SMH at the Blazers. Disgusting. Pels blew the lead early in the 4th, the game was their's for the taking and they gagged, again! The Pels are NOT a clutch team but the Blazers make them look that way. Jru Holiday owns both Lillard and McCollum. He can guard either guy but they aren't physically strong enough to stop him. The Blazers PnR defense (specifically Lillard's) is absolutely terrible. Pels shot >50% (including from 3). I like Terry Stotts, but if he starts Evan Turner in game 3, he should be fired. With AD and Mirotic on the floor, Nurkic can't guard anyone. Without Nurkic being productive, Blazers have little chance unless Lillard and/or McCollum explode.
Blazers were terrible - and the ball was bouncing in NO's favor (NO caught all the breaks in the 4th Q) Mirotic's ankles are shot
I think that it's kind of hard to say. The Blazers guards aren't really...defensively stout...you can say the same about Curry. I don't think Jrue or Rondo look this good against the Warriors. AD is going to have to put up some legendary performances to bring it to the Warriors, probably even checking KD himself in crucial moments.
I see what you're saying and part of me agrees, but Portland is a top 10 defense. You can't have that kind of defense if your guards are trash at defending. Unless we are just going to give Nurkic all the credit for their good defense. But Yeah, If Pels advance, GSW will be tougher.
Earlier this month, 3 all-stars Warriors are making 100% effort, but Pelicans blew out Warriors. Pelicans are really good!
Jrue was injured when Nola faced GSW couple of years ago. Always been curious about their match up in a series. And rondo woke up thinking its 2012 playoffs against the heat.
I think their athletic wings make up for their guards, Dame is notoriously bad at defense and CJ is just too small to ever really be a good defender. Especially with this matchup. I think it is sort of...ALMOST how it has been with Harden, but Harden now is playing alongside an all world defender in CP3, which Dame doesn't have. Also though, usually those two guys are putting it on the other guards, but Jrue is a pretty imposing guard when he wants to be and Rondo's entire game is defense. The good thing about a NOP-GSW matchup is that it could come down ultimately to AD vs Durant (that is IF Rondo and Jrue can match or limit the production of Klay and Curry, and Curry may be still affected by his injury, we'll see) and if it does come down to AD vs Durant...then hey, it could get interesting. The one thing about the Pelicans, the reason I didn't want to play them when someone made that thread about it...is they have an elite player that can't be stopped when he's on. Portland kind of has that in Dame? Kind of? It's just that Dame's game is kind of one dimensional, either his shot is on or it's not. When it's not...it looks like a dude chucking up bad shots and impersonating Curry. This is really what separates Dame from real ALL NBA 1st team guards, unlike Harden, Westbrook, or Curry, he really just affects the game in one way when he's on.
It didn't cross my mind that KD would be the best defender on AD The Pelicans season series has been a close one. Jrue hasn't had a problem scoring against the Warriors. The more you think about the matchups, Pels/Warriors gets more interesting.
Always believed Pelicans were better and it’s showing. Cannot believe how many thought that Blazers were dangerous and a tougher matchup for the Warriors. AD by himself makes it tougher since nobody can guard him in GS. Then you have Jrue and Rondo who seems to have his head on straight along with some guys who can shoot the 3 and are just fearless. We had a tough time against the Pelicans without Boogie and so did the Warriors. Go Pelicans!!
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more interesting the series gets. Especially considering a full series of Green being put on AD and if that will work at all, but the theatrics of that should be fun. It'll be the Blake Griffin vs Green matchup everyone wanted to see but didn't happen...except AD is 5x better than Blake...and if Green proves he can't guard AD then do they put KD on him? That will be fun seeing those two go at it. I think it is just poetic justice that the Blazers are dealing with what we had to go through when we played them that year we had Lin, Parsons, Dwight, and young Naive Harden. Down 2-0 and going on the road, if the Blazers win this series it at least means they are going into the next series hot.
