NBA 2018-19, Part IV: Pete and Threepeat are sitting on a fence

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Originally Posted by Kingspoint

I was there. You were not.

Sacramento's players and Joerger did not check out.

You are 100% wrong!

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He kept his starting lineup on the bench the entire 2nd half. That's the definition of checking out. Real simple way to win that game if they cared - play Fox and Hield.

They closed with Frank Mason, Yogi Ferrell, Corey Brewer, B.J. Johnson and Caleb Swanigan.

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Originally Posted by M2

He kept his starting lineup on the bench the entire 2nd half. That's the definition of checking out. Real simple way to win that game if they cared - play Fox and Hield.

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Of course they win if they keep Fox, Hield and Bagley in the game. They might have won by 50 or they might have stopped hitting their '3's, too. (Kings set a franchise record with 13 in the first half, but they made only 5 of 23 in the 2nd half and 4 of those were in the 3rd.)

With the huge lead, Joerger, as any Coach would do in Game 82 with that big of a lead would do, was he gave other guys minutes to see if they could finish the job, which they were still doing with a few minutes left in the third.

But, Portland kept coming. As Joerger said, "Portland played very, very well". But, at no time did Joerger or any Kings Player give up. Portland started draining every shot and Sacramento couldn't hit anything. Joerger called timeout after timeout to try to have his 2nd String players pull this out, but the onslaught was so fast and so great that it was unstoppable. Once Portland took the lead at 119-117, Fox, Hield and Bagley wouldn't have made a difference. Sacramento actually went back to normal hitting an average amount of shots, but Portland was draining everything. It was a once-in-a-lifetime game and effort. I have never seen it before (six guys playing the whole game who got better and better as the game went on until they were so hot nothing could have stopped them from winning). They were as hot as Roy's 24-pt 4th Quarter to beat Dallas in a playoff game.

One thing is certain: Whenever Anfernee Simons gets his chance, he's going to be a very good scorer in this league. I have no idea when that chance will come. They may not resign C.J. three Summers from now.

The main reason Joerger pulled his Starters after the first half was because they were doing anything they wanted against Portland and it was almost a joke. Coaches respect each other and out of respect to Stotts, Joerger pulled his Starters and went with his remaining 7 players, all but, one or two had a lot of experience the last two years. With them holding onto a huge lead through almost 3 quarters, it looked like Sacramento would still win, but at the end of the 3rd "an opportunity" opened up to Portland and they seized upon it. Joerger would be disrespectful if he tried to then win the game by putting Fox, Hield and/or MBIII back in. You just don't do that. These players currently in had to be the ones to win it. They tired their butts off, but fell victim to a wave of momentum that was too strong to stop.

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Originally Posted by Kingspoint

The main reason Joerger pulled his Starters after the first half was because they were doing anything they wanted against Portland and it was almost a joke. Coaches respect each other and out of respect to Stotts, Joerger pulled his Starters and went with his remaining 7 players, all but, one or two had a lot of experience the last two years. With them holding onto a huge lead through almost 3 quarters, it looked like Sacramento would still win, but at the end of the 3rd "an opportunity" opened up to Portland and they seized upon it. Joerger would be disrespectful if he tried to then win the game by putting Fox, Hield and/or MBIII back in. You just don't do that. These players currently in had to be the ones to win it. They tired their butts off, but fell victim to a wave of momentum that was too strong to stop.

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Joerger respected them so much he lost the game. Had he cared, and he didn't, his starters would have played significant minutes in the final two quarters. B.J. Johnson played the last six minutes. B.J. Johnson. Frank Mason had a -47 net rating. Who cares if you felt like they tried while they played abominable basketball? They stunk it up and the guys who could have won that game with ease stayed glued to the bench. Stotts should be sending Joerger a nice, hand-written thank you note for that.

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Originally Posted by M2

Joerger respected them so much he lost the game. Had he cared, and he didn't, his starters would have played significant minutes in the final two quarters. B.J. Johnson played the last six minutes. B.J. Johnson. Frank Mason had a -47 net rating. Who cares if you felt like they tried while they played abominable basketball? They stunk it up and the guys who could have won that game with ease stayed glued to the bench. Stotts should be sending Joerger a nice, hand-written thank you note for that.

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Man...I learned a while back, you can have a respectable basketball conversation with him. But you cant if it's about the Blazers, he is the ultimate Blazer homer!!!

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Originally Posted by dubc47834

Man...I learned a while back, you can have a respectable basketball conversation with him. But you cant if it's about the Blazers, he is the ultimate Blazer homer!!!

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I really dig how much of a Blazers homer Kingspoint is. In this case I thought I was in completely non-controversial territory. I stand corrected.

...and I like the REDS five times more than I like the Blazers.

How the Blazers will beat the Thunder and move on the the Western Conference Semi-Finals to face the winner of the Denver-San Antonio series:

1. Split the first two in Portland.

2. Win just one of the three games (GM3, GM4 or GM6) in Oklahoma City.

3. Win Game 5 in Portland.

4. Win Game 7 in Portland.


I correctly predicted that Portland would finish at least 3rd in the Western Conference each of the last two seasons, so why not this, too? Just like Nurkic would always have his best games against Denver, Enes Kanter could be at the top of his game in this series against OKC.

Today's odds for Game 1's:
TOR by 8
GSW by 12
DEN by 5
BOS by 7
POR by 3
HOU by 6

PHI and MIL have no odds, yet, due to injury concerns.

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Originally Posted by M2

I really dig how much of a Blazers homer Kingspoint is. In this case I thought I was in completely non-controversial territory. I stand corrected.

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We often disagree on the emotional and mental aspects of sports. You like things you can measure. My experiences in life give me all the information I need to make judgement calls on the emotional and mental aspects of sports because I've seen them repeated time and time again. I speak from personal experience and from my knowledge of professionals and non-professionals concerning their opinions on the mental and emotional aspects of sports. Your experiences give you different information about it. That's where we usually differ.

Good Luck in the series, Scotland Red.

I'm looking forward to Westbrook missing a game or two because of suspensions (penalties from exceeding the technicals limits) but, I hope neither team loses any more players to injuries.

Good news, RojoRijo. You can take all you can get in this series. I am the only one I can find that thinks ORL takes this series to 7 games and could even win it in 6 games.

What isn't a fluke is this:

ORL led the entire NBA in Defensive Rating the 2nd Half of the season (since Feb 1st), the most important half. They just keep getting better as the season goes along. They have plenty of scoring in Ross, Vucevic, Gordon, MCW (who has their highest +/- of 5.9), Fournier, and Augustine. They also have depth.

OKC opened as the betting favorite in their series.

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Originally Posted by M2

OKC opened as the betting favorite in their series.

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...but not Game 1, while there are different odds about the series that favor Portland and some that favor OKC. There are a lot of question marks in this series that has projections all over the board.