Thee Idiotic Minivan K
Well-Known Member
With the wolves winning we needed this loss bad.
It was written.Given that we're on a roll and probably favorites, there is no way we don't lose this one.
Eh, Kessler is a rookie playing way beyond his draft position. He is going to have rough games, but he has given us spectacular plays and great games in equal measure. He will figure things out, we have already seen him learning and applying what he is getting from the coaches. He will be that much better next year and by his third year he will be an absolute force. This was a good learning game for him. His future, and therefore our future, is nothing but bright.And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you neutralize Kessler at this point of his career. He has to get better at some things.
The Blazers had an excellent game plan. They dragged Walker out of the hole with a shooting big (Nurk) and involved him in all kinds of actions up top. When they had him scrambling and trying to retain position, they dropped the ball into the high post and let Nurkic hit athletic wings in the corners with his tap passes. With lead-footed help defenders like Olynyk out there, the Jazz never had a chance to contain that. The court was wide open and there was often a direct line to the basket. Portland got tons of open 3's and easy drives off that basic plan.
As I said some time ago, centers who can shoot are Kessler's achilles heel right now. He's kinda quick for his size, but you can't fool physics - he IS a massive guy and when he has to close people out hard, the momentum often carries him right out of the play. He has to find the right balance between keeping an eye on his guy, floating somewhere away from the basket, and not over-committing to these decoy plays at the perimeter.
It's OK to love Kessler (I do) and still think that there's a few really big holes in his game that need to be fixed if he intends to be a career starter in this league. As Boler and Thurl said, the Blazers figured him out, and next season that's gonna be happening more and more unless he comes into training camp armed with some new weapons.