[13-4] Tanklandia | MONTHLY RECAP!!!!!

[Martti.]

Anthony Bennett Award is so wrong man . Should've just been the Joel Award or Oden Award since they played tons of games and still suck.

The Joel award? As in Joel Anthony? That should be the Player of the game award.

[mp3]

Don't you mean the MVP award??

The worst player during a game should surely be called the Kwame Brown achievement award right??

[Lamrock]

Lillard's Huge Game Not Enough As Blazers Suffer Heartbreaking Loss In Boston
Celtics 102, Blazers 98

In a game that seesawed all night, the Blazers' youth and inexperience bit them in a big way. Damian Lillard had 39 points and 10 assists on 17-25 shooting, but it was not enough, as Portland wilted down the stretch.

The first quarter was all offense, with both teams trading baskets, and both point guards scoring at will. Lillard had 19 at the half to Isaiah Thomas's 13, and the Celtics held a 4 point lead. Boston held a slight lead for the entirety of the third quarter, and it was a CJ McCollum block of David Lee leading to a Lillard 3 which gave Portland its first lead of the half and some momentum.

The Blazers found themselves up 6 with 2 minutes remaining, when Isaiah sank a three. An offensive 3 seconds followed by a pair of free throws by Evan Turner (fouling out Meyers Leonard in the process) saw the Blazers up 1 and taking a risk with Vonleh at the 4. Lillard sank a three, but the Celtics managed to tie things up with 40 seconds to go.

The Lillard-Plumlee pick-and-roll led to a layup by Damian with 30 seconds to go, but was promptly answered by a clutch layup by Lee on the other end. Lillard forced up a bad shot on the other end, and Isaiah Thomas pounced on the opportunity with a fastbreak layup. Doubled on the final play, Lillard kicked it out to Al-Farouq Aminu, who missed a fairly open three. Portland futily fouled Avery Bradley and that was that.

Nobody expected Portland to go undefeated this season, but this is still a tough loss to swallow. Lillard had one of the best games of his career, but inconsistent effort on both ends doomed the Blazers in this game. There is much work to be done. "After a game like that, you really just have to take a deep breath... and then another... and then another... excuse me... AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" - Terry Stotts, after the game.

JORDAN Player of the Game: Isaiah Thomas
23 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists

Anthony Bennett Award: Tim Frazier
2 points, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 1-6 FG

Record: 2-1 (3-1 pro-rated)

[iamSamke]

Anthony Bennet award, priceless

[Lamrock]

Blazers Choke In The Clutch For Second Straight Game (sim intervention in fourth)
Raptors 121, Blazers 120 [OT]

For the second consecutive game, the Blazers had a small lead down the stretch and choked it away. In a game in which the Raptors, eager to get revenge after losing on opening night, led most of the way, Damian Lillard and Gerald Henderson engineered a late fourth quarter comeback to force OT. Things were going well, with an Al-Farouq Aminu 3 giving the Blazers a 116-110 lead with under three minutes to go. Unfortunately, the Blazer offense stalled, and the Raptors (of course) hit all the big shots down the stretch to get the win. James Johnson and Patrick Patterson combined to score 48 points (17-25 FG) in the victory.

James Johnson: 26 pts, 8 rebs, 9-12 FG
Henderson: 25 points, 7-13 FG, 9-10 FT, 6 Fouls

Record: 2-2 (3-3 pro-rated)

Bucks' Anemic Offense Musters Just 66 Points As Blazers Prevail (simmed game)
Blazers 95, Bucks 66

With 20 turnovers and a -15 offensive rebounding differential, the Milwaukee Bucks had an unthinkably bad night, getting crushed by 29. Damian Lillard struggled with his shot, going 5-21, but the Bucks would have killed for his production, as he still mustered 20 points. The Blazers are once again above .500, prompting some to wonder if Portland might not have gutted their roster enough!

M. Leonard: 14 pts, 9 rebs, 6-8 FG
G. Vasquez: 2 pts, 3 asts, 6 TO'S

Record: 3-2 (4-3 pro-rated)

[Lamrock]

Lillard Dishes Career High 16 Assists In Win Over Rockets
Blazers 111, Rockets 107

Damian Lillard still owns the Houston Rockets. His incredible tear to start the season continues as he drops 37 points and 16 dimes in a big home win.

With both sides rocking 90's jerseys, the Rockets got off to a big start. Nothing went Portland's way early as the Rockets jumped out to a 20-4 lead early on. C.J. McCollum helped close the gap a bit to end the quarter, but Houston was still scoring at will. The Blazers made a big run in the second quarter as Damian Lillard started to heat up after three first quarter turnovers. After a barrage of threes, Portland found itself with a 3 point lead at the half.

That momentum carried over onto the third, with Lillard and McCollum scoring at will. The Blazer lead grew to as many as 15 before they headed into the fourth up 12. Houston refused to back down however, with James Harden (25 points, 6 assists) getting to the line with regularity and Dwight Howard (17 points, 15 rebounds) flexing his authority in the paint. Portland fans, who had already seen two late collapses from this team this season, started to get nervous when a turnover lead to a Harden 3 that put Houston within 4.

Despite not getting much in the way of stops, the Blazers kept their cool thanks to Damian Lillard. With under a minute to go, the gap narrowed to 2, before Lillard hit a pair of clutch free throws. Harden couldn't buy a basket despite multiple opportunities, and the Blazers were able to escape with a 111-107 win.

Damian Lillard rebounded from a poor first quarter with an insanely gaudy line of 37 and 16, while McCollum drained 7 triples and scored 29. No other Blazers scored in double figures, but Noah Vonleh played well in limited minutes (7 points, 3-4 FG, +13) As a team, Portland was 15/30 from beyond the arc, Houston 7/22.

JORDAN Player of the Game: Damian Lillard
37 points, 16 assists, 4 assists, 5 turnovers, 12-20 FG, 10-10 FT

Anthony Bennett Award: Tim Frazier
0 points, 2 turnovers, -8

RECORD: 4-2 (6-3 pro-rated)

----------

Damian Lillard wins West Player of the Week



After an undefeated week, Damian Lillard has won his first of what might be many Western Conference Player of the Month awards this season. He averaged 28.5 points per game, 12.5 assists per game and made all 18 of his free throws.

[mp3]

DL picking up the slack in Portland now, it truly is his team now!

[Lamrock]

Heat Too Much For Blazers (simmed game)
Heat 108, Blazers 94

Despite nice games from Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, Portland couldn't get the win in Miami against the balanced heat. Buoyed by big games from Chris Bosh, Goran Dragic and recent signing Gerald Green (24 points off the bench), Miami led wire-to-wire.

Dragic: 19 points, 7 assists, 3 steals
Lillard: 26 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals

CURRENT RECORD: 4-3 (6-4 pro-rated)

Portland Steamrolls Magic With Stout Defense (simmed game)
Blazers 90, Magic 71

Orlando shot 24/70 from the field and committed 19 turnovers in a game that showed Portland's defensive potential. Only Tobias Harris and C.J. Watson scored in double figures for Orlando. Portland meanwhile overcame a 8-27 shooting night fron Lillard, who still managed to fill up the stat sheet.

Lillard: 26 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 8-27 FG
Harris: 18 points, 7 rebounds

CURRENT RECORD: 5-3 (7-4 pro-rated)

Legit. Blazers Beat Mavs In Houston (sim intervention in fourth)
Blazers 107, Mavericks 97

It continues to look less and less like the Blazers are a fluke, as they end their road trip with a win in Dallas. Lillard had a solid outing, but Tim Frazier was the closer, not being yanked thanks to his solid fourth quarter play. "I'm proud of the kid. He went out there, and he held it down," commented Lillard after the game. Dallas meanwhile simply didn't have the firepower down the stretch. Wes Matthews may be reconsidering his decision to leave. No, wait, he's getting $17.5 million per year. Nevermind!

Lillard: 25 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds
Nowitzki: 16 points, 6 assists

CURRENT RECORD: 6-3 (8-4 pro-rated)

[Wyze]

Lillard is playing LeBron-esque. Hope he can continue this against playoff contenders, especially out West!

[Lamrock]

Is Winning Such A Good Thing?
by Severin Harding, November 25, 2015

Coming into this season, most expected the Blazers to be among the worst teams in the NBA, and for good reason. They lost four of their five starters, replacing them with middling backups through free agency and trades. After dodging a bullet with the Thunder matching their massive offer sheet for flawed big man Enes Kanter, it was clear that this would be a rebuilding- sorry... "emerging" year.

GM Neil Olshey, coach Terry Stotts and newly hired assistant GM Scott O'Malley claimed to be optimistic coming into this season, but it seemed like empty rhetoric geared towards avoiding a drop in attendance and reputation like the 76ers have with their rebuilding efforts. However, most hardcore fans knew and hoped that the team would take this season, in the hopes of drafting a star in the 2016 draft, such as Ben Simmons, Cheick Diallo or Jaylen Brown. Nonetheless, the Blazers have burst out of the gate as one of the best teams in the NBA, much like they did the last two seasons.

In Stott's three seasons as the Blazers coach, the team has always been a frontrunner, jumping out to quick starts before regressing to the mean by the end of the season. It's unlikely that the team's brilliance from the three point line and Damian Lillard's MVP-caliber play holds up for the entire season, but this year seems quite similar to the Blazers' 2012-13 33 win season, which resulted in the #10 pick and C.J. McCollum. That draft was devoid of stars, but this season, tanking seems like the best strategy, but Stotts is stubbornly giving big minutes to veterans Gerald Henderson and Chris Kaman.

I might sound like a dick, but part of me wishes the Blazers would start losing games. Yes, Philly is a laughing stock right now, but I'd still rather be them than the Suns or Hornets, who are going all in for the 8 seed with no real hope of ever contending for a championship. Feel free to revoke my Blazers fan card, but after fifteen years with only one playoff series win to our name, I'm ready to contend. Somehow I just don't think that Meyers Leonard and C.J. McCollum have the talent to be the second and third best players on a championship team.

Portland sits at 8-4 currently. Joe Johnson and the Brooklyn Nets are in town next week.

[Lamrock]

No gimmicks or creative elements to this story yet, but it'll get there. I've been looking through my old stories, and sad to see most of the photo links died. Good times nonetheless. Right now I'm focused on getting through the season; am about a month of the recaps in-game.

Anyway, was wondering if anybody wanted to have NLSC players in the 2016 draft. Obviously I'm willing to reuse templates from the past since I haven't always delivered on seeing the stories through far enough. If so, I'll put up a template for you guys.

[Martti.]

You wrote Ben Simmons twice in the 2016 prospects, I assume one them was supposed to be my main man Jaylen Brown?

You have been surprisingly good, I think Portland will battle with the Kings and Nuggets in the standings, not contend for home court in the Playoffs.

[Lamrock]

Blazers Blow Out Nets With Killer Second Quarter
Blazers 110, Nets 84

A couple weeks after defeating the Nets in Brooklyn, the Blazers picked up where they left off by blowing them out again, this time at home. Damian Lillard, selected with the #6 pick in the 2012 draft (acquired from the Nets in exchange for Gerald Wallace...) scored 24 of his 26 points in the first half, as the Blazers held the Nets to six points and 2-14 shooting en route to the blowout victory.

There isn't a whole lot to say about this game. Brooklyn got off to a hot start, but it didn't take Portland long to bounce back and take the lead. Joe Johnson was the only Net that could get anything going, as the Blazers dominated the second period, before letting garbage time ensue for much of the second half. Allen Crabbe has a career 18 points off the bench in a game where all 13 players saw time on the court.

The Blazers continue to prove everything wrong, leading the Northwest Division a month into the season after being projected by most to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. It's hard to say for certain whether they will keep this up, but it does kind of feel like we're watching someone playing NBA 2K who needs to up the difficulty a bit...

JORDAN Player of the Game: C.J. McCollum
17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 6-9 FG, 4-5 3pt

Anthony Bennett award: Andrea Bargnani
0 points, 5 rebounds, 0-2 FG, -19

[Lamrock]

November Recap


Michael Jordan is 6'3" and wears the number 0

Damian Lillard, Damian Lillard, Damian Lillard. It's been all about Damian Lillard so far for the Blazers, who despite extremely low expectations and having only one above average starter lead their division a month into the season. Lillard has put up roughly 28 points and 9 assists per game, while C.J. McCollum has been incredibly efficient in the sixth man role. The rest of their team have competently played their roles (the big men have controlled the boards, the wings have hit threes and played defense), and as a result, Portland has the fifth best record and fourth best point differential in the league.

So has LaMarcus Aldridge made a mistake in spurning Portland? Not exactly. His Spurs are #1 in the league with a 16-3 record as other contenders like the defending champion Warriors, the LA Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder struggle out of the gate.

NBA Standings

*Note: all records are pro-rated from a 58 game season to an 82 game season length, and as such, wins and losses might not be equal, and there may be a large discrepancy in number of games played between teams.

Western Conference:
1 San Antonio 16-3
2 Memphis 14-3
3 Portland 10-4
4 Sacramento 11-7
5 Dallas 8-6
6 Houston 13-11
7 Phoenix 8-7
8 Oklahoma City 8-8
Minnesota 7-7
LA Clippers 7-8
Golden State 6-7
New Orleans 4-6
Utah 9-13
Denver 4-13
L.A. Lakers 3-14

Eastern Conference:
1 Chicago 14-3
2 Cleveland 13-3
3 Indiana 13-6
4 Miami 10-6
5 Charlotte 7-4
6 Boston 11-8
7 Orlando 8-8
8 Toronto 8-8
Brooklyn 8-8
Atlanta 7-10
Milwaukee 6-8
New York 4-10
Detroit 4-13
Washington 3-16
Philadelphia 1-18

West Player of the Month:
Anthony Davis (NO)
32.6 PPG (leads league), 9.6 RPG, 1.8 BPG (Pelicans: 4-6)

East Player of the Month:
LeBron James (CLE)
26.3 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 6.1 APG (Cavaliers: 13-3)

West Rookie of the Month:
Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN)
10.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.9 BPG (Wolves: 7-7)

East Rookie of the Month:
Frank Kaminsky (CHA)
14.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG (Hornets: 7-4)

Key Blazers stats:
Damian Lillard: 28.1 PPG, 8.8 APG, 4.6 RPG, 2.4 SPG (.500%/.405%/.904%)
C.J. McCollum: 15.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.3 RPG (.548%/.540%/.739%)
Al-Farouq Aminu: 9.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG (.341%/.459%/.684%)

Point Differential: +10.1 (4th)
Points Per Game: 105.2 (7th)
Points Allowed Per Game: 95.1 (6th)

[Lamrock]

Lillard, Blazers Keep Rolling With Win Over Suns (simmed game)
Blazers 103, Suns 92

Damian Lillard scored a game high 32 points, as the home fans were treated to a comfortable double digit victory over the Suns. Portland's Cinderella run continues as the Blazers force 24 turnovers in the victory. Phoenix falls to .500, while the Blazers extend their lead in the Northwest division.

Lillard: 32 points, 14-24 FG
Bledsoe: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists

Record: 8-3 (11-4 pro-rated)

Blazers Get Revenge With Blowout Win Over Boston (simmed game)
Blazers 118, Celtics 100

It's over. Give Damian Lillard the MVP award right now. The Blazers continue their winning streak with a blowout home victory over the Boston Celtics, who edged them earlir in the season. Damian Lillard led the way with 35 points and 12 assists in a game in which the Blazers shot 53% from the field. "It's pretty special what we've been doing. Noone expected us to be any good, and here we are, one of the top teams in the league," commented an elated Stotts after the victory (a contrast to how he felt the last time they played Boston. Next up for Portland: their first division match-up, facing the Utah Jazz.

Lillard: 35 points, 12 assists, 9-17 FG, 7-12 3pt, 10-10 FT
Thomas: 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds

Record: 9-3 (13-4 pro-rated)

[Lamrock]

Bet y'all thought this one was over. Well... you're half wrong. I've been busy with school and other games, and to be honest, moving up to Superstar difficulty left me disgusted with the gameplay. I'm going to try some new slider sets, but despite my earlier plans to play 20 games per year, I'm going to be simulating most of the games. I do have recaps backlogged to the beginning of January though, so stay tuned.