[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (3-7) fall to The Minnesota Timberwolves (6-3) 102-127
November 9, 2024
[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (3-7) fall to The Minnesota Timberwolves (6-3) 102-127
28 comments
Quarters 1 to 3: Dalano Banton
4th Quarter: DB Hooper
Never let Simons facilitate the offense ever again (unless for tank, then that’s okay)!
22 threes to 6 threes usually isn’t a recipe for victory
RW3 by far the best watch of the game
Why did Banton try to steal the ball lol
If we ever get competitive again we need to have to launch threes to have any chance
I mean what can I even say. Minnesota’s great and we’re subpar. On to the next I suppose (against Minnesota the game after next LOL)
please for the love of god trade Grant and/or Simons
That was…… a little soulless.
The positives:
* RW3 looked FANTASTIC. He looked healthy and explosive – he caught a few lobs, hit a three, and had a nice putback. I was also impressed at how smart and long he was defensively – he was getting deflections and seemed to always have his hands in the passing lanes. I also thought his short-area quickness looked pretty solid, as he hung with Edwards on a switch and blocked his floater when Edwards tried to decelerate, and he also had a couple good possessions against Randle (whos first step is also pretty elite for a big forward). I really liked what I saw there.
* Banton was good in garbage time, again.
* Thought Deni looked good pushing the ball in transition. We should do that more.
* Scoot played OK. The finishing is still an adventure, but I like the competitiveness and hustle defensively. He still drops routine passes too much for my liking, but he did a good job getting to the rim today, even if some of the layups were a little flukey (like where he had a terrible layup but stole the ball from Randle who wasn’t looking and scored, or when he drove into traffic and lost the ball but it got batted back to him and he threw a lob to RW3). Still, I thought he played okay today.
The negatives:
* Anfernee had one of the worst games I’ve ever watched him play ever. I usually try to stay away from analyzing body language but he constantly looks super frustrated out there and I just don’t like what I see. There was a sequence late in the second quarter where the team was on a 9-0 run with all the momentum, and then Ant waved off a screen to go ISO into an airball, then walked back on defense to give up an open three. And then repeated the same thing the next possession. Beyond the missed shots (which happens sometimes) there’s gotta be some kind of accountability for that. That’s inexcusable.
* More on Ant (he was so bad that it needs two bullet points) I thought his playmaking has regressed in a real way since last year. Nobody was ever going to confuse him with Chris Paul out there, but I thought that last season he did enough to run offense competetly enough at the NBA level. But so far this season (with a couple quarters worth of exceptions, like the first half of the first Pelicans game, and the first half of the Spurs game) it’s been an utter disaster with him running the offense. Again I really try to avoid mind-reading but you have to wonder if he sees the writing on the wall with us drafting Scoot and knows he’s out of here soon.
* You can’t play Clingan against a small-ball lineup with five shooters on the floor. We tried it against the Thunder and it didn’t work, we tried it against the Suns and it didn’t work, and we tried it today and it still didn’t work. We gave up **five** wide open threes in about 3 minutes by sitting in a 2-3 zone with Clingan guarding the Wolves’ second unit frontcourt of Randle and Naz Reid – you just cannot sit in a 2-3 zone against a well-coached 5 out team. It just does not work and it will never work and we need to stop trying it. Literally if you do that they can pass the ball 3 times and get an open three every single time down the floor (which is exactly what happened each time Clingan has played against a 5-out lineup). To his credit, Clingan looked much better in his minutes when Gobert was in the game.
* I don’t know what to call it, but that stupid three man weave action we do to initiate like 60% of our halfcourt possessions needs to be permanently shelved. It does absolutely nothing but waste time off the shot clock, and it’s so predictable that the handoffs can just get blown up – Divicenzo blew up that action by anticipating the handoff like two or three times. That just needs to go, ASAP.
* Prior to this game, we were back down to 19th in pace, which is pretty unacceptable when you’ve got a young, athletic, fast team with lots of guys who can handle the ball. Part of it is Ant not really wanting to push the ball, but even if you take out the Ant minutes, our pace is still well below league average if you just count the minutes that he’s off the floor. that’s unacceptable with this roster.
* for all the talk about Toumani’s offensive improvement, he’s still gotta shoot open threes. I appreciate that he’s looked better with the ball in his hands, attacking closeouts, and things like that, but he can’t keep pump faking out of open threes because sooner or later, defenders will stop biting on the pump fakes. He had 6 TOs today, 3 of which were when he pump faked out of open shots and got himself into a bad position and turned it over.
* Ayton was awful on both ends of the floor. Not trying to make excuses for Ant because Ant was awful, but DA makes it 10000x harder for the guards when his screens don’t create any separation. especially against a long defender like McDaniels.
Scoot led the team with three assists across 32 minutes. Yikes.
Its Clear Simons doesnt want to be here, Grant only wants to be here because he goes on vacation early every year, and Ayton just does whatever he wants to do
Not sure how much Cooper is going to help this team…
Trade ballhog chucker Simon’s
That second quarter was fun
If you managed to watch this game til the end, you are a certified sicko. Welcome to the club. We’re happy to have you.
Think of all the fast breaks Scoot and Deni could create with Toumani and Clingan creating turnovers and and blocking shots. Shaedon flying at the wing. Then next year replace Deni with Flagg and that’s our new core.
Ayton, Ant and JG will be gone soon enough. All are good players, but not good enough to stop a tanking mission— especially with Chauncey at the helm. Let the tank roll on? 
Ant was again the worst player on the court. I can’t comprehend why he starts and plays so much.
Ant outplayed anf. It bothers me so much that no matter how bad anf plays, billups plays him 30+ min every game. Like give some minutes to banton??? Are we not going to reward good performances? Stop bringing banton in when we’re down 10+ pts. Billups is a basketball terrorist.
So if we get rid of Chauncey by the end of the season or before that, what options do we have?
New coach. How long we gonna keep accepting 20+ point losses over and over and over again. Love ya Chauncey but it’s not a right fit for the blazers
Random but I just remembered how the front office tried to not have the broadcast team travel with the team. Love Kev and Lamar (I’m very high)
Now all the sudden I don’t feel to high on shaedon Sharpe
Pretty clear to me that Ant wants out.
He hasn’t looked engaged or like himself hardly at all this season.
We really need to trade grant/simons and ayton. I rather just lose with the young squad.
Go back to scoot/sharpe/camera/deni/clingan. A lot of losing but we are going anywhere with that starter group
The whole time I was watching RW3 I had to keep telling myself not to get excited – I feel like if he has a decent healthy stretch we gotta ship him off while we can. Sucks so bad he is so good.
My team ~~Yasuo~~ Ant, vs their team Ant
Why does Billups get to stick around when he won’t be here when the team improves. Just fire him now and look to build FFS.
![[Post Game Thread] The Portland Trail Blazers (3-7) fall to The Minnesota Timberwolves (6-3) 102-127](https://www.rawchili.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/1731129789_14_ZUf1i-Leh9RBEmuOsoj5CpMY5PYSH9YVS4y-xWnmm3A.jpg)
28 comments
Quarters 1 to 3: Dalano Banton
4th Quarter: DB Hooper
Never let Simons facilitate the offense ever again (unless for tank, then that’s okay)!
22 threes to 6 threes usually isn’t a recipe for victory
RW3 by far the best watch of the game
Why did Banton try to steal the ball lol
If we ever get competitive again we need to have to launch threes to have any chance
I mean what can I even say. Minnesota’s great and we’re subpar. On to the next I suppose (against Minnesota the game after next LOL)
please for the love of god trade Grant and/or Simons
That was…… a little soulless.
The positives:
* RW3 looked FANTASTIC. He looked healthy and explosive – he caught a few lobs, hit a three, and had a nice putback. I was also impressed at how smart and long he was defensively – he was getting deflections and seemed to always have his hands in the passing lanes. I also thought his short-area quickness looked pretty solid, as he hung with Edwards on a switch and blocked his floater when Edwards tried to decelerate, and he also had a couple good possessions against Randle (whos first step is also pretty elite for a big forward). I really liked what I saw there.
* Banton was good in garbage time, again.
* Thought Deni looked good pushing the ball in transition. We should do that more.
* Scoot played OK. The finishing is still an adventure, but I like the competitiveness and hustle defensively. He still drops routine passes too much for my liking, but he did a good job getting to the rim today, even if some of the layups were a little flukey (like where he had a terrible layup but stole the ball from Randle who wasn’t looking and scored, or when he drove into traffic and lost the ball but it got batted back to him and he threw a lob to RW3). Still, I thought he played okay today.
The negatives:
* Anfernee had one of the worst games I’ve ever watched him play ever. I usually try to stay away from analyzing body language but he constantly looks super frustrated out there and I just don’t like what I see. There was a sequence late in the second quarter where the team was on a 9-0 run with all the momentum, and then Ant waved off a screen to go ISO into an airball, then walked back on defense to give up an open three. And then repeated the same thing the next possession. Beyond the missed shots (which happens sometimes) there’s gotta be some kind of accountability for that. That’s inexcusable.
* More on Ant (he was so bad that it needs two bullet points) I thought his playmaking has regressed in a real way since last year. Nobody was ever going to confuse him with Chris Paul out there, but I thought that last season he did enough to run offense competetly enough at the NBA level. But so far this season (with a couple quarters worth of exceptions, like the first half of the first Pelicans game, and the first half of the Spurs game) it’s been an utter disaster with him running the offense. Again I really try to avoid mind-reading but you have to wonder if he sees the writing on the wall with us drafting Scoot and knows he’s out of here soon.
* You can’t play Clingan against a small-ball lineup with five shooters on the floor. We tried it against the Thunder and it didn’t work, we tried it against the Suns and it didn’t work, and we tried it today and it still didn’t work. We gave up **five** wide open threes in about 3 minutes by sitting in a 2-3 zone with Clingan guarding the Wolves’ second unit frontcourt of Randle and Naz Reid – you just cannot sit in a 2-3 zone against a well-coached 5 out team. It just does not work and it will never work and we need to stop trying it. Literally if you do that they can pass the ball 3 times and get an open three every single time down the floor (which is exactly what happened each time Clingan has played against a 5-out lineup). To his credit, Clingan looked much better in his minutes when Gobert was in the game.
* I don’t know what to call it, but that stupid three man weave action we do to initiate like 60% of our halfcourt possessions needs to be permanently shelved. It does absolutely nothing but waste time off the shot clock, and it’s so predictable that the handoffs can just get blown up – Divicenzo blew up that action by anticipating the handoff like two or three times. That just needs to go, ASAP.
* Prior to this game, we were back down to 19th in pace, which is pretty unacceptable when you’ve got a young, athletic, fast team with lots of guys who can handle the ball. Part of it is Ant not really wanting to push the ball, but even if you take out the Ant minutes, our pace is still well below league average if you just count the minutes that he’s off the floor. that’s unacceptable with this roster.
* for all the talk about Toumani’s offensive improvement, he’s still gotta shoot open threes. I appreciate that he’s looked better with the ball in his hands, attacking closeouts, and things like that, but he can’t keep pump faking out of open threes because sooner or later, defenders will stop biting on the pump fakes. He had 6 TOs today, 3 of which were when he pump faked out of open shots and got himself into a bad position and turned it over.
* Ayton was awful on both ends of the floor. Not trying to make excuses for Ant because Ant was awful, but DA makes it 10000x harder for the guards when his screens don’t create any separation. especially against a long defender like McDaniels.
Scoot led the team with three assists across 32 minutes. Yikes.
Its Clear Simons doesnt want to be here, Grant only wants to be here because he goes on vacation early every year, and Ayton just does whatever he wants to do
Not sure how much Cooper is going to help this team…
Trade ballhog chucker Simon’s
That second quarter was fun
If you managed to watch this game til the end, you are a certified sicko. Welcome to the club. We’re happy to have you.
Here’s a lineup I’d like to see
Pg: Scoot SG: Shaedon SF: Toumani PF: Deni C: Clingan
Think of all the fast breaks Scoot and Deni could create with Toumani and Clingan creating turnovers and and blocking shots. Shaedon flying at the wing. Then next year replace Deni with Flagg and that’s our new core.
Ayton, Ant and JG will be gone soon enough. All are good players, but not good enough to stop a tanking mission— especially with Chauncey at the helm. Let the tank roll on? 
Ant was again the worst player on the court. I can’t comprehend why he starts and plays so much.
Ant outplayed anf. It bothers me so much that no matter how bad anf plays, billups plays him 30+ min every game. Like give some minutes to banton??? Are we not going to reward good performances? Stop bringing banton in when we’re down 10+ pts. Billups is a basketball terrorist.
So if we get rid of Chauncey by the end of the season or before that, what options do we have?
New coach. How long we gonna keep accepting 20+ point losses over and over and over again. Love ya Chauncey but it’s not a right fit for the blazers
Random but I just remembered how the front office tried to not have the broadcast team travel with the team. Love Kev and Lamar (I’m very high)
Now all the sudden I don’t feel to high on shaedon Sharpe
Pretty clear to me that Ant wants out.
He hasn’t looked engaged or like himself hardly at all this season.
We really need to trade grant/simons and ayton. I rather just lose with the young squad.
Go back to scoot/sharpe/camera/deni/clingan. A lot of losing but we are going anywhere with that starter group
The whole time I was watching RW3 I had to keep telling myself not to get excited – I feel like if he has a decent healthy stretch we gotta ship him off while we can. Sucks so bad he is so good.
My team ~~Yasuo~~ Ant, vs their team Ant
Why does Billups get to stick around when he won’t be here when the team improves. Just fire him now and look to build FFS.