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Gary Trent Jr

Portland Trail Blazers

Familiar faces reunite in Tampa as Blazers outlast Raptors 122-117

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

In the wake of a trade between the two franchises, the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors met in Tampa, Florida for a matchup full of familiar faces.

Both teams walked away happy after swapping Norman Powell for Rodney Hood and Gary Trent Jr., although the two are in different spots this season. Toronto is currently on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, while the Blazers sit just above the Western Conference play-in at sixth place.

Powell got his second start in as many appearances, even though Damian Lillard was well enough to return to starting action (after missing the last game against Orlando to rest).

It was Trent who scored from the charity stripe for the first point of the game, but the lead would go back and forth throughout the first quarter.

Rodney Hood, the other Portland departure, rattled off eight points in the first quarter without starting minutes.

Former Oregon Duck Chris Boucher had a strong block on Enes Kanter’s dunk attempt. Boucher always seems to play well against the Blazers.

Damian Lillard set his new season-high for assists in a quarter with nine, but the Blazers trailed by that mark at the end of the first, 41-32. The Raptors hit five threes in that first period.

CJ’s arrant pass was saved by Melo into the hands of Powell, who stepped up for a big three to help Portland keep stride in the second quarter. The Blazers were notching an uncharacteristically-large number of assists in the first half (15 assists on the first 17 made shots), but were still characteristically bad on defense.

Aron Baynes—who torched the Blazers as a Phoenix Sun last season—slammed over RoCo and Powell in the second, but Nurkic answered with a three on the on the other end. Baynes would give Nurk a hard foul in the third quarter, resulting in a flagrant foul and a boost for the Blazers.

A pair of flashy Derrick Jones Jr. layups put the Blazers down one with under two minutes left in the first half, but Rodney Hood’s halftime buzzer beater saw the Raptors up six at the break, 74-68.

Despite being dropped from the starting lineup, Jones Jr. was the only Blazer to join McCollum and Covington as double-figure scorers in the first half.

Dame’s 3-for-12 start from the field was burdening the Blazers, but a 14-0 run would see them take a seven-point lead with 2:37 in the third.

Even while surging into the lead, it felt less like the Blazers taking command and more like Toronto shutting down. The Raptors failed to hit a three all quarter (despite many open ones) while Portland exploited Toronto’s vulnerable painted area.

We know how volatile third quarters can be for the other team, so dominating one felt good. Toronto made only 4/18 total shots in the third (17%), while Portland’s 10/27 (37%) was enough to take the lead back.

With a thin four minutes left and an even thinner two-possession lead, the Blazers got just enough stops to ice the game. It took a while, thanks to a bunch of reviews and fouls and tom foolery, but they got it done.

CJ’s floater slowly rolled around the rim until it dropped in with a minute left, and the next possession would see one bounce around before doing the same.

McCollum’s 10 fourth quarter points gave him 23 for the game, along with seven boards and five assists. He added a block on Van Vleet for good measure at the end.

Ultimately, this is not one to brag too much about for the Blazers. They came in and took care of business against a worse opponent, but it wasn’t pretty. You can’t survive many games when giving up 74 points at halftime, especially in the playoffs.

It’s not the playoffs yet, but these are still valuable games to win. I want to avoid the play-in at all costs, and Stotts surely does too.

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Portland Trail Blazers

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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Portland Trail Blazers

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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Portland Trail Blazers

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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Portland Trail Blazers

Suns melt the snowbird Blazers

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

February had been red hot for the Blazers, but then they forgot they have to play a full game and what defense in a loss to the Washington Wizards on Saturday night. There was hope that the Blazers would rise to the competition as they took on the Phoenix Suns in a potential first-round playoff matchup.

After the butt-kicking they took tonight against the Suns tonight, they probably might want to drop down to the 8th and play the Jazz. It might be a much closer series.

Let’s get to the thoughts.

First Quarter Thoughts

Terry Stotts has decided to let Damian Lillard guard Devin Booker to start the game and Booker got a quick four points on three shots to start the game. Not sure of this defensive assignment to start the game. I’m not an NBA head coach, but what do I know. Gary Trent Jr. got a couple of cracks at Booker and caused him to miss two shots. In the next possession and Lillard is back on Booker and Booker gets scored on again.

The Suns aren’t forcing the Blazers to switch either. Lillard is picking up Booker at half-court. I am not really sure what you can do about the Blazers’ defensive issues, Dame and CJ are not great defenders and don’t appear that they’ll ever even be decent.

You can’t score 30 and give up 50. The math does not work that way.

We’ve seen Derrick Jones Jr. on Chris Paul to start the game. Paul is still an effective player, but your best and longest defender does not need to be on Chris Paul. Booker is the biggest threat that Phoenix has. Have Jones on Booker, Trent on Paul, and Lillard on Bridges. It does not seem like rocket science to me.

Okay, it might not be anything that the Blazers can do against Booker tonight. He has 17 of the Suns first 24 points in the first quarter and five different Blazers have guarded him tonight and he’s has scored on all of them at this point. He’s not letting Portland set the defense on him. If he gets picked up high he dives to the basket and if they pick him up, he posts up quick and gets an easy basket.

This has honestly been a masterclass in how to work your superstar in a game. Seriously, just rewatch Booker on every possession in the first quarter and everything he did was just about right.

Portland was lucky to only be down six, 32-26, after the first quarter.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Rodney Hood started the second quarter with his own personal 7-0 run to put the Blazers up 33-32. The Suns were forced to call a timeout after Hood picked Chris Paul’s pocket and raced down the court for a nice two-hand dunk.

Hood has not played that great over the last week or so, so it’s really good to see him playing well to start his minutes tonight. Even if he caps out at these seven points and adds a few more rebounds then I’ll call this a win for him tonight. Have to start small and get the confidence going again.

We have to remember that he had a bad achilles tear and that he is not Kevin Durant.

The Suns are killing Portland in the paint. They have 26 points in the area that is differently colored from the rest of the floor at the half. Portland had 24. A huge chunk of those points came in four straight possessions where Lillard found Jones and Kanter doing wide-open back cuts on those plays.

Phoenix did not make any adjustments to stop those cuts either. The last few baskets came against a zone with Chris Paul playing in the center of the paint. Dame kept finding a cutting Derrick Jones Jr. for easy baskets.

Really don’t know what the hell Phoenix was trying to accomplish with that defensive set. The defense was something that Taylor and I would run, poorly, in 2k21 as were are getting our brains bashed in by the Timberwolves. Trying something different, you know? But to allow ten straight points on that set and not switch it up? That is some Stotts level coaching there.

The thing though is that Phoenix somehow extended their lead during all this. Booker with three-point plays or Dario Saric hitting corner threes.

Portland also outshot Phoenix by percentage, 56-47 in the first half, but took a 54-63 deficit into the half.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Phoenix picked Portland up in a full-court press to start the second half. The Blazers were really confused and had a really off first possession that led to no points. Devin Booker immediately capitalized on two straight possessions. Bridges scored on Dame the next trip down and I’m really starting to think that I could get some points on Dame right now. He gave up 90 to Bradley Beal the other night, I really think that my out-of-shape ass could at least get 10 in an NBA game against him and I only play three-point line to three-point line.

I’ve seen better defense of a drunk and elderly snowbird at the YMCA in Scottsdale. I’m not joking either. There was this 91-year-old dude that was locking down 18-year-olds without a problem. I got ask if I wanted to have a run, but I did not want that smoke.

There isn’t much at all to say about this third quarter. The Blazers played like they usually do coming out of halftime, flat, not focused, and with no urgency. They got outscored by 20, 37-17 in the quarter, and have a 29 point margin to make up in the fourth.

With the game against the Nuggets tomorrow night we’re going to probably see a lot of bench guys in the fourth.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The Phoenix third unit is killing the Blazers second unit. Not much else to say about this game other than the Suns’ third-string outplayed the Blazer second string.

Next Up

Tomorrow night against the Denver Nuggets.

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Portland Trail Blazers

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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Portland Trail Blazers

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


bangsquared.jpeg

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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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers end road trip with tough loss in MSG, 110-99

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Portland Trail Blazers had some momentum coming into their final game of a six-game road stretch. They had just earned back-to-back wins against quality teams—dropping 132 on the Wizards and stepping up without Damian Lillard to beat the Sixers on Thursday.

Even with Dame back, Saturday’s New York matinee left much to be desired; with the Blazers unable to hit big shots in crunch time against an energetic young Knicks squad.

Lineups

New York: Elfrid Payton, RJ Barrett, Reggie Bullock, Julius Randle, Mitchell Roninson

Portland: Damian Lillard, Gary Trent Jr., Robert Covington, Rodney Hood, Enes Kanter


Photo via Trail Blazers (used with permission)

Photo via Trail Blazers (used with permission)

Game Recap

First Quarter

The Blazers opened up 7/14 from behind the arc in the first quarter, including back-to-back Gary Trent bombs. Pretty impressive against the best perimeter defense in the league.

Derrick Jones Jr. made his return to the court after missing the last few games with a left foot sprain. To quell any possible questions of his readiness, DJ nearly jumped over Taj Gibson for an alley-oop dunk attempt.

Before the break, Dame worked the 2-for-1 to perfection, hitting a crowded fadeaway three before splashing a logo three for the final points of the quarter. He led all scorers with 13 as the Blazers took a 31-26 lead into the second.

Second Quarter

As Dame got his first rest to start the second, he grimaced on the sideline holding his hip. He would return at the 5:11 mark of the quarter, although he showed signs of a limp during dead-balls.

Harry Giles earned some hustle points in his first _ minutes, notably causing a scrambled Knicks possession after rushing to double-team Quickley near half-court.

Portland’s small lead was reduced to nothing multiple times, but _

Chasing Oscar Robertson for 12th all-time in NBA points, Carmelo Anthony started 0/5 from the field. Additionally, the Blazers were struggling as a team from the charity stripe, making only four of their first ten free throws.

Despite having to guard Randle on defense, Robert Covington accrued nine points in the first half—all from three-point land. He finished as the team’s third leading scorer behind Dame (16) and Gary (11).

RJ Barrett and Elfrid Payton ended the first half with a pair of big threes to put the Knicks up 57-51, their largest of the game. Barrett and Randle led the way for the Knicks with 12 and 10, respectively.

Some key stats were bending New York’s way at the break; including bench points (17-4), points in the paint (28-8), and field goal percentage (55 to 43).

Third Quarter

The Knicks picked up right where they left off, building a double-digit lead before the Blazers got a single bucket. Rodney and Dame broke the cold streak with triples, but both were matched by Randle.

The Blazers wouldn’t quit, keeping the Knicks’ lead under 10, but New York would respond whenever Portland was knocking at the door. How courteous.

RoCo picked up a knock while getting hip-checked trying to fight through a screen. He left the game and sat the rest of the quarter, returning in the fourth.

Elfrid Payton’s nine third quarter points gave the Knicks an 84-76 lead heading into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter

Anfernee Simons cut the lead to six with the first shot of the final period, but Melo’s rough night continued.

After getting called for an extremely questionable foul after a rebound, his protests were met with a technical foul. New York cashed the free throw and a three for huge swing. Two possessions later he was hit with another tough call after blocking Quickley.

Simons continued to step up, hitting another three and getting a tough and-one for nine quick fourth quarter points.

Out of a timeout, the Blazers gave up a straightaway three to Quickley, gifted Bullock a fastbreak layup, and threw the ball out of bounds in the backcourt. Not a great way to erase a deficit.

More turnovers and sh*thousery followed, including a missed would-be-highlight-reel-dunk from DJ and more breakaway points for the Knicks, who built a 14-point lead (their largest of the game). Nothing was going Portland’s way.

Dame desperately tried to build some momentum with a ridiculous and-one circus shot, but a missed free throw from the league’s second-best (95%) seemed fitting for a wholly weird final quarter.

The back-breaker came out of a timeout, where a jumpball-turned-2-on-1-Blazers-fastbreak somehow turned into an ALec Burks three for the Knicks.

A pair of deep Dame threes and a scrappy Gary fade helped cut the lead to seven with two minutes left, but open misses from RoCo, Gary, and Rodney were not encouraging.

The score stayed the same as the clock ticked under a minute, and none of their hopeful threes hit the mark.

Final Thoughts

This was a frustrating one. The Blazers had chance after chance down the stretch, but the shots just wouldn’t fall. I’d revisit the rough patches in the third and fourth quarters as evidence for this loss, though. Despite Portland’s constant injuries, this was a game they could—and should—have won against an inferior opponent. The Knicks are certainly much-improved from years past and look like a lower-seed playoff team, but this was a tough way to split a long road trip, which looked like this:

  • Blown lead in Houston, 104-101 loss

  • Dame saves the Blazers in Chicago, 123-122 win

  • Destroyed by Milwaukee, 134-106 loss

  • Big win against Washington, 132-121 win

  • Blazers beat Philly in Dame’s absence, 121-105 win

  • Tonight’s 110-99 loss

Player(s) of the Game

Damian Lillard’s 29 points and nine assists included six threes on 50% shooting (including some desperate heaves in garbage time), strengthening his case to be an All-Star starter.

Next Up

The Blazers will travel back home and face the 9-14 Orlando Magic on Tuesday at 7pm.

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Portland Trail Blazers

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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Portland Trail Blazers

Thoughts on Bucks bashing the Blazers brains out

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Milwaukee Bucks have the highest scoring offense in all of the NBA and they are playing a banged up and defense adverse Portland Trail Blazer squad. For the Blazers to be competitive in this game they were going to have to match shot for shot with the Bucks.

In the first quarter they almost did that. The Bucks made eight three pointers and the Blazers nearly matched that by hitting seven of their own. The thing is they also let the Bucks shoot 66% from the field overall while shooting under 45% themselves.

The turnovers did not help either. It’s not like the Blazers don’t have good ball handlers outside of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, both Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. can run point, and Rodney Hood has some experience as a point forward in his day. Tonight, the ball handlers weren’t an issue, it was lazy passes from the perimeter to the middle of the floor.

It’s like they lack the fire to push themselves over the edge sometimes and I think that it comes down from the top and Terry Stotts. It seems like there is not enough accountability on this team.

A bright spot that I absolutely loved in the quarter was the play of Nassir Little. He had six points and played some really aggressive defense against both Middleton and Giannis. That three point shot was also looking really nice.

Over the first five minutes and change the Blazers held the Bucks to only eight points to start the second quarter. Granted, the Bucks did not have a single starter on the floor over that period of time. As soon as the starters came back on the floor they scored 13 points over the next two minutes to force the Blazers to call a timeout.

Portland had a chance to cut the lead way down and they did get it down to six, but then the turnovers started to mount again and the defense started to let Milwaukee (specifically Bryn Forbes) knock down threes to start to push the lead back up.

Enes Kanter has had his hand on a lot of almost offensive rebounds, but those almost rebounds kept the Blazers on the offensive end while the Bucks were happy to let a guy leak out. Three or four Bucks would fight for the ball, get it, and hit the leaker out for an easy basket.

For the most part Kanter was the only one attempting to rebound the ball on the offensive end for Portland. Little did his best when he was in there to offer some support, he was able to convert a rebound for an and-1.

And all the while the rest of the team is hanging out just inside the three-point line not doing a damn thing. They aren’t helping get the rebound and they aren’t covering the leakers. They aren’t doing anything. It’s frustrating and it comes down to fundamentals. On the plane to DC all iPads should have film of the leakers shown on repeat.

They’d only get one view of it before the plane landed though.

Not a lot of positives in the first half. The team is down 23 and the bench has been outscored 33-14. And yes, I know, half the bench is in the starting lineup. Maybe it’s time for the Blazers to look into different team doctors. Maybe a shaman?

Little starts off the second half with some nice defense on Giannis, causing a miss, got a rebound, seconds later he was left wide open in the corner for a three-pointer, then he got a steal. It just sucks that his energy has not been picked up by the rest of the team.

Damian Lillard really gets the short end of the stick on a lot of calls. On a drive to the paint, his left arm was grabbed, literally grabbed, by Brook Lopez in front of two officials as he was going up for a layup and there was no call.

Lopez knocked down a three about nine seconds later.

In this game, Dame did try to draw contact on a possession instead of looking for a shot. He was upset that he did not get a call, but he wasn’t looking for a shot and the refs knew it. Most nights he is fouled on a shot but doesn’t get the call. He deserves the calls in most situations as he is legit fouled. Tonight is the first time I’ve seen him go foul hunting like James Harden and it got him out of his game.

With the Blazers down by 34 with two and a half left in the third, Dame’s night is more than likely done.

The Blazers really need to fill out their roster. Their bench is thin and there are some guys on the wire that could contribute in some sort of way for the Blazers in spots of need. There aren’t guys on that list that will instantly be a second or third option, but they provide depth in case of a forty point ass-whooping.

At least it finally looks like Nassir Little can be a real rotation piece going forward. In the fourth, he showed a lot more bucket skills and even ran the point a few times. He got a career-high 30 points

Next Up

Game in 22 hours against the Washington Wizards. The tip is at 5:11 PM PST.

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