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Melo boosts the Blazers past Philly, 118-114

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Blazers got a game in the national spotlight tonight as they took on the Philadelphia 76ers on TNT, and what a wild one it was. Tonight marked the debut of Portland’s brown “Spirit of Oregon” city edition jerseys.

Lineups

Portland: Damian Lillard, gary Trent Jr., Derrick Jones Jr., Robert Covington, Enes Kanter

Philadelphia: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Danny Green, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid


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Game Recap

First Quarter

The Blazers started hot from behind the arc, with Gary (3/3), Dame (3/4), and even DJJ (1/1) getting in on the action halfway through the first quarter.

RoCo was struck in the face yet again, this time by Ben Simmons. After sitting out with a concussion for a pair of games and returning with a mask, RoCo was hit in the face last game inadvertently. He stayed in the game tonight after a short breather.

Kanter’s aggressive offensive rebounding was noted abundantly by Brian Andersen and Reggie Miller. He finished with four in the first period alone.

Simmons was balling out, and his chase-down block on a Simons alley-oop turned to a two-hop assist to Matisse Thybulle.

Dame made up for the five-point swing by getting fouled on a three (making all the free throws) and hitting his fourth one on his next possession. He finished the quarter with 19 of Portland’s 37 points.

Second Quarter

Furkan Korkmaz’s and-one put the Sixers ahead, and although Carmelo Anthony answered with a three, Portland’s offense struggled with Dame resting.

Embiid’s midrange jumper put the Sixers within six, and Terry Stotts picked up a tech for voicing his opinion a little too loudly to the officials.

Kanter bled profusely from his left eye after getting hit by RoCo (how ironic) on a rebound attempt, allowing Embiid to dominate the paint for the final minute-plus of the quarter as the Blazers went ultra-small.

Embiid banked in a fadeaway at the buzzer to finish with 23 first-half points, including 15 in the second quarter alone.

Third Quarter

The two teams battled back and forth in the third, with Seth Curry and Embiid making strides on offense. Portland simply didn’t have the big bodies to compete with Embiid and Howard.

Neither team could take a commanding lead into the final quarter, though. Any time the Sixers threatened to make a run, the Blazers bit back.

Fourth Quarter

Melo smacked some sense into the team with three straight bombs from deep, inciting a 12-4 Blazers run to start the quarter all on his own.

He continued his crazy shooting stretch with a lean-in bank-shot at the buzzer, though he couldn’t manage it on the next possession from three.

Portland’s offensive rebounding was keeping them in the game, but it was the Sixers who came up with a pair of them before drawing a foul and tying the game at the 2:41 mark.

Gary Trent hit his fifth three of the night while Embiid gave Kanter an elbow to the dome on the other end for an offensive foul.

Dame was still struggling to heat up. His first points of the fourth came against Harris in the lane with 1:15 left.

Embiid hit a way-too-easy midrange and Seth Curry tied the game on a transition trey. With the score tied at 114, only 22.1 seconds remained.

Simmons fouled Dame with five left on an iso and Melo used the last timeout when he couldn’t inbound the ball.

Melo used a give-and-go with Covington to draw a blocking foul on Harris with three seconds left. With the Blazers in the bonus, Melo nailed both free throws to give the Blazers a two-point lead.

Former 76er Robert Covington came up with the biggest steal of the night when Ben Simmons basically threw it right to him. Dame hit two free throws to secure the four-point win.

Final Thoughts

What a game. With no margin for error, Carmelo Anthony came up with his best performance of the season. The Blazers closed the game unconvincingly with the shot clock off, but it was smart plays that made things happen: Melo’s give-and-go orchestration and Robert Covington’s interception were the specific plays that won the game.

Player(s) of the Game

Dame scored more and Gary was fantastic, but it has to be Melo. He came up huge when the Blazers needed it most, scoring 17 points in the fourth.

Next Up

The Blazers will host another Eastern Conference foe, the Cleveland Cavaliers, tomorrow night at 7pm.

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Los Angeles Clippers dunk all over the Blazers, 117-97

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Hassan-Whiteside-dunks-on-Kawhi-Leonard-and-Paul-George-scaled.jpeg

The Blazers have their first real test after becoming “healthy” and adding Carmelo Anthony. The team is playing a lot better with the addition of Melo. Damian Lillard doesn’t look so stressed and CJ McCollum has been playing a lot freer and not pressing as much. Hassan Whiteside hasn’t needed to be much of an option scoring and Rodney Hood has become the best three point shooter in all of the league.

So far.

Tonight the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Lou Williams want to stop that three game winning streak and they did in big fashion, 117-97.

The Clippers started out hot. George, Leonard, and Patrick Beverley all hit three pointers as the Clippers jumped out a double digit lead.

Damian Lillard decided he was going to put the team on his back and knock down a couple of threes. CJ decided he was not going to allow Dame to have all the fun and he knocked down some jumpers too. After a hard foul on Melo by Montrezl Harrell, the Blazers took a lead and held that lead going into the second quarter.

Carmelo Anthony went vintage Melo to start the second, a few post-ups and quick drives. He added a quick five points on some really sweet movies. Chris Webber compared him to Adrian Dantley and that is a very apt comparison. It’s probably the smartest thing he’s said all night… er…. year?

Ever?

My wife then asked who Dantley was — she’s got some punishment Youtube to watch later.

The starters are playing really well to start this game. The bench has more fouls (5) than points (2) in the first 15 minutes of this game. Kent Bazemore has been a pest on defense and Skal Labissiere is rebounding nicely. As I finish typing that Bazemore and Anfernee Simons get into a shooting contest with Lou Williams.

That did not go well and the Blazers trailed going into the half 62-59. The Blazers were incredibly balanced in that half. Dame and CJ were each in double digits, Melo and Whiteside had 9 each, and Simons had seven points off the bench.

Paul George opened up the third quarter on a personal 7-0 run and pushed the Clippers lead up to 10. CJ McCollum hit a three and that’s all the Blazers got for a bit as the Clips pushed the lead up to 16. Dame and Whiteside were able to chip the lead down to five points, but the Clippers shot it back up to 13 to end the quarter.

Portland stopped moving the ball in the third quarter and played a lot of ISO at the top of the circle. The Blazers also allowed the Clippers to shoot 60% from three in the quarter. Harrell also took over. The Blazers tried Whiteside, Skal, and Anthony Tolliver on him in the quarter and nothing worked.

Doc Rivers continued to run the ball through Harrell to start the third quarter. The Clippers have pushed the lead to 20. Carmelo Anthony has missed his last six shots, Dame is really forcing things and CJ has disappeared again. This is starting to look like the Blazers from the first 15 games of the season.

With the Blazers down 22, Stotts threw in the towel bringing in Mario Hezonja and Nassir Little.

Blazers held Kawhi Leonard in check, but Paul George and Harrell both went off. The Blazers had zero answers for either man all night. The NBA as a whole have had not had answers for either man this year.

CJ led the Blazers with 20, Whiteside had 18, Dame 16, and Carmelo with 9. Simons has 11 off the bench.

97 was the Blazers lowest point total of the season.

Next Up

Blazers return home tomorrow to take on the Kings. Tip is a little after 7:00 PM.

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Clippers outlast Blazers, 107-101

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
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Things haven’t been very easy for the Blazers lately. An injury-ridden frontcourt left Hassan Whiteside and Skal Labissierre as the only two pure bigs healthy enough to play. They fought hard to earn late leads Thursday night at the Staples Center, but couldn’t hold on as Kawhi Leonard and Lou Williams sank Portland’s hopes of a road upset. Portland controlled the lead for 9:42 of the fourth quarter.

Lineups

Jerseys

  • The Blazers and Clippers both wore their throwback uniforms—Portland in the red 70s tributes and Los Angeles in the white Braves throwbacks.

Game Summary

First Quarter: Clippers 26, Blazers 22

Momentum Plays

  • Dame 4-point play on the second possession of the game (11:20)
  • Kawhi and Shamet fail on fastbreak (7:20)
  • Patterson dunk/3 on next two possessions (6:20)
  • Dame gets one look and buries a three (5:23)

Trends

  • Zubac getting offensive rebounds/2nd chance pts
  • Allowing Kawhi to get near the basket – 2
  • Blazers no offensive rhythm – shot 36% on 8/22
  • Rodney getting open looks, although he’s only knocked down 1/3
  • Clips keep switching Dame onto Kawhi – he didn’t do too poorly
    • Dame added a steal at the end of the first quarter on Lou Will
  • CJ slow start: 1-5 shooting

Damian Lillard looked to establish his presence early, but a lackluster overall first quarter set the tone for a largely uneventful first half.

Second Quarter: Clippers 47, Blazers 40

Plays

  • Montrezl Harrell rejects Mario Hezonja (10:55)
  • Hood breaks up a fastbreak on his own (8:35)
  • Harrell open dunk/Hezonja airball (7:44)
  • Skal fouls Kawhi but takes most of the punishment (6:45)
  • Whiteside misses like four chances to score as Dame misses a technical free throw (2:40)
  • Dame 3, then emphatic jam, then followed his shot and scored in consecutive possessions (last few mins)
  • CJ kicks Patterson in the face while fading away (:2.1)
    • Gets flagrant foul

Trends

  • Blazers fouling – 9 in the quarter
  • Still no offensive rhythm – shot 29% on 8/28
  • Clips closing out effectively

The Clippers continued their stout defense in the second quarter. At times it seemed as though neither team wanted the lead, both missing opportunities to seize control.

Third Quarter: Clippers 70, Blazers 76

Plays

  • Whiteside gets a frustration dunk off (9:00)
  • Beverley fouls McCollum, gets very angry (8:09)
  • Kent Bazemore picks up 4th foul (7:55)
  • Hassan tough putback and-one (7:33)
  • Sweet Lou airballs a floater (6:52)
  • Dame takes the lead (5:00)

Trends

  • Tedious/ugly game; neither team taking control
  • Lots of fouls – Blazers over the limit with 7+ minutes left for the second quarter in a row
  • CJ and Dame both heating up

CJ found his shooter’s touch in the third quarter, scoring 14 points. The Blazers beefed up their defense.

Fourth Quarter: Clippers 107, Blazers 101

Plays

  • Anfernee Simons pull-up 3
  • Hezonja dunk (6:20)
  • Whiteside dunk, then and-one (1:45, 1:15)
  • Lou fadeaway elbow (1:00)
  • Lou saucy 3 to go up by four (:31.7)

Trends

  • Ant scoring dynamically
  • Defense is lacking
  • CJ cooling off
  • Whiteside getting scored on
  • Referees doing the Blazers no favors
  • Kawhi taking over
  • Whiteside tough buckets
  • Lou Williams wins the game in crunch time

Trail Blazers face the Los Angeles Clippers on November 7, 2019. Bruce Ely / Trail Blazers

Anfernee Simons came out with a bang in the fourth quarter. His dynamic scoring—a pull-up two at the buzzer, drive to the rim, catch-and-shoot three, and a Dame-esque pull-up three—kept Portland’s four-point cushion intact during the early stages of the period. The Clippers hung around, though, and were always within touching distance.

Stotts’ pick-and-rolls were causing problems for the Clips down the stretch, with Hassan Whiteside being the primary benefactor. One freed up Anfernee, who was fouled as he received the feed from Whiteside. He made the second. But it was Lou Williams who made the big shots for the Clippers, with a fadeaway elbow jumper and crossover pull-up three.

The Blazers trailed by four with half a minute remaining. After a scramble for CJ’s missed jumper with 25 seconds left, Beverley gathered the ball while stepping out of bounds. Rodney Hood pulled up and hit a baseline jumper to pull within two. Kawhi was fouled on the ensuing inbound, and converted both free throws. One missed Dame desperation three later, the game was on ice.

Looking Ahead

The Trail Blazers return to Portland tomorrow night for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Brooklyn Nets. This can be a great chance to build some much-needed momentum.

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Blazers attempt to rebound against Clippers

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
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The last week has not been kind to the Portland Trail Blazers (3-4). They blew a 21 point lead Saturday night to the Embiidless 76ers and were thoroughly outclassed and outcoached Monday night against the G-League Warriors. Tonight they head into Los Angeles to take on a rested Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers (5-3).

The Clippers are on the second night of a back-to-back. They lost last night to the Milwaukee Bucks, 129-124. Montrezl Harrell scored a career-high 34 points last night, Lou Williams also had 34, but that was not a career-high for him. Quite a few players for the Clippers logged over 30 minutes last night including Harrell and Williams, Patrick Beverley and Jeff Green did as well.

But Kawhi Leonard is well rested and will be starting tonight for Doc Rivers and company.

The Defense

This has not been good for the Blazers at all this year. While they are 10th in the league in scoring (114.4 ppg) they are also 23rd in scoring defense (115.3 ppg) and 22nd in defensive rating (110.9). This friends is not a good look for the team.

On Saturday night the team gave up 84 points in the pain to the 76ers which is pretty embarrassing. Granted Hassan Whiteside was not healthy and didn’t suit up. On Monday against the Warriors after Whiteside had a great few series changing and blocking shots, Kerr changed the Warriors sets and started pulling Whiteside above the free throw line. This allowed the Warriors to run multiple back cuts and set high picks on Whiteside to free up Willie Caulie-Stein for some easy baskets.

One of the main culprits of allowed back cuts was CJ McCollum. He could not keep anyone in front of him at all against the Warriors. Ky Bowman, Damien Lee, and Jordan Poole ate him alive. Now, if the Warriors were healthy, they would not be seeing the floor, or would be playing in some gym in Santa Cruz.

CJ’s defensive ratings the last two games is a 134 and a 129.

And it’s not like anyone else is really attempting to play defense outside of Whiteside either. Whiteside, Mario Hezonja, and Kent Bazemore are the only Blazers that are a sub-110 on the season for defensive efficiency.

Terry Stotts needs to look at his rotations and get things figured out. The Clippers are a potent offensive team even without Kawhi Leonard on the floor. They are shooting nearly 50% from the floor for the season and 36% from three as well. This is pretty average for the league, but when teams play the Blazers their FG% goes up as does the 3P%.

I think we see the Clippers score north of 125 tonight.

What is up with CJ?

I harped on his defense, but his offense has not been the greatest so far this year either. He is averaging north of 20 points but has been vastly inconsistent this year. He has a -0.2 VORP, which means the Blazers would be better off with an average replacement level player than CJ. Hell, the eye test says that Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons are a better backcourt duo right now than Dame and CJ. And Simons makes $25 million less a year than CJ.

On Monday CJ had nine first half points and didn’t score again until the final three minutes of the game. This is not the first time this has happened this season. You forget he’s on the floor for long stretches of time on offense, then curses at him to play defense on the other end. If it wasn’t for that you might not know he was even playing.

CJ was projected to compete for an All-Star slot this year. So far I think we can line him up for the MRP or the Most Regressed Player award.

Tonight CJ is going to have to deal with a combination of Leonard or Beverley on the defensive end. It might not be the night for him to get back on track.

Rodney Hood

Hood is probably going to be the one with a favorable matchup on the offensive end. He will either draw Landry Shamet, maybe even Patrick Patterson. Though, I think Patterson will be on Hezonja or Anthony Tolliver to start the game. The Blazers are going to need Hood to have a hot shooting night as he did against the 76ers. He was slow on Monday with that bruised left knee, so hopefully, he can rebound tonight and play an above-average game. If the Blazers are to have a chance then Hood needs to score 15 or more points this evening.

The Benches

The Clippers boast one of the deeper benches in all of the NBA. In fact, they have probably the best bench in the league. The Blazers bench is pretty lacking at the moment. It’s unclear of Harrell is going to start again tonight or come off the bench with Lou Williams.

The Blazers don’t have the firepower to match the Clippers, unless Simons and Skal Labissiere combine for sixty points off the bench tonight.

Prediction

I’m going to take the Clippers in this 132-117. Lillard scores 40 and keeps the Blazers close, but Kawhi and Lou Williams break any and all hopes of a victory with a crushing 4th quarter.

How to watch

Time: 7:30 PM
Channel: TNT

Injuries

Pau Gasol, Jusuf Nurkic, and Zach Collins are all out for the Blazers.
Paul George is out for the Clippers

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