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Norman Powell

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Blazers re-sign Norman Powell to 5-year $90 million deal

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

In what was an expected move the Blazers have re-signed Norman Powell to a five-year, $90 million dollar deal on Monday evening. All indications were that the Blazers were going to ink Powell to a deal at the start of free agency and it looks like Neil Olshey did not mess this one up.

I think there was some fear that he’d let Powell walk and play Greg Brown at the three spot in the coming season.

Powell came to the Blazers last season in a trade that sent fan favorite, Gary Trent Jr. to Toronto/Tampa. Norm played in 27 games with the Blazers and averaged 17 points a game and proceeded to start in all six of Portland’s playoff games as well.

With the signing of Powell, four of the five Blazer starting spots are locked up. Will be interesting to see what the Blazers do at the power forward spot in the coming days with the $8 they have left to spend this summer.

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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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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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Kanter logs historic night as Blazers beat Pistons 118-103

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Enes Kanter snagged a Trail Blazers franchise-record 30 rebounds—12 of them from the offensive glass—to go with 24 points as the Blazers cruised to a series sweep over the Detroit Pistons.

Damian Lillard reminded us all why he’s currently second in the NBA’s Kia MVP Ladder, splashing a pair of early threes. He would finish with 27 points and 10 assists.


Photo via Trail Blazers (used with permission)

Photo via Trail Blazers (used with permission)

Game Summary

Derrick Jones Jr. shook Detroit’s backboard with a vicious block at the end of the first quarter. Terry Stotts surprised some when he benched Jones—one of Portland’s best on-ball defenders—in favor of a shooting boost in Norman Powell.

Portland went on a 9-0 run to close the first quarter and led 33-23. Lillard and Saddiq Bey both had 12; but Enes Kanter’s seven points, 10 boards (five offensive, five defensive), two assists, a steal, and a block stole the show.

Kanter started in place of a resting Jusuf Nurkic, and this season’s usual starting center introduced himself early on with an aggressive slam.

Kanter would finish the first half with 11 and 16. By the end of the game he had notched a Blazers-record 30 rebounds alongside 24 points.

The Blazers ended the second quarter with a flurry as well, rebuilding what was once a 16-point lead into nine before the break. Portland’s surge was fueled by some missed calls against Kanter and Lillard, who turned their frustration into tough finishes at the rim.

That lead grew to 15 in the first few minutes of the third as CJ’s point total grew to 17. He would finish with 26. Portland would cruise in the fourth and earn a much-needed comfortable victory.

Next Up

Portland host a Victor Oladipo-less Miami tomorrow at 7pm on the second night of a back-to-back. The Blazers defeated the Heat 125-122 on March 25th as part of a four-game road winning streak.

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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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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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