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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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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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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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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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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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Depleted Blazers outlast Wizards, 132-121

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On the back-end of consecutive road games, the Blazers and Damian Lillard faced a familiar foe: Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards. Down five guys, the laborious Blazers fended off endless Wizards comebacks to claim a much-needed 132-121 win.

Lineups

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

Washington: Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beal, Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura, Robin Lopez


dameisyourfather.jpeg

Game Recap

First Quarter

The Blazers came out absolutely on fire from three, jumping out to a 26-7 lead in the first six minutes. Robert Covington hit his first three shots (all threes) from each wing and the right corner, while Gary had two triples of his own.

Rodney Hood also had seven points. The most surprising part? Damian Lillard had zero.

A 40-point quarter (and, more importantly, 17-point lead) was exactly what Portland needed to get out a slump after being demolished by the Bucks the night before.

Second Quarter

Westbrook took advantage of CJ Elleby the second he stepped in the game, scoring on two consecutive possessions before Stotts took CJ out. Gary Trent ended the 9-0 Wizards run with back-to-back triples, and the Blazers passed the 50-point mark with over nine minutes left in the quarter.

Beal checked back in and helped cut the lead as low as seven. Kanter continued his regular routine on the offensive end, though, grinding out 12 points and seven boards in the first half.

Kanter picked up his third personal foul with a very questionable call on a jump ball in the second, much to Terry Stotts’ chagrin. Still, Blazers were able to close out the half strong, owning a 75-63 lead at the break. Gary led the way with 17 while Melo had 14.

Third Quarter

Portland jumped out to a 16-point lead to start the second half, fueled by a pair of threes from Dame and another from Gary. Westbrook and Washington pushed back, though, cutting the lead back down to seven once again with yet another 9-0 run.

Just over a minute later, though, and the Blazers had reclaimed a 16-point lead. Covington hit a pair of threes while Gary added a third. Melo added a confident triple in Hachimura’s face to pass Dominique Wilkins for 13th on the all-time scoring list.

Dame scored 12 points in the third quarter alone, and Portland took a 16-point advantage into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter

It was Rodney Hood’s turn to hit a pair of threes, but reading between the lines will tell you Blazers fans were far from safe with another 16-point lead, even with nine minutes left.

Rui Hachimura started heating up for the Wizards, and the rookie forward out of Gonzaga finished with 24 & 5 on the night.

Once again, the Wizards stormed back to cut the lead to seven. Washington scored on five straight possessions and whittled the lead down to four points with four minutes left before Stotts called time.

Gary’s career-high-tying-seventh three of the game (out of nine) was a huge help with three minutes to go, as was a fresh pair of Enes Kanter Offensive Rebounds™. Dame put it to good use—blowing by Westbrook along the baseline and throwing down a vicious dunk—before a solid team defensive stop on the other end.

Back up by double digits with just over a minute left, Dame checked his watch. (Hint: It was 10:30 Eastern, or bedtime for the Wizards.)

Final Thoughts

There were plenty of excuses for the Blazers to lose this game: it was the second night of a tough road back-to-back, missing five players out to injury (including an All-Star candidate and two more would-be starters), and facing the NBA’s leading scorer. Surrendering so many quick-response runs is still a concern, but Portland never stopped producing on offense for more than a few possessions at a time. As a team, the Blazers were 21/46 (45.5%) from three and made all 23 of their free throws.

Player(s) of the Game

Everyone?

The box score says Dame (32p/8a), but I think I’ll go with Carmelo. His 21 bench points were invaluable. RoCo (19p/9r), Gary (26p), Rodney (15p), and Enes (14p/10r) all deserve shouts too, though.

Next Up

The Blazers will continue their Eastern Conference road trip on Thursday in Philadelphia against the first-place 76ers at 5pm.

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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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Blazers drop tough home loss to Spurs, 125-104

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

A noon tip-off on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day saw the Blazers host the Spurs without two key starters (CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic), and San Antonio took full advantage. The game was was closer than the final 125-104 scoreline indicated, but Dame’s 35 and Hood’s 21 just weren’t enough to stop lights-out shooting from the Spurs.


Photo via Trail Blazers (used with permission)

Photo via Trail Blazers (used with permission)

Lineups

Portland: Damian Lillard, Rodney Hood, Robert Covington, Derrick Jones Jr., Enes Kanter

San Antonio: Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV, DeMar DeRozan, Keldon Johnson, LaMarcus Aldridge

Game Recap

First Quarter

Rodney Hood came out hot in his starting spot—replacing CJ McCollum, who is out for a week or so with a sprained foot. Hood had seven points halfway through the quarter.

LaMarcus Aldridge made four of his first six shots in his return to Portland, but he wasn’t the only former Blazer on the court for the Spurs. Patty Mills checked in and hit a three to start his day.

It’s hard not to think about how much fun a Dame-and-Aldridge-centric offense could have been with a scorer like DeMar DeRozan on the court, too. His high screens let the Spurs get downhill speed going into the lane.

Near the end of the quarter, Dame had a hard foul goin to the rim and came up clutching his shoulder in pain. Jakob Poeltl sort of fell on Dame on his way down, but the letter 0 shook it off and continued to play, attacking and getting fouled by Poeltl on the next possession.

With the Spurs clicking on offense (61% shooting, DeRozan and Aldridge both with eight points), Gregg Popovich’s guys took a 32-28 lead to end the first.

Second Quarter

The game got scrappy to start the second, and San Antonio’s guards were creating and hitting shots. Harry Giles had a diving offensive rebound that Carmelo Anthony converted into a smooth three.

Dame was named Western Conference Player of the Week during the second, while he and the starters quelled a Spurs lead halfway through the quarter.

A pair of bad calls going the Spurs’ way helped them claim a 59-54 lead at the half, aided by their 58% shooting (including 7/13 from deep).

Third Quarter

The best highlight of the third quarter was Enes Kanter passing the ball straight out of bounds with zero pressure after a defensive board, reminding us that even the simplest tasks in life can be difficult.

The Spurs took a 10-point lead four minutes in, but Hood immediately responded with a CJ-esque fadeaway and-one.

DJJ stepped up big in the third quarter with a flying block on LMA, an and-one putback, and a highlight-tape dunk.

A quick six points from Dame cut the lead to three before RoCo picked up his fourth foul with four minutes left in the third quarter.

Melo’s pull-up jumper gave the Blazers a two-point lead with just over two minutes remaining, but the Spurs retained it promptly and took a five-point lead into the final period.

Fourth Quarter

The Spurs opened up a 13-point lead to start the fourth behind an 8-0 run. Rodney, Anfernee Simons, and Melo hit consecutive threes to break the run, but Patty Mills hit another trey (hit fifth of the night from seven attempts) to keep the lead in double-digits.

With nine minutes left, the score was 98-91 Spurs. Two and a half minutes later, Terry Stotts called a timeout with the score at 108-91. The lead was built by missed Lillard drives, missed rotation threes, and Rudy Gay hitting shots.

Not even an eight-point Lillard spurt could keep the Blazers in it. Gay and Murray essentially killed the game with back-to-back threes to make it 116-99.

Final Thoughts

This was classic midseason Blazers. There are excuses—CJ and Nurk are out, of course—but this was still a game the Blazers could have won. The bench suffered without Rodney, and 20-plus points from four different Spurs (DeRozan, Aldridge, Mills, and Poeltl) is a recipe for disaster.

This is no time for excuses, though. We need to win, especially with key Western Conference opponents coming up (Grizzlies x2, Thunder, and Rockets) in the rest of January.

Player(s) of the Game

Rodney Hood stepped up into his starting role with 21 points on 9/14 shooting; while Carmelo Anthony had a solid bench performance, with 14 points and 2/3 from behind the arc.

Next Up

The Blazers will play their first of two games against the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night at 7pm PT.

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Blazers annihilated by the Clippers, 128-105

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

After a big win against the Lakers on Monday night, the Blazers stayed in rainy and stormy Los Angeles waiting to take on the Clippers. Last year the Blazers had a big win against the Clippers on the way to their playoff run in the bubble.

Tonight was not a good night for the Blazers. They gave up a ton of threes, could never get a cohesive effort on defense and Damian Lillard didn’t make a single three.

First Quarter

CJ McCollum is starting off hot again in another game. There is more aggressiveness and confidence in CJ’s game this season. Not sure what he could have worked on in the eight days of the offseason this year, but whatever it was it’s working.

In the past, CJ was a slow starter and did most of his damage when Lillard was on the bench. With CJ being a scoring threat early it opens up Lillard to do more Lillard things and takes the pressure off both Derrick Jones and Robert Covington to step up their scoring games.

CJ with two big threes to start the game. Derrick Jones Jr. hit a catch and shoot three of his own. His three-point shot has not been there early this year, but he’s shooting with confidence. Those shots are going to be there for him all year.

Once again the Blazers are not taking care of the three-point line. I’m not sure how this always happens. They added two defenders who replaced the guys who made all those errors last year and the same thing happens. This has to be some sort of scheme issue that does not come through. Both Serge Ibaka and Nic Batum each have two three-pointers six minutes into the game.

Paul George follows up by knocking down two of his own, Kawhi Leonard hit one and pushed the Clipper lead up to twelve at 28-16.

The Clippers are 7-8 early in the quarter on three-point shooting.

Damian Lillard was 0-6 from the field and had three free throws in the quarter. The Blazers were a bit lost on offense when CJ went to the bench. Not normally what you see from Lillard, but h’’s been off to a slow start so far this year.

Yes, there is a focus to get others involved and Dame can get his points late when it matters, but sometimes he needs to be the one to get going early and the others can score when he’s on the bench. Tonight is one of those nights where Dame is going to have to put in 40+.

It may not matter though, the Blazers are on pace to give up 32 three-pointers.

Second Quarter

In the preseason I thought Enes Kanter’s effort was subpar and that he was going to get minutes taken from Giles who was legit looking like a sixth man of the year in four preseason games. Kanter’s offensive rebounding has been so good to start the season. He got the Blazers at least 15-second chance points because of his rebounding against the Lakers on Monday. He’s already gotten two in two minutes tonight.

Rotations are so sloppy as the Clippers move the ball around tonight. Portland is being too aggressive in their closeouts, blowing by shooters, and allowing wide-open threes. For some reason the Blazers are putting five guys near the paint any time the Clippers go down to the post, so they have to rush the three-point line. This scheme needs to change. There doesn’t need to be five guys around Serge Ibaka in the post. Ibaka is not an elite post player, but the Clippers are an elite three-point shooting team.

Robert Covington is earning his money in the young season. Tonight he’s hitting his three and starting to get things flowing on defense. He’s been a big reason why the Blazers have cut the Clippers’ lead from 17 to 10 over the last two and a half minutes of the quarter.

Blazers cut the lead down further to seven points with under six minutes to play in the half. The Clippers responded with threes from both Reggie Jackson and Leonard.

This collapse to the paint nonsense needs to stop. Shaq is not playing in the league anymore. There is zero reason to crowd the paint against the Clippers.

Los Angeles took advantage of this and started to run the Blazers off the floor running their lead up to 21 points. Portland is so out of it on the defensive end tonight. They are flat-footed and then rushing to cover switches. This is such an ugly performance from the Blazers. They are trying to go blow for blow with the Clippers and can’t do it.

Third Quarter

Oh boy, this quarter did not start off well for the Blazers. They had one shot and three turnovers in their first four possessions as the Clippers pushed their lead up to 31 points.

Lillard usually makes good decisions on passes, but he had back to back possessions where he jumped in the air, thought he was fouled, and then made a bad pass. He may or may not have been fouled on those passes, but it’s hard to make a good pass in that position.

On the plus side, CJ McCollum continued his hot shooting. He’s been the biggest positive for Portland tonight. Lillard has shown some fight, but there has not been a whole lot in the way of production. No threes made and more turnovers than usual. It’s not been a good night from Dame at all.

The Blazers on a few different trips down the floor cut the Clipper lead to under 20 points and then it’d balloon back up to 25 points.

Fourth Quarter

Both teams have gone to the benches to start the fourth quarter. Well, Paul George is still out there. He must be the dude that the Clippers are going to rely on to slam the door on the Blazers tonight.

Harry Giles got into the game and immediately showed off that same energy he did in the preseason. He got a quick four points. What is depressing about his spot in the rotation is that he came into the game at the same time as CJ Eleby and Keljin Blevins. I definitely thought he earned more playing time than that. He’s not a bottom rotation guy, but he could be a middle rotation guy. With Zach Collins out for maybe the rest of the season, he might get a few minutes.

Next Up

Blazers are sticking around California for a few more days, as they head up to The Bay to take on the Warriors on Friday at 7:00 PM.

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Blazers defense beats the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-107

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On Saturday the Blazers needed a big second half to beat the undermanned Houston Rockets in overtime. Tonight they came into Los Angeles to take on the Lakers team that beat them in the first round of the playoffs about 75 days ago.

As you recall the Blazers won the first game of the series and the Lakers took care of business the next four. Both teams made some supporting cast adjustments in the week and a half offseason.

The Blazers focused on adding to their defense and it paid off with a big win against the defending champion, Los Angeles Lakers, 115-107.

First Quarter

The Blazers started off really slow. Derrick Jones Jr. missed two wide-open three-pointers and a reverse layup. The Lakers allowed Jones to be open by using three guys to pick up Damian Lillard as soon as he crossed half court. This has been the playbook for every team so far this year against the Blazers. Throw as many men at Dame as you possibly can as soon as he crosses half court.

He had one decent look early in the first.

This has worked and wide open Blazer players have not been able to take advantage of being wide open. There is too much indecision by everyone else not named Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum.

Without Carmelo Anthony tonight, Rodney Hood was the first person off the bench and he found Gary Trent Jr. in the corner for a three. A few seconds later Trent hit another three and cut the Lakers lead down to two, 20-18.

Portland was on the verge of getting blown out early. They could not stop LeBron James and they forgot to guard Kentavious Caldwell Pope along the three-point line. It looked like the Blazers were to get blown out early because of mistakes on the defensive end. These were the same mistakes that they made all of last season too. Not enough rotation and leaving people open on the wings and corners.

The Lakers finished the quarter on a 10-2 run.

Second Quarter

The start of the second quarter has long been an issue for the Blazers (same with the third), but tonight led by Anfernee Simons and Trent the Blazers started the quarter off on a 9-0 run to take a 31-30 with just over nine minutes left in the quarter.

Trent and Jones forced three turnovers by the Lakers to start the quarter and Jones played some really solid defense on LeBron James, forcing him to miss his first two shots of the quarter. McCollum hit a three right out of the Lakers timeout to push the lead up to four points.

The Blazers’ energy was a lot more than the Lakers could produce in the first six minutes of the quarter. The cuts on offense were crisp and the defense was able to stay home on the three-point line. This is the type of defensive effort we thought we’d get from minute one with the Blazers this season.

And it was mostly the bench unit that was doing all of this work for the Blazers. The bench was the weak spot for the Blazers the last two years and has been in two early games this year. Tonight though, the bench is playing with heart and energy. This type of scoring is not going to happen every night from the bench, but if Portland can give out this energy from the bench each game then we are looking at a team that is going to potentially go deep in the playoffs.

Have to believe if Charles Barkley put $100,000 on them to win the West.

CJ McCollum attacking the mid-range game hard tonight. The Lakers are focusing too much on Gary Trent Jr. from deep and that allowed CJ to work the middle of the defense and get two easy jumpers from the circle.

The Blazers continued to attack the middle of the Lakers defense allowing Jones Jr. and Robert Covington to get easy backdoor baskets.

This might have been the Blazers’ best quarter early this season. Their offense was efficient and their defense allowed them to keep the lead. The way the game started I really thought it’d be the Lakers up by about thirty at the half.

Third Quarter

It shocks me a bit that I have not been able to mention Anthony Davis yet. He’s 1-5 from the field so far in the game. Robert Covington has done a solid job of covering Davis so far in the game. A minute later Lillard hits a three right in the face of Dennis Schroder.

I have a feeling that Dame really likes scoring lots of points on Dennis.

Here is where the Blazers and their infamous third-quarter struggles show back up. After Lillard hit that first shot of the quarter to give Portland a 61-54 lead, the Lakers scored the next 15 points. Too much isolation from the Blazers, spending way too much time out high above the arc, and not running enough motion, and too much congestion up top. The Lakers used this lack of space to force the turnovers and that led to easy baskets.

Schroder was especially problematic for the Blazers. He knocked down two threes and had some free throws. He was the catalyst for the big run by the Lakers.

Back the other way, Robert Covington continues his awesome defensive play. A block led to an easy runout for the Blazers, a CJ three-pointer and Portland is feeling it. The next possession down for the Blazers, the Lakers forgot to pick up Dame, who casually strolled into a 30 footer to cut the Laker lead down to 73-71 with about four and a half minutes to play in the third.

Rodney Hood had a nice series of basketball where he hit a nice caddy corner three and then on defense had a gorgeous strip block of Anthony Davis that led to more Blazer points. A few minutes later he had an amazing spin move dish to Enes Kanter for an easy two and then Lillard hit a three to cut the Laker lead to one.

Derrick Jones Jr. is a freak of nature.

Fourth Quarter

Coming into the quarter I’ve been impressed with the play by Enes Kanter tonight on both ends of the floor. He hasn’t been a total defensive liability so far in this game and has been in a good position on the offensive end. I thought he had been thoroughly outplayed in the preseason by Harry Giles and thought we’d see Giles getting a handful of minutes at the 4-5 rotation.

A man who could probably get more minutes is Gary Trent Jr. He only has three three-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. He’s is feeling it to start the quarter. His shot is so pure in the quarter it is barely hitting the net. He’s given the Blazers a 96-91 point early in the fourth.

Get this man a contract extension.

The Lakers brought back Dennis Schroder at this point to shadow Trent — it was more than a shadow, he played Trent so close they were sharing the nucleus of atoms. It looks like Trent got a little banged up before the Lakers called the timeout and afterward we didn’t see a whole lot of movement on the offensive end from him over the next minute. Terry Stotts brought back in Dame.

LeBron James went on a personal 5-0 run and Harrell got into the action by hitting a shot over Kanter to tie the game. Harrell hits the free throw to give the Lakers a 99-98 lead.

Jusuf Nurkic hit a runner over LeBron, followed up by threes by Dame and CJ put the Blazers 106-101 with a skosh over three minutes left.

The Blazers were a little lost on offense when Trent first left the game and it quickly got everyone involved in some form.

That was until Damian Lillard looked at his watch and decided it was Dame Time. Another three and then an And-1 one.

He iced the game.

Close Out

This was the best I’ve seen the Blazers play in their first three games. Gary Trent Jr. was huge with 28 points off the bench, the Blazers as a team had 45 points off the bench. Derrick Jones Jr. was a thorn in LeBron’s side all night, especially in the second half, and Robert Covington made life a living hell for Anthony Davis all night.

That is one of the better full team efforts for the Blazers over the last couple of seasons. Their defense showed up in huge times of need time and time again tonight. There were points where the Lakers were on the verge of blowing them out, but the defense stepped up and got multiple stops in a row on at least eight different occasions tonight.

That is huge for this team.

Next Up

The Blazers are sticking around DTLA for a couple more days as they take on the Clippers on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

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