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Cliff Notes: It’s Time to Blow Up the Blazers

by Cliff Gibson
written by Cliff Gibson

This post was initially published in The Cliff Notes by CSN contributor Cliff Gibson.

 

We’re 25 games into the 2021-22 NBA season, a pretty good measuring stick for what kind of team you have. Unfortunately, what the Portland Trail Blazers have is a carbon copy of the past few years – defensively inept, unable to stay healthy, and seriously lacking a coach who can make in-game adjustments on the fly.

At 11-14, the Blazers are (at best) an 8-seed getting swept out of the playoffs. Realistically … they’re closer to a lottery team. Which is why once the Blazers hire a GM to replace the recently-departed Neil Olshey (good riddance, you piece of garbage), he or she should strongly consider the best thing for this franchise is a total rebuild.

Of course, to that general manager, I offer a bit of advice:

Get rid of Chauncey Billups. He wasn’t the right hire to begin with and it’s clear he isn’t right for this team now. Buy him out and let him go at the end of the year. Surely a 30-win season will be enough to justify that. Besides, he’s an Olshey hire … and the more of those Portland can get rid of, the better.

Set Dame free. Let him know what the plan is and that he will forever be remembered as the greatest Blazer of all time. Let him go after the NBA title he deserves in a place that’s ready to win. Soften the blow with a rendering of what his statue outside the Moda Center will look like.

Trade CJ for picks. Whatever picks you can get. They’ll come in handy down the road and ease the pain some fans might feel about his departure. Remember, you’re building for the future, and a 30-year-old McCollum isn’t part of that plan.

Build around a core of … Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, and Greg Brown (and Nurk, if you can convince him to stay). Trade those who don’t want to be part of a rebuild (most of the rest) or play out the rest of their existing deals. Mold Ant, Nas and Greg into cornerstones and find talent that will maximize their strengths and help where they are weakest.

Hire Becky Hammon. She should’ve been the choice when Billups was hired but I would’ve been shocked if Olshey had hired a woman to that position. (Good riddance!!) Hammon was taught by the best coach in the history of the game (Gregg Popovich) and would be tough enough to handle the task of rebuilding. She’s perfect for Portland.

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Blazers dominate Denver to tie series at 2-2

by Charlie Folkestad
written by Charlie Folkestad

After a frustrating Game 3 gave the visitors a 2-1 series lead in Portland, the Trail Blazers were back in action to try and even the tie on Saturday afternoon. 

They did so in impressive fashion. It was a team effort that paid massive dividends on both ends. Powell’s aggression, CJ’s shotmaking, and Nurk’s controlled chaos were the biggest differences from Game 3, but some timely shots from Melo and only 16 from Jokic certainly helped. 

Game Summary

Portland leapt out to a 23-13 lead in the first quarter behind 10 quick points from Norman Powell. Powell, who struggled in Game 3, had a pair of quick layups and canned two threes to give the Blazers an early edge. 

Jusuf Nurkic was also winning the early battle against his former teammate, Nikola Jokic. The likely MVP started 1-for-7 from the field, while Nurk began 4/4. Most importantly, the Bosnian Beast was able to match Jokic for minutes while committing only one foul in the first quarter. 

Denver’s second rotation cut Portland’s once-double-digit lead to two—led by five points in two possessions from JaMychal Green—but Portland’s starters would retake the advantage and lead 57-47 at the half. 

While Dame’s midrange game was not paying dividends, Portland’s defense was. Holding Jokic to 11 points on 12 shots was a huge advantage, especially given the 13 points from both Nurk and Norm. 

Powell would continue his impressive performance to start the third, and Portland’s lead swelled to 21 at the 9:05 mark. Jokic was still struggling as well, and although Dame’s shots weren’t falling, CJ picked up the slack offensively. 

In Game 3, Carmelo Anthony hit a clutch three to tie the game with about five minutes remaining. On Saturday, he swished his second triple to give Portland a 30-point advantage: 88-58 with 2:23 left in the third. CJ McCollum almost maintained the lead, but the buzzer beat his three at the end of the quarter. 

Nassir Little, Derrick Jones Jr., and CJ Elleby got their first Playoff minutes as they checked in with under five to go and an insurmountable lead. Keljin Blevins and TJ Leaf would follow soon after. 

Little’s rejection of JaVale McGee was the icing on the cake for a dominant Portland performance, a much-needed 30-point victory for a team that struggled in their last two performances. 

Game 5 on Tuesday will obviously be crucial, but this was a great way to tie the series at two games apiece. 

 

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Blazers fall to the Nuggets in first home playoff game

by Miles DeCaro
written by Miles DeCaro

This will be a good one. Teams that win Game 3 in a 7 game series when it’s tied 1-1 coming in go on to win the series 73% of the time. Who will it be tonight?

Playoff pre-game intros at the Moda Center are strong. Crowd is clearly into it and the visuals are well done. There is a lot of energy in this arena. 8,000 fans in the building. What’s up, Charlie Folkstead!



First Quarter:

MPJ travels and then hits a 14 foot floater to start of the scoring. The Nuggets continue giving Aaron Gordon the defensive assignment on Dame.  CJ hits a one legged floater to start the scoring for the Blazers.

RoCo with the nasty reverse dunk on a backdoor cut. Great pass by Nurk. 


Lillard is attacking the basket a lot to start this game and just banged all over Campazzo. Another great pass by Nurkic and the Blazers take a 20-12 lead.  Jokic responds calmly with another 3 pointer.

Great block by Nurk. He’s doing everything tonight.

BROOM BALL off a 3 point miss by Austin Rivers.




Fast pace tonight.  Nuggets seem to have weathered the storm.  A Carmelo free throw with 56 seconds left ends a 3 minute scoring drought for the Blazers.

Denver is 7-10 from 3 to start the game.  Portland needs some defense.

39-30 Nuggets.

Second Quarter:

Nurk came to play tonight against his old team. He’s everywhere battling. Gets an offensive rebound and put back for an and-one.




Better defense for Portland in the 2nd quarter. Nurk gets a steal and immediately turns into another assist for a layup.

Another great pass by Nurk for the lob that leads to an Anfernee Simons layup.

5 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists for Nurkic. 




Norman Powell loses a shoe and the Nuggets get a transition dunk from Jokic to stretch the lead to 10 at 53-43 with 5 minutes to go in the first half.

Four point play for MPJ at 3:51. Tough call on Norman Powell.  Followed by an offensive foul on MPJ kicking out his leg to try to get another 4 point play. You win some and lose some.

Another turnover caused by Nurk’s defense leads to a transition dunk for Dame.



Lillard leads the game in scoring with 20 and Jokic leads Denver
with 16.

Nurkic had 7 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block.  He was everywhere.

Nuggets are shooting 60% from 3pt at 12-20 and the Blazers are 5-17 for 29.4% from 3pt. Denver’s bench is outscoring Portland’s 20-5. These are the difference right now.

This game has been really fun to watch and is living up to Michael Wilbon’s prediction that it would be “the best game of the playoffs so far.”

64-59 Denver.

Third Quarter:

Powell hit a 3 to start the 2nd half.  Jokic responds with a free throw line jumper and then Campazzo hits a 3.

The Blazers can’t break the seal here as the Nuggets have consistently hit shots to keep them at bay and remain ahead by about 7-12 since the end of the first quarter.

After a Norman Powell dunk, Jokic hits back to back 3 pointers. He is on fire tonight. 10-13 fg, 4-6 from 3pt for 24 points.

Stotts uses his challenge for a charge call on Nurkic on Campazzo.  Not sure that is a good idea.




The call is upheld. Tough one but I think it was a good call. Campazzo is a pest on defense.

Another offensive rebound and putback by Nurk cuts the lead to 75-70 and the Portland crowd cheers on their team to try to will them back into this.

Dame presses the turbo button to zoom past Jokic for a laying to cut the lead to 75-72. Cut to the Ne-Yo house music “Let’s Go” and the crowd goes wild.

Great after time out play from Michael Malone. Pin down screen to allow Jokic to cut to the basket. Gets fouled. Hits both free throws.

Melo finally hits a 3 after almost 2 full games of misses and the lead is 2. Chants of “Let’s Go Blazers!”




Nurkic with more offensive rebounding and another putback cuts the lead to 2 again after a couple Jokic free throws.

Enes Kanter come is at 1:31 to go after a no call on a Nurkic layup leads to a 4th foul called on him.

Jokic rag dolls Kanter for an offensive rebound and then Kanter loses his footing and responds with a 90’s playoff foul. Will likely be a flagrant.

Yep, the call is upgraded to a Flagrant 1. Two shots and the ball back. That is a killer.

Jokic hits both free throws, but then a moving screen is called on JaMychal Green, so the Blazers escape the flagrant only giving up 2 points.

Monte Morris is called for traveling with 1.6 seconds left. Back to back turnovers for the Nuggets. Crowd may be having an effect on them.

Melo barely misses a chance a buzzer beating 3 after a smart 3/4 court pass.

Blazers defense stepped up and held the Nuggets to 25% shooting in the 3rd quarter.

84-79 Nuggets. The fourth should be a good one.

Fourth Quarter:

Hollis Jefferson comes in for Kanter. I guess Billy Donovan was right: “Can’t play Kanter” at least in the playoffs.

Simons misses a wide open corner 3 that would have been big.  MPJ corner 3 on the other end stretches the lead to 8.  They just can’t break the seal.

CJ misses a long two. Scoreless in the second half. He needs to step up here.

On queue, he gets himself to the line for two FTs. Maybe that will get him going.  Lillard back in at 9:14. Much earlier than normal.  CJ gets into the lane and gets a bucket. 89-83.

Melo with a nice pump fake, dribble and corner 3. 91-86. This is getting good.

Nurk comes back at the 7:30 mark. So does Jokic.

Immediately a tough call on Nurk trying to deny Jokic for his 5th foul at 7:20. That will be big.

Another 3 for Melo and he has 8 in the in first 5 minutes of the 4th. 91-91.



Great defensive hustle by Campazzo.  Chased down a transition opportunity, poked it away from behind, and saved it in the corner.  Those are winning plays.

Jokic misses three straight and the crowd is INTO it.  Rivers hits a wing 3 to bring the lead to 94-91.

CJ hits one of two FTs and the Nuggets lead by 2.

Nurk fouls out at 5:17 on an Aaron Gordon and-one.  Stupid foul.  

Looks like Stotts is rolling with a small lineup to finish the game. RoCo at 5, Melo at 4, Powell at 3, CJ and Dame.

Gordon misses the FT and Melo goes in the way back machine to take Jokic to the rack for a nice layup.

Austin Rivers hits another big 3 to stretch the lead to 5 and then again to make it an 8 point lead with 3:49 left.



Lillard shakes off Aaron Gordon for a big layup. Chants of “Defense!  Defense!” fill the Moda Center.

Two free throws and an easy layup from Jokic stretch the score to 10.

Dame responds with a deep wing 3. Aaron Gordon dunk and then a Norman Powell dunk.

Lot of energy in the arena.  It’s great to hear fans into a playoff game.

Carmelo ties up Jokic and then wins the jump ball.  Wow.

Dame gets a dunk and was probably fouled but no call. It’s about that time.

Austin Rivers hits another 3 with 1:24 to go and that may be it. 



Dame misses back-to-back 3s.  Rivers misses a 3 and Carmelo tries to save it, but it goes into backcourt and right to Facundo Campazzo. He hits both free throws and its a 10 point lead.  That was a killer.

Dame hits a 3 after being fouled by Aaron Gordon for only the 3rd foul on Denver in the 4th quarter.

Austin Rivers is fouled and hits both free throws. 115-106 with 30 seconds to go.  What a quarter for him!

Carmelo responds with a 3 from the right break with 24.5 seconds gives Portland a little bit of life.

Campazzo misses one of two FTs. Dame responds with a 3.

Wild sequence where Campazzo loses the ball and as he’s falling down, pushes it towards Monte Morris. Looks like he got picked but the refs call a foul on Norman Powell.

Morris hits both FTs to make it 118-112. That will probably do it.

CJ hits a 3 and it’s 118-115.

Monte Morris is fouled with 3.2 seconds. Blazers need him to miss both.

Misses the first. . .

and second. . . 

But Jokic gets the rebound and putback to finish it off at 120-115. 




3 point shooting was the difference tonight. Blazers are 14-45 (31.1%) from 3 on the game and the Nuggets were 20-38 (52.6%)

Tough loss for the Blazers.

Game 4 on Saturday at 1:00pm PST back at the Moda Center.

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Portland’s pathetic defense and coaching costs them Game 2 in Denver

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On a night when the Portland Trail Blazers could have really put the Denver Nuggets in a deep hole in these playoffs their terrible defense and even worse coaching. The Blazers couldn’t use the record-breaking night from Damian Lillard to take a 2-0 series lead at Ball Arena in Denver.

Terry Stotts made some decisions tonight that would have had rookie middle school coaches scratching their head.

First Quarter Thoughts

As expected the Nuggets started out red hot and lept out to a double-digit lead in the first four minutes of the game. The Nuggets were hitting all their threes and Nikola Jokic was doing his typical MVP-type things. The Blazers did not have the energy early on to keep up with the Nugget onslaught.

Nate Tibbets and Michael Porter Jr decided to get into it a bit after a timeout. It’s not often that you see an assistant coach get into it with an opposing player. Both individuals were assessed technical fouls and we are allowed to move on with our lives.

Nikola Jokic is ridiculous. There is a shot that he could go for somewhere around 700 points tonight. Not sure if defensive mastermind, Terry Stotts, has it in his constitution to put together a game plan that can stop Jokic.

Logo Lillard knocks down a three from well, the logo. Anfernee Simons follows up with a three of his own and the Blazers are only down six to end the quarter. All things considered, things could have gotten way out of hand. It might have been a success only being down by around 11.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Lillard goes to the bench and the Blazers begin to turn the ball over again. The Denver defense has been solid tonight, but some of these turnovers by Portland are definitely self-inflicted. They are going to need to start taking care of the ball to keep things close.

Denver took advantage of the turnovers to push the lead up to 16 points. Michael Porter Jr. is really becoming that second and third option that the Nuggets needed.

I also don’t like how this game is being called both ways. The officials are keeping their whistles in their pockets on some stuff that would have been a foul in a Knicks-Heat series back in the 90s. I like letting them play, but not when dudes are getting knocked out into the covid riddled fans of Denver.

Carmelo Anthony and CJ McCollum knock down a couple of baskets to give the Blazers some hope. Paul Milsap decided he didn’t like to give hope to anyone and had back-to-back three-point plays to push the Nuggets’ lead up to 18 points.

It might just be time to take a shower and head off to bed.

Damian Lillard was not ready for bed and he did not care that the bus was warming up. He hit three straight threes to cut the Nuggets lead down to 11, 57-46 with 4:45 left in the half. It seems like it’s been since February since we’ve seen this Damian Lillard. It looks like that hamstring might finally be healthy.

Oh hey, Derrick Jones Jr. finally was allowed to get into the game. They needed someone to slow MPJ down.

Lillard hits another three and goes to the line for two free throws. The Denver lead is down to only eight points, 61-53. The man is absolutely ridiculous right now. He has 29 points for the game and 19 in — he hit another three before I could finish typing out this sentence.

My god! I have a feeling I’m going to need a cigarette after this and I don’t even smoke.

Lillard single-handed led the Blazers back within four points. it doesn’t matter where he is shooting from they are all going down. There is no better step-back three in all of the league.

The Nuggets were forced to call a timeout and Mike Malone got Denver to pick up the defensive intensity. This led to some big plays by the Nuggets who finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 73-61 lead into halftime.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Portland is focusing on getting CJ and Nurk going to start the third quarter here. I like the move to get their other two main scorers going, but Lillard had the hot hand — it’s a damned if you do and a damned if you don’t situation. I’d like to see Norman Powell get going as well.

It might also be because Aaron Gordon is now on Damian Lillard.

The Nuggets have only outscored the Blazers by three points (8-5) so far here in the third quarter, but it feels so much more than that. I’m having flashbacks to that 94 series of the Sonics and Nuggets with how loud the crowd is getting into this. If I were the Blazers I’d start using Norm as the point guard and play both Dame and CJ off the ball. Make their defenders work a bit more.

Austin Rivers and Facundo Campazzo have both been pretty annoying in various ways this game. I’d love Campazzo if here were a Blazer, but he’s not.

Looking at the box score and Robert Covington has not taken a single shot this game. He’s not done much else either. Enes Kanter with only two points and three boards in this game as well. Only seven points combined from the Blazer bench. Eesh, Carmelo Anthony and Simons really need to get going.

Greg Anthony with the Bobby Heenan “ham and egger” reference. Damn, I miss that dude. His work at Royal Rumble 92 is some of the best wrestling commentary work of all time.

Campazzo gets a flagrant on CJ by just running into CJ. That is one of the worst calls I’ve seen in a game of bad calls. This leads to a four-point play by the Nuggets and they are back up by 17 points. Yet again, this is another really bad Blazer third quarter.

Threes by both Dame and CJ to end the quarter cut the Nugget lead down to 14.

That was not pretty whatsoever. I can’t wait until Stotts is fired and third quarters might not be something to be scared of anymore.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Portland had some nice defensive energy to start the fourth quarter. Nurkic with a big move to start the quarter, Powell attacking, and Nurkic fouls Milsap for no apparent reason… this was his fifth foul. About 15 seconds later he fouls out of the game.

No idea why Stotts didn’t pull Nurk out with so much time left and Jokic not on the court. Stotts makes some of the dumbest coaching mistakes I’ve ever seen in games. Nurk was playing well to start the fourth, but not to the point of leading the Blazers back on his own. He’s best served using that last foul on Jokic at some point in the final six minutes of the game after Kanter gets a rest.

Stotts then challenged the foul and it was unsuccessful. It was an obvious foul so the challenge was just a waste of the challenge and a timeout. The Nuggets of course go on a 9-0 to get the lead back up to 20 and ice the game.

Monte Morris, Shaquille Harrison, and Jokic finished off the game as the Blazers brought in the back end of the bench. At least Harry Giles, Nassir Little, and CJ Elleby got some playoff minutes. That’s about the only positive for the night.

Not a good look at all tonight.

Up Next

Game 3 is on Thursday at 7:30 PM — the series switches to Portland.

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Bucks run over Blazers — Blazer bench lost in wine country

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Welcome back to the best Blazer recap that is heavily influenced by the Wine of the Night. Do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle if you’re into Ports.

Tonight, the Blazers took on the Milwaukee Bucks who thoroughly beat the Blazers’ brains in earlier in the season. The Blazers were banged up in that one and right now they are the healthiest and it did not matter because the Blazer bench decided to take the night off. Actually, they did not do much better tonight than they did the last time the two teams met.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 47 points and made it his personal mission to stop every momentum-building moment by the Blazers.

First Quarter Thoughts

Bobby Covington has really been shooting the three well this year. He started off slow but has been on fire lately, shooting almost 60% from three post All-Star Break. I really thought bringing him in was a mistake, especially at his age. His defense didn’t bring the price tag justification either.

Hey, I’ll admit when I’m wrong though.

He is going to have his handful with Giannis tonight. He’s attacking the paint like always and he’s getting Jusuf Nurkic switched out on to him on defense the last few possessions and is just abusing him. Giannis was pulled from pregame warm-ups due to some sort of leg injury.

Can’t tell he’s having any discomfort so far in this game. Giannis is looking like an MVP to start the game. Damian Lillard only has one point and no shots, CJ and Powell only have one shot between them in the first five and a half minutes to start the game.

Not sure I’d be running the offense through a hot RoCo, but hey what do I know?

For three straight possessions, Terry Stotts had Nurkic guarding Giannis almost 30 feet from the hoop. I’m not a defensive mastermind like Stotts so I’m not sure I’d go that route, but hey what do I know, Giannis has literally scored all five times Nurk has guarded him so far in this game.

The Bucks hit eight straight shots until Pat Connaughton missed a long three. I miss that dude. He was such a good fit for this Blazer squad. I also miss that heartthrob Jake Layman. That’s definitely my Terps bias showing through.

Damian Lillard starting to come alive! The man deserves the MVP award. Portland would have ten wins at most right now without him. The Blazers were only 5-23 from the field in the first quarter. Lillard had two of those makes.

Blazers gave up a wide-open three to Jrue Holiday to end the quarter. Not sure how the defense is always an issue with this squad. It’s been pretty terrible the last five years and it only seems to get worse.

Might also be the fact the NBA doesn’t really allow defense to be played anymore.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Bucks run an inside post with Giannis and Connaughton. RoCo is forced to foul to stop the easy reverse dunk. He’s got 14 points early. There is zero answers for him at this point. It’s not like the defensive mastermind, Terry Stotts, is looking for one either.

Word is that he found a penny before the game though. Wasn’t heads up, he kept it anyway.

Norman Powell knocks down two threes on back-to-back possessions to get his first points in the Moda Center. It forces the Bucks to call a timeout. Blazers have cut the lead down to seven points.

During the timeout, there were some highlights of Clyde Drexler’s triple-double against the Bucks back in the ’80s. A great game by Clyde, but the game took place in The Mecca. I really miss when stadiums and arenas didn’t have a corporate name. The Mecca is a great name for an arena, so was Seattle Center Colleseum, and a few other places. Baseketball called it back in the late ’90s during the scene where literally everything had a corporate sponsorship.

Anyway, out of the timeout, Giannis gets two quick dunks and the Bucks are back up 11. One of them after Nurk picked him up 30 feet from the basket again. Not sure what the f*** is happening there. They having Covington covering Khris Middleton and Derrick Jones Jr. is covering the point guard on most possessions.

This is not how I’d be running things on the defensive side, but then again, I’m not a defensive mastermind like Terry Stotts. It would have been nice if the Blazers picked up an athletic big man during the deadline or off the waiver wire.

Middleton-Dame-and Forbes trade three-pointers. Middleton and Forbes hit their threes from the same corner and were wide open.

Man, Nurkic looks like crap out there tonight. He’s spending too much energy in bad matchups on the defensive side and has nothing to give the Blazers on the offensive end. He looks slow and has zero confidence. I don’t blame him, Stotts hasn’t put him in a situation in which he has a chance to succeed tonight.

Maybe it’s time to give David Vanterpool a call, see if he’d like, I don’t know be a head coach.

Blazers get hot and cut the lead down to eight points, behind Dame and RoCo knocking down a couple of big threes. Giannis comes in off the bench and the lead gets right up to 13 again. There is absolutely nothing the Blazers can do against him. Granted, most teams can’t do anything with him, but this is the easiest I’ve seen him score since the last time he played against the Blazers.

Dame ends the quarter by blowing by Giannis and finding CJ on the wing for a three.

Portland is only down by seven, 60-53 to end the half. This really could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Halftime Thoughts

The Blazers have apparently signed Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for the rest of the season. I really do not know about this move at all. He’s not great defensively and has never had a season where he shot above 50% from the field or above 29% from three. How does he fit in? And why now? The Blazers needed a body for two and a half months and they didn’t sign him then. The dude could not even make the Timberwolves this season.

Tyson Chandler was a move that made more sense, maybe even kick the tires on Jamal Crawford or IT if they weren’t happy with Simons or Trent. Otto Porter Jr. is going to be bought out by the Magic soon. He’s a much better fit over RHJ.

I really don’t understand this front office some (most) of the time really.

Really happy the Port I’m drinking has a higher ABV than RHJ’’s true shooting percentage.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Blazers immediately cut the lead down to two points after two nice plays by Damian Lillard. Blazers are looking… oh nevermind, Giannis gets back to back three-point plays. Giannis is getting within three feet of the basket at wil
l. The Blazers are refusing to double him, but with the four guys around Giannis who shoot damn near 40% or better from three, it’s best to give up the two by Giannis and hope he misses the free throws?

Giannis has ten points in two and a half minutes to start the third. He has 34 for the game. He really has a chance to get 55+ tonight. He can not be stopped. He is getting some latitude on calls where he should have been whistled for a travel. His pivot foot is very loosely planted.

Dame and Giannis have now decided to guard each other. Dame knocks down a nice step back on Giannis and Giannis gets a dunk.

Checking out the box score and the Blazer bench is currently 0-13 from the floor and only has two points on two free throws from Derrick Jones Jr. Again, why go out and pick up a cold RJH when Otto Porter Jr. would be a decent spark off the bench.

Carmelo Anthony has not been remotely close to making a basket tonight. His last three shots have been a quarter-inch away from being airballs.

Bucks outscore the Blazers 37-20 and have a 97-73 lead heading into the fourth quarter. If this continues we might get drunk storytime with Uncle Kev.

Yeah, no one probably wants that.

Oh, got word that the Blazer bench is stuck in Wine Country. Here’s a live look at them trying to get back to the game.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Anfernee Simons hits a three to start the quarter and then CJ hits another to get the Blazers off to a great start here in the fourth quarter. Melo knocks down a three of his own and the Bucks’ lead is cut down to 17. Not a bad start here in the fourth for the Blazers. Their bench scoring is up 600% here in the fourth.

Giannis makes another basket in the paint. Every time the Blazers make some sort of mini-run Giannis quickly comes into the game and immediately ends it. Again, Stotts had Nurk out on him and he just is not fast enough to stay in front of him. With Nurk getting blown by at the top of the arc there is no rim protection behind him. This has been one of the dumbest defensive decisions I’ve ever seen in the 32 years I’ve been watching sports.

The Blazers pick up the pace and get the lead cut down to 12 points. If they had only played a decent, not even a good third quarter and this game is probably around five points or maybe the Blazers have a lead.

Guess what happens? Middleton gets two free throws to push the lead back to 14 and Giannis gets another and-1. He has 47 points with almost four minutes left in the game. He is such a killer.

Blazers wave the white flag and this one is over.

Box Score

Next Up

Back at it tomorrow night at 7:00 PM against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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Terry Stotts proves himself to be a defensive mastermind in Blazers win over the Pelicans, 101-93

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Tuesday night was one of those games where you will always remember where you were when you watched the Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard come back from 17 points in the final five minutes against the New Orleans Pelicans.

After the game Tuesday night this game could have gone in one of two ways; either a 140-119 butt-kicking or a defensive struggle throughout the night. In the modern NBA, the latter option seemed unlikely and that is what we ended up getting.

The Blazers led by Derrick Jones Jr. on the defensive end put the Pelicans away, 101-93, and swept the season series 3-0.

First Quarter Thoughts

The Pelicans are not messing around at all tonight. They are definitely the more active team to start. They have some great motion out top to free up Brandon Ingram for two open threes to start the game and giving NoLA a quick 8-2 lead. Lots of offensive rebounds, hands-on lots of loose balls. They were everywhere.

It had the feel that the Pels might just pull the rug out from under the Blazers and run away with this.

Damian Lillard had other ideas though.

Dame had 21 points on 7-8 shooting from the floor and 5-6 from three. He is still in that groove from Tuesday night. The Pelicans are laying off of him for some reason and then rushing at him off the switches. They even allowed Steven Adams to switch out on him a few times.

Lillard just hit a couple of threes over him like he wasn’t there.

Pretty sure the only thing Dame is seeing out there on the floor is the bottom of the basket.

The case for MVP is growing.

Second Quarter Thoughts

This is the second straight game that CJ McCollum comes out playing point guard to start the second quarter. This is so stupid on many different levels. The big one is that CJ has not had much game time and the Pelicans actually do a solid job of playing defense on point guards (not named Dame Lillard) physically without fouling. CJ is not ready for that.

The other point is that Anfernee Simons had been playing really well as of late. He had a ton of confidence coming out of the All-Star break. Simons didn’t see the court on Tuesday night and he should be seeing it tonight in some form.

You can’t let a young player down like that. There are other minutes that CJ can take, let’s not take the minutes away from Simons. He needs the time and the development still.

As I type this, 3J has shown back up and has led the Blazers to a 42-33 lead with a hair under nine minutes in the second quarter. McCollum had been 0-5 up until this point and his shots did not look close.

Enjoying the energy that we are seeing from Nassir Little tonight too. I love when he rebounds and runs. He has the skill to play point forward and does have an eye to be a playmaker, plus we all know that he might be the best finisher at the rim for the Blazers.

The Pelicans run some high hand-offs with Zion Williamson and the Blazers switch to a 2-3 zone off the hand-off. Zion Williamson scored 19 points on Tuesday night when the Blazers switched to a 2-3 — so why would defensive mastermind Terry Stotts do it again?

I’m not quite sure because I’m not defensive mastermind Terry Stotts.

🤷

Damian Lillard once again sits too long into the second quarter. When Damian Lillard is hot there is only one man who can slow him down and that is the defensive mastermind, Terry Stotts. There are a lot of coaches in the league that are terrible with their rotations, but if it wasn’t for guys like Luke Walton and Mike Budenholzer (plus a few others), Stotts would be right there.

Poor Derrick Jones Jr. got hit twice in the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Once got a flagrant foul called on Eric Bledsoe and the other was not called.

Lillard only had five points in the second quarter, but the Blazers took a 57-48 lead into the half.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Here come the Pelicans cutting into the Blazer lead to start the quarter. The typical start of the third quarter for the Blazers. They once again have come out like Stotts spent the half handing out Ambien, warm milk, and doing some ASMR therapy.

It might have happened to both teams as the Pelicans quickly leveled off after some really clutch defense from Derrick Jones Jr, Rodney Covington, and Gary Trent Jr. The momentum changed when DJJ blocked a dunk on the same possession by both Ingram and Williamson.

Jones has been really feeling his role with the Blazers lately. I thought it was a mistake early on in the season, but he’s been winning me over. Not sure if he holds the starting spot next year. That should be going to Little.

And Zion Williamson has decided to take over the game in the third. He began to attack the rim and get to the line. The Blazers did not have an answer for him. At the end of the quarter, Zion Williamson had one of the top five all-time explosive first steps I have ever seen. He was four feet past Covington before RoCo even reacted. If the Blazers were not collapsing the paint that would have been a highlight dunk for Williamson.

The Pelicans somehow turned that possession into a turnover. Speaking of which, the Blazers end the quarter with a 1:2 assist to turnover ratio. That does not bode well for how the game usually ends.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Zion Williamson is continuing his strong attacking play to start the fourth. He seems to be the only Pelican player trying at the moment. CJ McCollum took a charge from Zion and he follows that up with a three and then Carmelo Anthony knocks down a three and Portland is off on a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter here.

Blazers are up by 14 and the Pelicans look all out of sorts at the moment. The Blazers defense is looking really strong against a bunch of guys waiting for a bunch of other guys to shoot the ball. Brandon Ingram has really disappeared in this second half.

The Pels are taking up a lot of clock to get a miss and the Blazers are taking up a lot of clock to get a make. That’s some smart play by the Blazers in the fourth quarter. We often don’t get to type those words about the Blazers in the second half of most games.

Gary Trent Jr. is in his own head right now. He reminds me of Arnold in that really crappy Batman movie. He’s ice cold and not very good. I’m a big fan of Trent Jr., but his play lately is going to make that contract extension a lot more palatable for the Blazers this summer.

And I might want to delete the above, Blazers have gone ice cold and have cut the Portland lead down to five. A combo of Lonzo Ball and Zion chipping away at that lead. This forces the Blazers into a timeout.

Out of the break the Blazers get back to back threes by Covington and Jones. Pushing the Blazer lead back up to nine points with just under two minutes to go.

Damian Lillard knocked down two free throws to seal the game up.

BOX SCORE

Next Up

Quick turn around with the Blazers taking on the Dallas Mavericks tomorrow night at 7:00 PM.

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Suns Out, Buns Out! Phoenix beats Portland again

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Maybe it’s been a long week for me, but it feels like the All-Star break was longer than the entire offseason. Am I off base here? Heard it was a nice day up in the PNW. You know what they say when the Sun is out?

Anyway —

The Blazers got outworked by the Suns and completely no-showed the fourth quarter until it was too late.

Portland once again falls to Phoenix, 127-121.

Let’s breakdown the action.

First Quarter Thoughts

Remember a couple weeks ago in Phoenix where the Suns just back-cut the Blazers to death? The Suns remembered what they did and Chris Paul is exploiting the hell out of the Portland defense along a fifteen-foot stretch of baseline. Once again the Blazers do not have an answer. You’d think that Stotts would review that tape and prepare for the Suns to do the same exact thing tonight. He did not and the Suns are scoring at will early.

But Damian Lillard was scoring just as easily.

Dame continued his hot shooting from the All-Star Game, hitting his first two threes of the game and then he started attacking the paint and the Suns were not ready for that. He’s been so good lately. Should have been the ASG MVP and should be the NBA MVP this year too. He’s not going to get the love though. It’ll go to LeBron or Embiid this year.

Enes Kanter is having himself a ball game tonight. He had seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter to go along with six points. Kanter is known for not being physical and yet he was keeping both DeAndre Ayton and Frank Kaminsky at bay. There is no excuse for either of those guys to get outworked by Kanter, but Kanter was doing Kanter things.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Anfernee Simons hits a nice floater to start the quarter. The first few months were not kind to Simons to start the season. It seems like he’s really coming into his own in the last couple of weeks. Him winning the dunk contest really picked up his confidence. He has a bit of a swag to his minutes to start off this game for him.

After he and Gary Trent Jr. hit back to back to back threes to give the Blazers a 47-37 lead forcing the Suns to call a timeout.

Simons might have either made himself extremely tradeable or untradeable. Not sure who can get for him at this point, but I could see it being a net negative in value.

The rest of the Blazers’ offense has been exceptionally solid this game. They have made 11 of 24 threes into the half. Derrick Jones Jr. and Robert Covington were both knocking down threes.

As I type this Kanter comes back in, is not getting rebounds, and the Suns are off and running off Blazer misses. Mikal Bridges especially was out running everyone. He got a couple of easy dunks on the run and then hit a three from the wing after a nice screen from Ayton freed him up on a curl.

Suns ended the half on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 60.

Halftime Thoughts

I honestly thought we’d get to see CJ McCollum tonight, but it looks like it’s going to be a few more games before he comes back. Before the break, he was looking great in practice. He did not have a limp, no hobble, looked smooth, and was allegedly playing in scrimmages with zero limitations.

I wonder how it will affect the minutes of Gary Trent Jr. Trent has not been shooting well as of late, but he continues to be one of the better defenders that Portland has and we know how well CJ plays defense.

I’ll need a bit more time and a bit more wine before I can come up with some cohesive thoughts. Got a nice 40-year reserve Tawny tonight that I’m excited to dive into this weekend. I should try CJ’s label, but I’m not a fan of Oregon Pinot. I should still try it though.

Third Quarter Thoughts

I really like how Dame is getting to the basket this game. Blazers are running that double high look where Dame finds some space and takes a three. Tonight as the defender fights over the screen and closeout, Dame is blowing right by everyone and getting easy layups. I’ve been waiting forever for the Blazers to start doing this. The lane is always going to be there for Dame because teams are so afraid of him shooting the three.

With him getting to the paint will get him easier baskets and probably get him to the line more. He goes to the line more and the refs will look to call more fouls for him. And then maybe, just maybe, he’ll start getting those calls on the three point shots.

Lillard has 22 points through two and a half quarters.

Gary Trent Jr. was 1-7 on threes for the night until Nassir Little made a nice drive and found GTJ on the wing. Trent really needed that shot.

Little has been a great spark plug off the bench lately. His minutes can’t take a hit. He needs to continue to play and develop. Not only his game, but he needs to get that confidence up too. Confidence is such a huge part of the game for a young player. Little has been playing solid ball since his break out in Milwaukee.

His dunk tonight was filthy.

I really love how Devin Booker works the mid-range. He is about the only guy who will work all three phases of the floor on offense. The percentages say dunk or three now, but with Booker playing the way he does it keeps defenders on their heels and makes him that much more dangerous. Really like to see Dame and CJ trade-off on this type of play.

Don’t let the defense get comfortable ever.

Blazers somehow won the third quarter by four points. Let’s hope they don’t screw up the fourth quarter. Really need this win with two games against the Timberwolves coming up this weekend. Would be great to have a seven-game winning streak heading into next week.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The Blazers have started the fourth like they usually start the third. Phoenix takes a two-point lead by outscoring the Portland 9-3 in the first three minutes. Was having a lot of praise for Simons to start the game, but he’s had two horrible turnovers to start this period.

Simons got the quick hook in the fourth. Lillard was back on the court to start the after nine-minute timeout. Melo followed him to the bench shortly thereafter. Melo was getting mugged in the fourth and did not have much to show for it. He was frustrated (and for good reason) and it got him out of his game.

This is falling apart faster than a dude in the champagne room without cash or a credit card with the bill due.

The Blazers have not been able to get a call this quarter and the Suns have outscored the Blazers 24-10 with only five minutes left to go in the game.

There was a questionable call on Rodney Hood that was ruled an offensive charge and the play before Devin Booker two armed GTJ almost the entire length of the baseline before getting a pass and a layup.

The Suns use Booker in such fun ways. He’s all over the place from on the ball to off the ball, moving fast, posting up, running a high-low, and finding easy baskets for teammates. It’s hard to defend that.

Also, Ed Molloy is a terrible official.

And the Suns have made eight threes here in the fourth and continue to build the lead.

Would you bet your life on the Blazers getting a single stop against the other 29 teams in the league or any of the 300+ NCAA schools?

I don’t think I’d do it and I’m not risk-averse.

Box Score

Next Up

Blazers have two in Minnesota with the first happening on Saturday at 5 PM.

Check Out

Hoops Uber Alles. New episode happening this Saturday at 10 AM. It will be our third.

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Lillard and Trent can’t outscore the Lakers by themselves

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On Friday night the struggling Blazers came into the cold and blustery Los Angeles area to take on the equally cold Lakers. Both teams are feeling the results of the injury bug (because the season was rushed to start) and both are looking a little heavy in the legs. The Lakers were losers of four in a row, while Portland had lost their last three after winning six straight.

The Blazers came out flat in the third quarter and could never inflate.

Portland falls 102-93 tonight.

First Quarter Thoughts

I’m shocked that they called a travel on LeBron James to start the game. He always gets away with steps and it was called after Derrick Jones Jr. slapped him on the side of the head on a shot attempt too.

The Blazers quickly jump out in front 7-2 on a three by Gary Trent Jr. and a dunk by Derrick Jones Jr. LeBron on the other end once again tries to bully his way into the paint on DJJ, gets their pretending he’s Shaq in 2001, but he did a no-no in bringing the ball down and DJJ’s quick hands slap the ball away. While LeBron is complaining he didn’t get a foul, the Blazers miss a shot in the paint, but Jones snags the ball, kicks it out to Damian Lillard who hits a three.

Blazers are up 10-2 and it forces the Lakers to call a timeout.

Really hoping Dame has a strong start to the game tonight. He’s been off to slow starts in the last couple of weeks. Tonight while driving to get dinner outside of LA I saw a car that had an “I heart Dame” license plate in front of me. Then I looked up and saw Lillard decked out in Lakers’ gold.

Damn near a road rage incident on T.O. Boulevard. Good thing my wife and dogs were with me.

This game has such a weird feel to it. I think there would have been a lot more running by both teams to start the game looking to get a knockout blow to start the game. Instead, both teams have pushed the momentum and have tripped themselves up early. With a touch over three minutes left in the quarter, the Lakers have four turnovers and the Blazers have three. It really feels like both teams are already approaching double digits in that category.

Then again, but I don’t know about the rest of you, but this has just been a weird week.

Dennis Schroder annoys the crap out of me. I will give him credit for his ability to really work the pick and roll and the way he attacks Enes Kanter after the pick. He gets right into the lane and has really good control over his awkward floater. That shot has no business going in, but it usually does. A minute later he knocks down a three.

Let’s talk about Terry Stotts defensive decisions. To close the quarter Carmelo Anthony got the defensive assignment on the hot Schroder. A weird decision since the Lakers were running the pick and roll and getting Kanter to switch off on to Schroder in the first place. Now Melo is playing off Schroder and waiting for the pick to come and on this play, it’s not coming. Schroder pulls up for three and knocks it down. The ball was almost to the hoop before Melo reacted.

It was a weird choice. I would have gone with Rodney Hood or Nassir Little on the assignment.

Whatever, Terry Stotts is a defensive mastermind and an NBA coach while I’m a basketball blogger.

Blazers up 29-24 after one.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Rodney Hood knocks down a three to start the second quarter. Really need to get a good game out of Hood tonight. Well, need to get a good game out of the depleted Blazers bench tonight. Anfernee Simons calls glass on a prayer three over Montrezl Harrell and the ultra annoying Alex Caruso.

Derrick Jones Jr. is full of hustle tonight. I swear he already has 87 offensive rebounds five minutes into the second. He’s gotten a few defensive rebounds as well and tipped a few to teammates. This is what I’ve been waiting for from Jones for the entire year. He was supposed to come in and be a disruptor. I think it took a bit longer for him to gel and find his role within the team.

Hopefully, CJ McCollum has learned how to play defense while his foot heals.

LeBron James doing some LeBron James things and gets the Lakers within a point, this causes Stotts to bring Lillard in a bit earlier than he likes. Harrell finishes an and-1 to give the Lakers a two-point lead as they go on an 11-0.

During this stretch, the Lakers were playing a lot more physically and I think there were some fouls that should have been called. Lillard is the only superstar in the league to get hammered on a consistent basis and not get calls. It really has to be frustrating for him to get leveled on one end and then pick up a touch foul on the other end.

He’s got 20 points so far in the half. His defense is just outscore his man by forty. It works for him. I’d say that I love for him to pick up the defensive tenacity like another Oakland native, Gary Payton, but that type of defense (or any kind of defense) is no longer allowed in the NBA.

Along the lines of defense, Robert Covington has been a pretty big disappointment so far for the Blazers. His defense hasn’t been anywhere near where it has been for him in previous years, his shot is off, and he’s not really rebounding. There are periods of time that I have no idea if he’s on the court or not. I’d say the Blazers should buy him out, but we all know they wouldn’t sign anyone to replace him and let Melo play 35+ minutes a night.

Lillard finally gets a call while being fouled on a three. It’s because Horton-Tucker slid under Dame on his way down, and Lillard landed on his foot, twisting his ankle a bit. The way he landed I thought he might have torn his Achilles.

Damn near gave me a heart attack.

Before the last-second tip in to end the second half, Enes Kanter had been 1-6 in the paint tonight. Every single one of his shots has been hard off the front rim. It’s not like the Lakers are shoving him hard out of the paint on his shots either. He’s been pretty open, just bricking each and every shot.

Speaking of bricking everything.

The Blazers’ bench has been more trash than Kyle Kuzma tonight. Lillard has outscored the bench 24-8 in the half. Gary Trent Jr. was the only other Blazer player to score in double figures with 10 points.

Halftime Thoughts

I’m thankful I didn’t have to see Caruso or Schroder over halftime.

Also, this halftime seemed pretty short.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Terry Stotts once again gave the team Ambien over half and instead of breaking down defensive breakdowns, he told them a story about a floofy rabbit, and they all had six minutes in a REM cycle before they were rushed out to start the third quarter.

Blazers have three turnovers and have given up seven points in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter.

This Ambien and storytime theory is the best one I have as to why Portland is so bad time after time in the third quarter. There is no real reason for this. It really can’t be that the other team makes proper adjustments and Stotts doesn’t at the half, can it?

The Lakers also have Schroder and Caruso out together to start the third quarter. There are many reasons that I think Frank Vogel is a bad coach and this is one of them.

After Covid wraps up and things can get back to normal, if I saw Alex Caruso out on the street I may bump into him just to see if he falls down and tries to get a foul called on me.

We’re about eight minutes through the third quarter and the Blazers now have six turnovers and hey look at that. That three-point lead at the half has turned into a six-point deficit.

The Lakers are out hustling the Blazers on both ends of the floor, knocking down threes, getting steals, Alex Caruso dunking and screaming on fools. This is not what you are supposed to do in a third quarter. All one of you youth coaches out there who reads this, record the Blazer third quarters, and show this to your eight-year-old second grade team. Let’s start to get to them at a young age and teach them to not ever suck in the third quarter.

This shot chart is a lot more kind than it actually appeared for the Blazers in the third.


Portland 3rd quarter shot chart against the Lakers.

Portland 3rd quarter shot chart against the Lakers.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

After three minutes into the fourth, the Blazers have not picked things up at all from their terrible third quarter performance. The Lakers pushed their lead out to 15 points with LeBron James on the bench. With seven minutes left in the game, the Blazers had more turnovers (15) than bench points (13).

The Blazers are a step slow.

Example: The Blazers ran a high double pick and roll with Lillard, Kanter, and Covington. Lillard had both Caruso and Morris follow him as he dove to the sideline. He stopped and passed to Covington at the top of the three-point line. LeBron dove out at Covington who held the ball instead of passing to a wide-open Gary Trent Jr on the wing. Morris was still on Dame when LeBron came out and crowded Covington’s right side. Trent was on his left. By the time Covington looked to pass, Morris was back on Trent, and Portland ended up turning the ball over.

A possession later Covington took a three from almost forty feet while double-teamed with over six seconds on the shot clock. This was the point in the game where it was pretty much over. The body language of the Blazers changed.

And that was the game.

BOX SCORE

Next Up

The Blazers get the weekend off before taking on the Charlotte Hornets on Monday at 7:00 PM.

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Beal & Westbrook snap Portland’s hot streak, 118-111

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Portland Trail Blazers entered their Saturday night showdown with the Washington Wizards on a six-game win streak after wins over the Magic, 76ers, Cavs, Mavs, Thunder, and Pelicans.

Bradley Beal (37 points on 16/27 FG) and Russell Westbrook (27 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds) made sure that streak ended.

Game Recap

Washington’s talented backcourt duo of Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook were cutting through Portland’s defense early. The two combined for 38 points on 24 shots in the first half.

Beal kept up his scoring in the third quarter as he took advantage of some lazy transition defense from Portland.

Carmelo Anthony’s first shot of the night was a four-point play off a catch-and-shoot on the wing. He helped the Blazers to a huge 43-point first quarter, led by Enes Kanter’s 10.

Portland’s 12-point lead from the end of the first quarter was short-lived, as Washington blazed a 12-0 run early in the second and cut the lead to two. Anfernee Simons busted the run with a beautiful fading three, but the Wizards would take a 61-55 advantage into halftime.

Down five with five minutes to go, the struggling Blazers found some big plays from the Juniors: Gary Trent and Derrick Jones. The former hit a huge three and forced a turnover off of Westbrook’s foot, while the latter leapt for a monster block on Beal in the lane.

Unfortunately, Beal & Co. sparked a quick 7-0 run to take a nine-point lead with two minutes left.

A chaotic sequence ensued with under a minute remaining, including Dame getting a steal and running into Beal for a bizarre no-call.

MVP Watch

Lillard had an up-and-down night, emphasized by his tough offensive matchup against the 6’8” Rui Hachimura (when he wasn’t getting double-teamed).

After struggling to a 2/13 first-half start from the field, Damian Lillard made four of his first five shots to open up the second half.

La Heem went on to score 23 in the third quarter alone, capped off by a literal logo buzzer beater to end the period.

Dame Time may have come too early, though. His mere six points in the fourth came inside the last two minutes. He finished with 35 and 12 assists, but his performance was somewhat overshadowed by the frustrating physicality used against him and 20 missed shots.

Stats & Notes

Gary Trent Jr.’s third three of the night marked a milestone for the young guard. His 10 consecutive games with at least three made threes ties the Blazers’ franchise record.

With Jusuf Nurkic and Harry Giles inactive, Robert Covington and Melo were forced into minutes at center behind Kanter. RoCo made his presence felt on the defensive end with four blocks.

Davis Bertans entered Saturday’s game making 14 of his last 17 threes, but only managed 2/8 against the Blazers. Unfortunately, those two both came in crucial moments for the Wizards.

Next Up

The Blazers are back on the road for a big battle against the West’s fourth-place Phoenix Suns on Monday at 6pm.

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Blazers put a whoopin on the Sixers, 121-105

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Are the Blazers cursed? It sure seems like it, doesn’t it? I’ve seen some teams get bit by the injury bug, but this season for the Blazers is on another level of cursed. Tonight the Blazers were without Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Derrick Jones, Jr., Jusef Nurkic, and Zach Collins (does he even live here anymore?).

When is the last time an NBA team was missing literally half their team?

The 76ers were in attack mode to start, especially with Tobias Harris working the midrange hard against Carmelo Anthony. I’m not sure why Anthony was on Harris to start, it seems like a matchup that Robert Covington would be the one to guard Harris.

But this is Terry Stotts making the decision and we all know that Stotts knows defense.

With Anfernee Simons on a time limit restriction due to a pulled hammy, Rodney Hood got the start tonight at the point guard position. He does have a history of playing point in the past in high school, some at Duke and some with the Jazz.

Hood ran the offense pretty efficiently while he was in the game. The Blazers did hold an 18-16 lead when he exited the game.

Joel Embiid hurt his knee during a goal tend on Ene Kanter. His knee flexed all funny when he landed. For a guy his size with his injury history that probably isn’t a good sign.

And the Blazers did take advantage of this. After Embiid went out the Blazers attacked the paint hard Gary Trent Jr., CJ Elleby, Enes Kanter, and Melo all got easy baskets in his absence and the Blazers had a 27-22 lead.

Then Embiid came back into the game and the Sixers went on a 6-0 run to take the lead back. He’s definitely a much better overall player than Dwight Howard.

I love Simon’s energy on the court and how he could potentially be a sparkplug off the bench for the Blazers, but he shoots for the sake of shooting when he first comes into the game. Rarely is he on fire and he does start knocking down shots when he’s more into the flow of the game. He came in to run the point, took two bad and contested three-pointers, and he was immediately replaced at point by Trent and CJ Elleby.

When Stotts pulls your position for a rookie you know you messed up.

To start the second quarter, Harry Giles replaced Kanter and Embiid bullied him. It was not a fair match up at all. Embiid would get to any position that he wanted in the paint, Giles was not remotely strong enough to deal with Embiid in the paint.

This got Giles playing on his heels, Embiid would drive, Giles would retreat and hold at the basket, and Embiid would simply pull up with space and knock down a short jumper. He did this on back to back possessions and Giles looked so frustrated. I don’t blame him, Embiid is a potential MVP and he is well, Harry Giles.

If not for Embiid it’d be safe to say that the Blazers would have a double-digit lead halfway through the second quarter. It took Stotts over seven minutes of game time to Kanter back in on Embiid. It didn’t matter when Kanter came back in, Embiid racked up six quick points on him.

This is just a night when you cannot stop Joel Embiid. The Blazers literally started to triple-team him and he was still scoring at will in the paint. He had 31 at half. He’s having an amazing game. I thought he was done for the game and he has come back really mad and making the Blazers for it.

Gary Trent Jr. is one of the best off the ball movers in the whole league. The dude never stands still on a possession. He’s constantly probing the defense. He’ll do in cuts, backdoor cuts, cross cuts, rip cuts, and miter cuts. You can get lost on a play watching him work.

If the defense does fall off he does set himself up so well for a catch and shoot three. You can see that he was so well-coached by Coach K. There are so many things that Trent does well. Spend a few possessions and watch how he operates.

The third quarter tends to be the worst quarter for the Blazers and it has been this way for years now. Basically, the entire tenure of Terry Stotts the Blazers have been absolutely god awful in the third quarter.

Tonight, missing 87 players, the Blazers started the quarter on a 12-0 run to take a 69-57 lead and forced Doc Rivers to call a time out. Gary Trent Jr. had two huge three-pointers to start and cap the run.

The Sixers were also running some really questionable defense here as well. They were running loose traps at half court on both Hood and Melo to force the ball out of their hands. It left a lot of Blazers open and their offense has a lot more motion to it tonight too.

Did Terry Stotts get replaced by Bob Knight at half time? This is some of the best team offense I have ever seen from the Blazers. There are so many off the ball picks, fade runs, pick and rolls at the top of the key, but then hitting a backdoor cutter as the Sixers collapse at the top rolling guy.

Can Stotts keep this going forward when Dame is healthy? So much heart and hustle from this team tonight.

I’m so impressed with this team so far tonight. CJ Elleby is playing like a second year player, Simons let himself get into the offense, and started knocking down some buckets, and Hood running the motion offense to perfection tonight. Lots of open looks against a really good defensive team in Philadelphia.

The hustle and movement got the Sixers flustered. It led to a technical foul on Tobias Harris and made Embiid work hard on defense. Most of his shots in the third were short and he only had four points.

The Blazers thwarted a quick run by the Sixers to start the fourth. Elleby had sealed the game away with a steal and dunk a few minutes into the fourth.

Again, this is the best the team as a whole has looked all season. Really happy with how the offense did not stagnate and turn into a Melo ISO show for 40 minutes tonight. The defense was extremely active. Really loved the game tonight.

Box Score

Next Up

Blazers head to MSG to take on the Knicks at 10 AM PST.

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