Game Day (Play-In): Trail Blazers (8th Seed) @ Suns (7th seed), Tues 4/14/26

[djy2j]

This team can’t handle any form of expectations. Get a 4th qtr lead and panic at the ft line like freshmen.

Any chance our owner gets reactionary and cans ott if we lose to clippers ? Ott has been fairly exposed post asg.
he is young and may grow but:

Terrible 4th qtr coach
Has clear favourites even when not working.
Seems satisfied with too much iso
Seemed unable to unify the team during the most important stretch of the season.

It’s like the ghost of Vogel returned to haunt us.


No you calm down!

Ott wasn't great tonight but no way he loses his job. Exceeded expectations in the regular season. Rookie coach after going 3 coaches in 3 years. No way.

[bajanguy008]

Ok
I been in the shadows last couple weeks just waiting on The Show

I didn't bother to get too down on the guys ending to the season and chose to remain happy with the surprise they've been. Now getting ready for tonight one thing that immediately came to mind is yes the Team has Overachieved but Book's playoff exits have been brutal since the Finals loss

So he kinda has to ball out regardless and lead the guys since he still has a narrative of not being a Big Time player floating around

The fact that the plot probably around Camara as a primary defender and Jrue the ghost of past is two dudes I hope don't get the upper hand on him cause that will be tough to swallow for obvious (different) reasons

Lets Go !!

Well.....
Sigh

[djy2j]

I'm in EST and now I'm supposed to go to bed after this?

[Danimal]

I'm in EST and now I'm supposed to go to bed after this?

I have the whole day here to remain pissed.
I mean I hedged but not nearly enough

So the plan was to allow their top player constantly get the ball at the top of the key, do a meh cross over for a lay up or find a wide open corner 3? The crustiest 40 point game in history. I think he was actually yelling at Ott at the end not the ref to tell him thanks. Maybe do some form of trap or press earlier but we just kept letting them get in rythym rinse and repeat.
Watching Booker in crunch time is like watching someone fully taped up trying to get off the floor into a fade away to make sure the shots are as low % as possible.

Fuck!

[bajanguy008]

Book actually got a fairly kind whistle tonight but somehow shot 8/13 from the line.....
Still hardly getting separation from defenders

As polarizing as they are
Jalen did his thing despite his usual flaws, he surely contributed enough
Brooks again with his flaws, yeah went iso but actually didn't chuck up a million shots and was fairly efficient
Royce was ghost and then made lots of key plays

Their "star" outplayed ours
Ott rotations can be pointed to yes
No rim protection is a fair point but I'm fairly certain Advija missed a bunch of 3s in the 2nd half so why were our guards still playing so tight and getting blown by....

[Wally_West]

To continue to roll out the same bench when it's not working is asinine.

Man man
Fleming
Dunn
CG


That's your bench squad. PLAY THEM.

Sauce giving Dunn props? wtf???

[Uncle_Gene]

Damn, I'm hurt.

[Furlanfufi]

I'm beyond pissed

[AmareIsGod]

On on Thursday before the Thunder!

[AmareIsGod]

Why did coach insist on Oso and kept Williams on the bench? WTF was that about? Williams wasn't the problem on the first half and was playing with some size in the paint.

[bajanguy008]

I said it last year when we were giving our thoughts on why the team sucked

I don't think Ott is nowhere close to as bad as those other systems we were running
He actually has some decent wrinkles

My take about offensive side is that Heliocentric is just about what everyone does. It's hunting matchups, setting a screen to try get a favourable matchup and going 1v1
Can your guy make a play for himself or others

The Blazers weren't really running plays either
The Heat vs Hornets game was LaMelo and Herro for the most part doing the same thing

Ott and the players have been saying it all season
Book is THAT guy, in those scenarios we wanna get 1 the ball

Bottom line is a young coach gonna always see going to the Star as one of the better options

[bajanguy008]

Why did coach insist on Oso and kept Williams on the bench? WTF was that about? Williams wasn't the problem on the first half and was playing with some size in the paint.

Yeah I can agree with this
Mark was doing a decent job but did Clingan play as much
It's a blur now smh

[bajanguy008]

I'm in EST and now I'm supposed to go to bed after this?

Yup
Same here in the Caribbean

Trying to avoid Twitter so just gonna be on here talking to myself in this safe space

[bajanguy008]

Book in the second half: 1-7 FG, 4-7 FT, 6 points. He's not Him.

Just brutal
I do a little after school B'ball at a high school here and the couple times I've worn by Booker shirt, the youngsters are always like Sir ?!?
You like Booker ???
They always give me a hard time that I need to find someone better to rep....

At least it's vacation right now

[Uncle_Gene]

I wanted the Spurs because the Suns have a chance to win that series. Only 3 guys on their team have postseason experience. Barnes and Kornet won championships and Fox has been to the first round. Everyone else on their roster has never been to the postseason.

That's the matchup I wanted the Suns to have,.......but they messed up.

[Uncle_Gene]

Okay, I forgot about Biyombo, Olynyk, and Plumlee. But, the guys they rely on night in and night out (outside the guys I mentioned in my above post) do not have postseason experience.

[specialsauce]

To continue to roll out the same bench when it's not working is asinine.

Man man
Fleming
Dunn
CG


That's your bench squad. PLAY THEM.

Sauce giving Dunn props? wtf???

I thought he brought energy tonight even if he did nothing else

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[ShelC]

Said it before but a lot of these losses lately have been coaching losses. It's not a perfect roster but we have the players to win these games, they're just not being used. So Ott's either being exposed as in over his head and/or stubborn, or he's been given instructions to play certain guys. I'd rather us lose giving Dunn, Sheer and even Khaman minutes. Ott had his mind made up about the rotation and that was that. He was intent on playing 9 guys, played 8 1/2 with Dunn only getting 9 minutes and he only saw that much time because Allen was out. Blazers went 10 deep and hurt us with their bigger, more athletic wings so even if Allen were available he would've been too small and slow anyway.

Green carried us but he's a black hole on offense. Good at ISOing and getting his own offense, not much else (similar to another guy we used to have). Don't think that's changing. Same with Brooks but I think he's a more willing passer, although not by much. The 4th qtr droughts from Book seem to be the norm more and more, which is disappointing. Still think we need a PG out there running offense for him to get him looks and he needs a frontcourt threat to keep the defenses honest.

[Mori Chu]