Backs and fronts against the wall
How can the Blazers wiggle out of this one?
Let’s just be real. While a 2-1 series in a vacuum isn’t a “backs-against-the-wall” scenario, everything we’ve discussed leading up to this series and the first three games is how this series sits within the context of this current Blazers core. Game 4 is not just a big game for the series, it’s a big one for the future of everyone on this team. From the front office to the 15th man, things could look very different very quickly if Portland falls down 3-1.
My Game 3 preview centered mostly on Nurkic and again, his presence, as well as yet another premature departure from the action due to foul trouble, took center stage. And while Nurkic is certainly a barometer for this team and his presence is of the utmost importance as the best possible match-up for the NBA MVP, everyone is on notice now.
The last time this Blazers team found themselves down 2-1 in a series they could actually win was in 2016 and even then, their luck completely changed in that series after injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in Game 4. Ironically enough, Austin Rivers was also on that 2016 Clippers team that lost to Portland after leading 2-1. Perhaps revenge is on his mind. And while it’s not as if Nuggets needed a reminder that Portland has already beaten them while down in a series before, Rivers can attest to losing three straight after this very scenario.
Rivers and his shots also killed the crowd on Thursday. But I’m not entirely sure that his big shots were the reason for the lack of crowd noise. The end of the first quarter subdued the Blazers and long timeouts definitely curbed the noise, but I was waiting for any player other than Dame to get a chant and there wasn’t a single one all night. The longer dead space could be to blame, but maybe give the fans a little less packaged content during timeouts and give them more room to chant whatever the hell they want.
Everybody has rust to take off, fans included. I even went through the wrong media entrance. I know that what I hear from my media seat is only a small portion of the experience. But what I will say is that there was a whole lot of sitting and not much standing, save for Carmelo Anthony’s run in the second half to tie the game.
It was easily the lowest energy crowd for a playoff game I’ve ever experienced and a little bit of coordination could be needed. Use your Timbers/Thorns skills! There are enough socialists in the crowd, I know we can organize better than that.
Adjustments
I hate being right about the Kanter thing. It felt even ickier after he was presented with the Maurice Lucas Award before the game, a worthy accolade for Kanter given his consistency and sticktoitiveness all season long. But Stotts finally realized the err in his way of sticking with Kanter in this series, opting instead to go with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to spell Jusuf Nurkic in the second half.
The Blazers also may have found a little bit of a hack when it comes to keeping Nurkic on the floor longer. It’s a very small tweak and it also could have been a shooting outlier, but Nikola Jokic was 0 for 2 when guarded by Carmelo Anthony in Game 3, according to the admittedly wonky tracking data from NBA.com.
But being in the building and using the eye test, I thought Melo actually did a good job of getting into Jokic’s dribble space and air space quickly without fouling. Melo has great hands and while he may not be the quickest guy, that is less exposed against Jokic, who while he has gotten quicker, still moves slower than any forward to his spots. Carmelo’s strong base, evidenced by his strong rebounding numbers over his career and ability to box out, making him not as easy to move as Covington, lends even more credence to the idea of him giving Nurkic some relief against the likely MVP. Sometimes the most unlikely guy is a weapon at the highest levels of the NBA, just ask LeBron James about his matchup against Boris Diaw in the 2013 and 2014 NBA Finals.
Of course, we all know that Nurkic is the better match-up against Jokic. But Portland clearly has to be a little more strategic with how much they use him there. Jokic will draw fouls and as much as I love Anthony, his potentially fouling out is not as detrimental to this team as Nurkic fouling out has been.
Portland is in a tight spot. Desperation is needed from the jump and throughout. Jokic will not ever give these guys, or anybody for that matter, an easy W. But if they wiggle a little bit and keep getting the shots they got from the 3-point line in Game 4, this era–and this budding Blazers-Nuggets playoff rivalry–should still have more games left to go. There are little tweaks Portland can make to make this a tied series again, but they won’t mean shit, as Nurkic said, if they don’t execute.