the bottom line here. We lost a game that would have/should have been won. Yes, Lillard makes those shots all the time, almost uncannily so. But what about our offense at the end? We've got guys who can get to the stripe in those situations, but we do the stupid iso/one guy be the hero crap that fails time and time again. Get the ball into the post and play to our strength. Portland is going to make shots, but our failings on the other end had a lot to do with the defeat. We win that game and we are flying high and gaining confidence. It would have been a huge next step for us. Now we have Golden State staring us in the face. Gotta make hay when you can.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Right or wrong... some coaches stick to the script pretty closely, most of the time. There's a lot of anecdotal commentary over the years about how most NBA players crave consistency and knowing what's expected.

And that usually includes rotations. There's a reason why guys come in and out of the games at almost the exact time, game after game. I know the Covington injury put a wrench into those plans a bit... but I wouldn't be surprised if the rotations were largely established before the game even began. Not saying it's right. But Thibs isn't alone playing it that way.

The other rub here in a very uneven game with terrible, uneven officiating... the Blazers hit shots. They had the best player on the floor... and he played like it down the stretch. After all, it's a make-or-miss league.

And it shows why every team wants superstar players...

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Let's not forget the bottom line here. We lost a game that would have/should have been won. Yes, Lillard makes those shots all the time, almost uncannily so. But what about our offense at the end? We've got guys who can get to the stripe in those situations, but we do the stupid iso/one guy be the hero crap that fails time and time again. Get the ball into the post and play to our strength. Portland is going to make shots, but our failings on the other end had a lot to do with the defeat. We win that game and we are flying high and gaining confidence. It would have been a huge next step for us. Now we have Golden State staring us in the face. Gotta make hay when you can.

Great point, Cool. The reason this loss is so painful is that it was so winnable and would have been a signature win with Rob out. The fact that we then have to play GS tonight with either a limited RoCo or no Roco makes it an almost certainty that we will start this road trip 0-2. Huge opportunity lost.

[Coolbreeze44]

I always have an idea of my substitution pattern before the game begins. I know when I want to bring someone in and i have a general idea of how minutes should be distributed. On one hand that's great, but then the game begins. At that point all the different variables begin to mesh together creating a unique dynamic for each contest. This is where the coach becomes important. You have to constantly be searching for ways to give your team the best chance to win. It's a chess match with the other coaching staff. I'm not saying that preparation isn't hugely important, it certainly is. But it's just one part of the job. You really show your chops once the ball is tipped, and you really demonstrate your ability by reacting to the dynamics of the game, particularly at crunch time. At the AAU level, I'm running kids in and out of the game in the last two minutes to maximize each possession. If a poor foul shooter is fouled in a crowd, I have a better shooter go to the line until the ref forces a change. I change defenses after timeouts to make sure the opponent isn't ready for what they talked about. I see very little of these things with the Wolves.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Of course, Cool... but that's AAU. Or high school. Or college. Or travel. Or whatever. Do you need me to bring up all the reasons why it's so vastly different in the NBA?

There are literally MILLIONS... tens of MILLIONS ($$$)... reasons.

[Monster]

I found one point of Britt's article amusing (although the arrival overall was pretty well balanced) because at the beginning he says how much more effective Wiggins is at SG compared to SF...boy Wiggins really struggled as a supposed SF in that game. Lol. We all have our biases that shape how we look at the game. I also think those biases sometimes can actually see something that someone would not see and vise a versa. Personally I think Britts assertion that Saric should have started against Nurkic was more compelling than Starting Okogie. It's so easy to question rotations smart basketball people question Steve Kerr but sometimes there is more than one way to do something.

[Coolbreeze44]

Of course, Cool... but that's AAU. Or high school. Or college. Or travel. Or whatever. Do you need me to bring up all the reasons why it's so vastly different in the NBA?

There are literally MILLIONS... tens of MILLIONS ($$$)... reasons.

Yeah, It's wrong to draw too many parallels between AAU coaching and the NBA. I guess my point is low level coaches like myself can't even get away with just standing on the sidelines bickering with the refs all game. I don't believe Thibs reacts to the flow of the game well enough.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Of course, Cool... but that's AAU. Or high school. Or college. Or travel. Or whatever. Do you need me to bring up all the reasons why it's so vastly different in the NBA?

There are literally MILLIONS... tens of MILLIONS ($$$)... reasons.

Yeah, It's wrong to draw too many parallels between AAU coaching and the NBA. I guess my point is low level coaches like myself can't even get away with just standing on the sidelines bickering with the refs all game. I don't believe Thibs reacts to the flow of the game well enough.

While I agree with you about Thibs's in-game, or even in-season, adjustments a lot of the time...

NBA coaches have to deal with the repercussions of benching/sitting a guy making 7x more money than they do... It's a player's league after all.

[Monster]

One other point about the rotations. The Blazers crew was mentioning numerous times that the Wolves were making runs with an undersized group including Okogie. The Blazers after playing Lilliard and C.J. at the guard spots are a big team. Stauskus is the smallest guy they play off the bench. Evan Turner basically plays PG and they play Harless and Layman at SF and those guys are basically small ball PFs. The bigs are Collins and Leonard who are both basically center sized guys. Guess who won the rebounding battle? I saw a tweet the other day that teams are more likely to win the game based on defensive rebounding than who wins the 3 point battle. The Wolves lost both but were right in this game till the end.

The Blazers play by play guy called everything that wasn't a 3 pointer or 4 feet from the rim mid range shots. A floater 4 feet inside the FT line doesn't seem like mid range shot.

Also I thought Lip said we should be winning with offense and he didn't like Rose playing and starting? Man stay on message. ;)

[Lipoli390]

One other point about the rotations. The Blazers crew was mentioning numerous times that the Wolves were making runs with an undersized group including Okogie. The Blazers after playing Lilliard and C.J. at the guard spots are a big team. Stauskus is the smallest guy they play off the bench. Evan Turner basically plays PG and they play Harless and Layman at SF and those guys are basically small ball PFs. The bigs are Collins and Leonard who are both basically center sized guys. Guess who won the rebounding battle? I saw a tweet the other day that teams are more likely to win the game based on defensive rebounding than who wins the 3 point battle. The Wolves lost both but were right in this game till the end.

The Blazers play by play guy called everything that wasn't a 3 pointer or 4 feet from the rim mid range shots. A floater 4 feet inside the FT line doesn't seem like mid range shot.

Also I thought Lip said we should be winning with offense and he didn't like Rose playing and starting? Man stay on message. ;)

Lol. Rose and Teague together isn't the best prescription for offense either because they're both so ball-dominant and fail to get the best out of high scoring teammates like Wiggins and KAT. But since ball-movement isn't a staple of Thibodeau's offense anyway, perhaps it doesn't matter. In any event, it should have been clear to Thibodeau at some point in the Portland game that Rose was and Teague together weren't effective on either end of the court. And as the season wears on, Rose's offense will fall off. He's not going to continue hitting anything close to 47% of his threes.