You thought we would close that comfortably, but it was us! The Portland Trail Blazers
Piano9717
Here are some of my thoughts from this game.
My first thought: this team’s bad performance since Ant coming back, is more of a too-many-guards issue than an Ant issue. I saw Ant get a ton of flak for tanking the team’s defense since he came back, but to be honest, I think it’s more because Ant’s return means Chauncey is forced to find minutes for Ant, Scoot, Brogdon, and Sharpe. After Sharpe’s injury, the defense looked great for the rest of the game and I think it’s not a coincidence – the rotation is just so much more balanced with one less guard who needs minutes.
Positives
* Scoot keeps getting better and better every game and it’s so exciting to see. The turnovers suck, but that’s to be expected for any young guard. But I’m really happy to see him getting to the rim, using his athleticism, and finishing – didn’t see too much of that to start off his career, and I think it’s the biggest reason people were down on him to start out. * As much as I’ve harped on Ayton’s screensetting this season (and the rest of his game to be honest), I have to give him credit – he actually set some real screens today. Props to him. And he made some GREAT decisions in the short roll – probably the best short roll game he’s had this season. I LOVE it. I don’t even mind the fact that he shot 6-18 – he’s been reasonably efficient this season and I don’t really think he took too many bad shots. * Jabari Walker was super decisive playing off the catch today which has sometimes been lacking. Also he played a hell of a game on defense, and he brought his usual intensity to the glass. * Ant looks like he’s making more of an effort this season defensively. The other day, he actually did a respectable job against Luka (to the point where they quit hunting him in the fourth quarter), and today he forced Booker into two airballs. That is great to see. * Toumani Camara. That is all. * Grant did a hell of a job this game, though the stats won’t show it. Expending a TON of energy trying to guard KD and then still being effective on offense? That’s not easy to do .
Negatives
* Brogdon looks like he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do on the court. He just kinda exists, and then puts up contested threes randomly. * I hope Sharpe isn’t seriously hurt. That being said, he can take his time coming back, because his absence means no more three guard lineups and the rotation suddenly looks much more balanced. * Someone please lock Ayton in a room with a jugs machine. I hold my breath every time someone throws a pass his direction because it feels like a 50/50 he drops it. * Toumani needs to be closing games – he’s way too good defensively to not be closing games. We really could have used him at the end of the game against the Mavs and Warriors too.
Bieberkinz
Hey /r/ripcity! It’s me, Deandre Ayton. I heard you’re quite the hooper. Hope you have a great Christmas, dominate the paint, and protect the rim at all costs!
RipCityRevival
The cardiac kids are back!
JamesTerevau
Good to see the boys finally close one!
ScootSharpe0017
What a fucking win boys!
Ant is insane and shut up his haters
Scoot played a good first half, absolutely no point keeping him in the corner in crunch time though.
We need to trade Brogdon ASAP. He getting minutes over Toumani and Scoot, that can’t keep happening in a season like this.
Hope Shae is ok
nightchurn
Excellent win. I love this team.
hansenlxh
Defense wins championships…next year book it
clumsy_aerialist
Hope Sharpe is ok.
nimbly118
We are all 🐜s on this blessed day
redwheelbarrow_
FEELS DAMN GOOD
kalebglover
One of the best second halves of the year
Hot_Local_Boys_PDX
FUCK ALL THE 🐜 HATERS
Fun game. PP not soft.
BunkHammer
First win in almost a month?? Get the bottles and goggles ready we’re going all the way
allaboutthatpace
10% of this sub punching air, desperately trying to find an angle where Ant did something bad by sealing the win 😂
Sensitive-Sorbet917
Damn Nurk went straight back to the locker room. Blazers win bb!
rexter2k5
Death, Taxes, Blazers giving me a heart attack in the final 2 minutes.
hereforporn696969
The blazers won, which was my preferred outcome
waterkisser
Ant heard your slander. Lead a comeback starting with defense and showed up in the clutch.
alton_brown_dachsund
r/suns is in shambles
BehavioralSink
I was feeling the holiday crunch and sold my tickets to tonight’s game.
Y’all are welcome. 🤣
Boxinggandhi
Ayton was so stoked, love to see it.
yuyunaka97
Grant with 22 pts, made me lose my powerplay of more than 22.5 pts maaann
ArmorKing1992
GSW won
rrcab
They traded away Toumani Camara. 😂
Important-Counter-66
I give Chauncey a lot of flack but the offense in the second half was so beautiful. We finally understood that ball movement will get you easy shots.
upasaka_kolla
Yesterday the Seahawks and today the Blazers. It’s a good ass week so far
alandwarinasia_
honestly toumani not being in at the end of that game was criminally negligent
Randvek
Phoenix should have talked to us more. We know exactly how well a team giving Eubanks and Little significant minutes performs.
likpoper
Finally
bassicallyinsane
Chauncey tried to steal it from us with his oops all guards lineup, but we pulled it off. I feel like we really needed that one.
ReflectionGloomy8851
Chauncey just said in the post game presser that he has no update on Shaedon but that it is something that has been bothering him so they are just being safe.
I had a feeling something was going on with Shae, he’s really struggled last 4-5 games.
tomhalejr
Coach needs a swear jar. 🙂
shelvino
AWESOME W!!! I thought we have been playing well in these last few games but we just haven’t been able to come away with a win. So happy the guys got a win vs a playoff team and a lot of former Blazers. So many bright spots all freaking night but I just really love the resiliency. I thought Simons was getting screwed over by the refs, by now someone like Simons should get the benefit of the whistle but I thought he showed true leadership.
He didn’t shy away when things got tough and his shot wasn’t falling. He continued to take on double teams and make the right pass and when it was time to score, he didn’t settle for bad 3 point looks, he continued to put pressure on the defense and ended up hitting the biggest shot of the night. Reminded me of Dame
I also think Ayton deserves a ton of love. He has had a really rough time getting adjusted and you can tell him and the team is trying hard to make things work for him. He didn’t give up when he was missing shots though, he continued to fight and ended up making some key shots and pulled down 15 boards and 3 nice assists, thought he could have had more once the Suns started selling out to stop the PnR. You can see things start slowing down for him and him stepping out his comfort zone. He tried to dig deeper into the pain and be a bit more physical tonight, sadly it’s not where everyone would hope for but I loved that he tried tonight. He earned some free throws (4!! LOL), he attacked the glass, he defended with physicality. I was impressed with defense all night and not letting Nurkic win this round between them.
I thought we saw flashes of what Ayton could be for us tonight despite the frustrating misses.Down the line I thought everyone had a really nice game.
iverigma
This Phoenix team isn’t looking good. Their offense lacks rim impact and consist of mostly contested mid ranges – even though they got 2 of the best mid range shooters in the world to do it, at some points it became not that difficult to defend
alandwarinasia_
the suns post game thread really be like ‘sir, a third former blazer has been plugged into the rotation’
36 Comments
You thought we would close that comfortably, but it was us! The Portland Trail Blazers
Here are some of my thoughts from this game.
My first thought: this team’s bad performance since Ant coming back, is more of a too-many-guards issue than an Ant issue. I saw Ant get a ton of flak for tanking the team’s defense since he came back, but to be honest, I think it’s more because Ant’s return means Chauncey is forced to find minutes for Ant, Scoot, Brogdon, and Sharpe. After Sharpe’s injury, the defense looked great for the rest of the game and I think it’s not a coincidence – the rotation is just so much more balanced with one less guard who needs minutes.
Positives
* Scoot keeps getting better and better every game and it’s so exciting to see. The turnovers suck, but that’s to be expected for any young guard. But I’m really happy to see him getting to the rim, using his athleticism, and finishing – didn’t see too much of that to start off his career, and I think it’s the biggest reason people were down on him to start out.
* As much as I’ve harped on Ayton’s screensetting this season (and the rest of his game to be honest), I have to give him credit – he actually set some real screens today. Props to him. And he made some GREAT decisions in the short roll – probably the best short roll game he’s had this season. I LOVE it. I don’t even mind the fact that he shot 6-18 – he’s been reasonably efficient this season and I don’t really think he took too many bad shots.
* Jabari Walker was super decisive playing off the catch today which has sometimes been lacking. Also he played a hell of a game on defense, and he brought his usual intensity to the glass.
* Ant looks like he’s making more of an effort this season defensively. The other day, he actually did a respectable job against Luka (to the point where they quit hunting him in the fourth quarter), and today he forced Booker into two airballs. That is great to see.
* Toumani Camara. That is all.
* Grant did a hell of a job this game, though the stats won’t show it. Expending a TON of energy trying to guard KD and then still being effective on offense? That’s not easy to do .
Negatives
* Brogdon looks like he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do on the court. He just kinda exists, and then puts up contested threes randomly.
* I hope Sharpe isn’t seriously hurt. That being said, he can take his time coming back, because his absence means no more three guard lineups and the rotation suddenly looks much more balanced.
* Someone please lock Ayton in a room with a jugs machine. I hold my breath every time someone throws a pass his direction because it feels like a 50/50 he drops it.
* Toumani needs to be closing games – he’s way too good defensively to not be closing games. We really could have used him at the end of the game against the Mavs and Warriors too.
Hey /r/ripcity! It’s me, Deandre Ayton. I heard you’re quite the hooper. Hope you have a great Christmas, dominate the paint, and protect the rim at all costs!
The cardiac kids are back!
Good to see the boys finally close one!
What a fucking win boys!
Ant is insane and shut up his haters
Scoot played a good first half, absolutely no point keeping him in the corner in crunch time though.
We need to trade Brogdon ASAP. He getting minutes over Toumani and Scoot, that can’t keep happening in a season like this.
Hope Shae is ok
Excellent win. I love this team.
Defense wins championships…next year book it
Hope Sharpe is ok.
We are all 🐜s on this blessed day
FEELS DAMN GOOD
One of the best second halves of the year
FUCK ALL THE 🐜 HATERS
Fun game. PP not soft.
First win in almost a month?? Get the bottles and goggles ready we’re going all the way
10% of this sub punching air, desperately trying to find an angle where Ant did something bad by sealing the win 😂
Damn Nurk went straight back to the locker room. Blazers win bb!
Death, Taxes, Blazers giving me a heart attack in the final 2 minutes.
The blazers won, which was my preferred outcome
Ant heard your slander. Lead a comeback starting with defense and showed up in the clutch.
r/suns is in shambles
I was feeling the holiday crunch and sold my tickets to tonight’s game.
Y’all are welcome. 🤣
Ayton was so stoked, love to see it.
Grant with 22 pts, made me lose my powerplay of more than 22.5 pts maaann
GSW won
They traded away Toumani Camara. 😂
I give Chauncey a lot of flack but the offense in the second half was so beautiful. We finally understood that ball movement will get you easy shots.
Yesterday the Seahawks and today the Blazers. It’s a good ass week so far
honestly toumani not being in at the end of that game was criminally negligent
Phoenix should have talked to us more. We know exactly how well a team giving Eubanks and Little significant minutes performs.
Finally
Chauncey tried to steal it from us with his oops all guards lineup, but we pulled it off. I feel like we really needed that one.
Chauncey just said in the post game presser that he has no update on Shaedon but that it is something that has been bothering him so they are just being safe.
I had a feeling something was going on with Shae, he’s really struggled last 4-5 games.
Coach needs a swear jar. 🙂
AWESOME W!!! I thought we have been playing well in these last few games but we just haven’t been able to come away with a win. So happy the guys got a win vs a playoff team and a lot of former Blazers. So many bright spots all freaking night but I just really love the resiliency. I thought Simons was getting screwed over by the refs, by now someone like Simons should get the benefit of the whistle but I thought he showed true leadership.
He didn’t shy away when things got tough and his shot wasn’t falling. He continued to take on double teams and make the right pass and when it was time to score, he didn’t settle for bad 3 point looks, he continued to put pressure on the defense and ended up hitting the biggest shot of the night. Reminded me of Dame
I also think Ayton deserves a ton of love. He has had a really rough time getting adjusted and you can tell him and the team is trying hard to make things work for him. He didn’t give up when he was missing shots though, he continued to fight and ended up making some key shots and pulled down 15 boards and 3 nice assists, thought he could have had more once the Suns started selling out to stop the PnR. You can see things start slowing down for him and him stepping out his comfort zone. He tried to dig deeper into the pain and be a bit more physical tonight, sadly it’s not where everyone would hope for but I loved that he tried tonight. He earned some free throws (4!! LOL), he attacked the glass, he defended with physicality. I was impressed with defense all night and not letting Nurkic win this round between them.
I thought we saw flashes of what Ayton could be for us tonight despite the frustrating misses.Down the line I thought everyone had a really nice game.
This Phoenix team isn’t looking good. Their offense lacks rim impact and consist of mostly contested mid ranges – even though they got 2 of the best mid range shooters in the world to do it, at some points it became not that difficult to defend
the suns post game thread really be like ‘sir, a third former blazer has been plugged into the rotation’