[Game] 27/82: Kings @ Trail Blazers 18 DEC 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET

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hrdboild said:
The Kings by rights shouldn't have even had a chance to win this after they started the 4th quarter getting outscored 25-6. I don't know if anyone deserved to win this -- both teams made critical mistakes with Kris Murray flubbing that inbounds pass to Avdija and Max Raynaud and Russ fumbling the rebound on the free throw. The Kings are going to have a fire sale very soon and won't be making the playoffs so I don't feel bad about shrugging off close losses at this point. All of the young guys played well today which is it's own kind of win.
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No this is fundamentally a total embarrassment for Portland (nobody on my fb taking my bait which tells me they know). Blew a massive lead, horrible horrible coaching, Clingan makes prime Shaq look like Curry at the line, needed one of the most unbelievable foul calls I have ever seen to escape with an OT win. Just wow. This is a black mark on just about everyone associated with the game that wasn't part of the Kings comeback.
 
Capt. Factorial said:
I think the neighbors have just learned that after all these years I still know the lyrics to The Heart Of Rock And Roll
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Don't worry. There are 3 more Kings games before Dec 25. Many (potential) chances to celebrate with Lins.

(EDIT: Wow they are running it back with Portland again in 2 days...)
 
Capt. Factorial said:
I think the neighbors have just learned that after all these years I still know the lyrics to The Heart Of Rock And Roll
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There was a really good interview with guitarist Chris Hayes that I stumbled across recently (worth a watch if you can spare 2 hours -- here) so Huey Lewis and the News has been on my mind lately. I've never owned any of their albums myself but that Greatest Hits album was one of the tapes in regular rotation on car rides when I was a kid. I should definitely pick up Sports and Fore! at some point.
 
pdxKingsFan said:
No this is fundamentally a total embarrassment for Portland (nobody on my fb taking my bait which tells me they know). Blew a massive lead, horrible horrible coaching, Clingan makes prime Shaq look like Curry at the line, needed one of the most unbelievable foul calls I have ever seen to escape with an OT win. Just wow. This is a black mark on just about everyone associated with the game that wasn't part of the Kings comeback.
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I think it’s probably worked out for them since trading it got them Deni, who’s developed into a good second option guy for them but they really could’ve used their pick this season.
 
Probably the most entertaining and watchable game of the year. Thank god the NBA went full NBA and didn't allow old man DDR to pull us down in the lottery. This franchise is so short sighted, it's mind numbing.

Was great to see the younger players get some minutes out there. Although where was Carter? Crazy how they looked like a normal basketball team for the most part. Effort on defense and ball movement. Insane what sitting a couple of your biggest ball hogs will do. The ball was actually buzzing around the court, guys were getting decent looks and holy crap they actually put up a decent amount of points, despite the fact that lesser offensive talents were playing.

I don't know if this was just a random flash from Cardwell or if he has improved significantly in a couple months in the G League, but he actually looked like a regular offensive center out there. Early on and in preseason, he looked like the worst offensive player I've ever seen and this last game he looked like he knew what he was doing. Pretty cool to see and you could easily see how much better the defense was with him out there at the 5 vs. when Maxime was out there. Maxime has really popped on the offensive end and that's great to see but he has a really long way to go before he can even become a serviceable backup because of his defense.
 
ESP47 said:
Probably the most entertaining and watchable game of the year. Thank god the NBA went full NBA and didn't allow old man DDR to pull us down in the lottery. This franchise is so short sighted, it's mind numbing.

Was great to see the younger players get some minutes out there. Although where was Carter? Crazy how they looked like a normal basketball team for the most part. Effort on defense and ball movement. Insane what sitting a couple of your biggest ball hogs will do. The ball was actually buzzing around the court, guys were getting decent looks and holy crap they actually put up a decent amount of points, despite the fact that lesser offensive talents were playing.

I don't know if this was just a random flash from Cardwell or if he has improved significantly in a couple months in the G League, but he actually looked like a regular offensive center out there. Early on and in preseason, he looked like the worst offensive player I've ever seen and this last game he looked like he knew what he was doing. Pretty cool to see and you could easily see how much better the defense was with him out there at the 5 vs. when Maxime was out there. Maxime has really popped on the offensive end and that's great to see but he has a really long way to go before he can even become a serviceable backup because of his defense.
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Yeah, Maxime remains a perplexing eval. The offensive talent is obviously there; he's got tremendous fluidity in the PnR, he's very comfortable with the ball in his hands, he's got incredible touch with both hands around the rim. That play where he was in the corner 3, pump fake, drove past Clingan and finished over him for the and 1? That's not back-up level offense.

But like you said, the defense needs work. 125.9 DRtg from him in 37 minutes (Meanwhile, Cardwell was 91.4 (!) in his 16.1 minutes as his direct sub). The effort is there and he does show flashes with his ability to switch out onto the perimeter, but he's just way further ahead on O than he is on D.

My initial thought was Nets version of Brook Lopez, when he was a defensive sieve and an awesome offensive player.
 
The_Jamal said:
Yeah, Maxime remains a perplexing eval. The offensive talent is obviously there; he's got tremendous fluidity in the PnR, he's very comfortable with the ball in his hands, he's got incredible touch with both hands around the rim. That play where he was in the corner 3, pump fake, drove past Clingan and finished over him for the and 1? That's not back-up level offense.

But like you said, the defense needs work. 125.9 DRtg from him in 37 minutes (Meanwhile, Cardwell was 91.4 (!) in his 16.1 minutes as his direct sub). The effort is there and he does show flashes with his ability to switch out onto the perimeter, but he's just way further ahead on O than he is on D.

My initial thought was Nets version of Brook Lopez, when he was a defensive sieve and an awesome offensive player.
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People will probably disagree with me but right now I'm comping him to Jahlil Okafor as far as impact on both sides of the floor goes. Good offensive talent but the defense is so bad that it takes an efficient 25pt game to break even. I think Lopez was a net positive player right out of the gate, even though his defense wasn't good early on.

There's no doubt at all that his poor defense is not for a lack of effort so I'll give him much higher odds than Okafor based on that alone. If he doesn't wind up being any good at defense, we can safely say it wasn't because he wasn't trying or didn't care. He's clearly trying and cares, just isn't effective on that end yet.
 
ESP47 said:
People will probably disagree with me but right now I'm comping him to Jahlil Okafor as far as impact on both sides of the floor goes. Good offensive talent but the defense is so bad that it takes an efficient 25pt game to break even. I think Lopez was a net positive player right out of the gate, even though his defense wasn't good early on.

There's no doubt at all that his poor defense is not for a lack of effort so I'll give him much higher odds than Okafor based on that alone. If he doesn't wind up being any good at defense, we can safely say it wasn't because he wasn't trying or didn't care. He's clearly trying and cares, just isn't effective on that end yet.
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He's been better than Jah so far, but I get it as a "floor" for him long-term. Max is quite a bit more mobile than the Jah/Enes Kanter type of offense only/defensive sieve bigs.

Basically since he's become a full-time player in the last 8 games:

28.1 MPG
16.3 PPG
7.5 RPG
1.6 APG
45.5% from 3 (1.4 3PA)
62.1% TS
21.7% USG


That's a pretty sizeable offensive workload and production. Looks to be sustainable for the most part too.
 
The_Jamal said:
He's been better than Jah so far, but I get it as a "floor" for him long-term. Max is quite a bit more mobile than the Jah/Enes Kanter type of offense only/defensive sieve bigs.
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Yeah, it feels like a lot of Max’s defensive issues are strength-based/him just not being ready to defend at NBA speed quite yet like is the case with a lot of young bigs who aren’t generational defensive prospects. It’s not really an effort/mobility based issue with him which bodes really well for the future, especially if Keegan is going to continue to average two blocks a game.
 
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