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Zach Collins

Portland Trail Blazers

Zach Collins is finally done in Portland

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Over the weekend the Blazers announced that they were not going to be tendering Zach Collins an offer, thus declining the first right to re-sign him, and making him an unrestricted free agent. Today, Collins signed a 3-year $22 million dollar deal with the San Antonio Spurs.

Collins spent more time injured at home, on the bench, or being under anesthesia being operated on than he spent on the floor with the Blazers. When he did play for the Blazers he did show some flashes of promise that made the Blazers trade up to get the 10th overall pick out of Gonzaga.

The Blazers having enough salary cap issues were smart in not re-signing Collins as he becomes the Spurs inpatient now.

If there is one person on this planet more injury-prone than Carson Wentz, it might be Zach Collins, but at least somehow the Eagles were able to get something for Wentz.

Well, the Blazers do get something in return with Collins moving on to the Spurs: peace of mind and an extra empty hospital bed.

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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

Blazers survive the Nets, advance to play in against Memphis

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

As the day went on it became clear that the game tonight against the Brooklyn Nets was going to be a must win. The Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns blew out their opponents to force the Blazers to win to advance to the play in game against Memphis.

The Nets looked like they were on the verge of knocking out the Blazers with timely rebounds and huge buckets by Caris LeVert.

Damian Lillard said that their efforts were not going to be enough and guided Portland to a 134-133 win. The Blazers play the Grizzlies on Saturday at 11:30 AM.

First Quarter Thoughts

It’s good to see CJ McCollum and Carmelo Anthony come out aggressive. The Nets are trapping Damian Lillard as soon as he crosses half court. This is leaving both CJ and Melo open on the wings. They are knocking jumpers and getting to the basket. CJ had 10 of the Blazers first 16 points.

And once again, he’s doing this with a broken bone in his back.

Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins to get in each other’s way down low and continue to miss easy shots at the basket. Nurkic and Collins is not a good combo side by side. They are too much of the same player and like the same spots on the floor. Collins has not been aggressive and has felt like a net negative since his return.

Portland did not have a good first quarter of defense. Lots of trailing their man as they break to the basket, out of position on rotations leading to open threes, silly reach in fouls. It’s like they were trying to not foul and foul at the same time. Just a complete mess on defense.

Damian Lillard only had five points in the quarter. Blazers and Nets were tied at 31 all heading into the second.

Second Quarter Thoughts

As the first quarter ended the Nets got more and more open looks at three. Their play is the same each time too. High double screen, second screener flares out to the corner, ball handler drives, draws the defense, kicks to the corner for an open three. The Nets have run this play six times in the last six minutes and they were 4-6 on three point shots.

You’d think Terry Stotts or another one of the coaches would pick up on that. Apparently, the other team shooting well from three is no concern to them.

Gary Trent Jr. has been playing solid defense yet again. He barely missed his first three point attempt and then knocked down his second. He’s been so crucial to this team.

Damian Lillard has determined that he’s going to take over the second quarter. The Nets started to get hot from three, so Lillard decided that he was going to start shooting threes from Moda Center and dropping them.

It’s appalling that Damian Lillard was not in the top three for MVP this season. If it wasn’t for him the Blazers would have had a worse record than the Warriors. Might won six games all season without him. There’s no one on the whole Nets team that can guard him.

Toward the end of the quarter the game got sloppy. Lots of bad passing, terrible shot choices, and weird fouls called by the refs. The whole game lost all of its flow.

Despite all of that, the Blazers outscored the Nets 42-36 in the period to take a 73-67 into the half.

Third Quarter Thoughts

LIllard attempted to set the tone by hitting one of the craziest corner threes you are ever going to see. He’s just on another level right now and there isn’t anyone close to him at the moment.

The third quarter has been the achilles heel for the Blazers all season. Home, road, vacation, bath tub, the backyard kiddie pool; it doesn’t matter where the Blazers play the third quarter. At the start it seemed like the Blazers were going to shrug that off and then start to run up the score. They took a nine point lead and then Brooklyn went on a 17-3 run to take the lead.

Portland looked rattled, they didn’t have an answer for Caris LeVert or Garrett Temple or Tyler Johnson or Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. The Nets were able to do whatever they wanted in the third quarter. it was working from inside and out. The Nets are 12-24 from three in the game and Portland has no answer on how to guard them. If they had a real defensive minded coach they might have an idea, but they don’t so here we are again.

I’m pretty sure we’ve been to this movie.

Brooklyn outscored the Blazers 37-24 and take a seven point lead into the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Gary Trent Jr. hit a three to open up the quarter and we might have a ball game. Then Chelan, WA’s own Joey Buckets makes a three for the Nets. Then Dame casually strolls into a pull up 45 foot that was nothing but the bottom of the net.

You could tell that Dame was going to shoot that shot as he was coming up the court. His eyes were locked in on the rim the whole time he had the ball in his hands. He pulled up and if you are a Portland fan you knew that was going down.

Did not see this game turning into a Dame vs. Tyler Johnson shootout. I guess Johnson is still a big fan of the Suns.

The Blazers cut the lead down to one and could have taken the lead, but CJ and Trent missed threes that could have done just that. Down on the other end the Nets, specifically Jarrett Allen, started to dominate the offensive boards. He gave the Nets six chances on two straight possessions.

CJ and Nurk helped close the deal with some huge buckets and CJ, arguably the Blazers worst defender, guarded the red hot LeVert on the final shot and caused a miss. The Blazers escape.

LeVert did have CJ in the washing machine and the shot just missed.

Next Up

Saturday (8/15) against the Memphis Grizzlies at 11:30 AM PST.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard leads Blazers into a shootout victory over Dallas Mavericks, 134-131

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

As the day progressed things had to be getting a little tighter in the minds of the Portland Trail Blazers. They watched as the San Antonio Spurs spanked the Houston Rockets, then the Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, and then Memphis fell to Boston creating a four way tied for 8th place in the West.

With all this happening the formula for Portland to make it to the weekend as the eighth seed became simple. Win twice today and Thursday to play on Saturday. Win once on Saturday and the Lakers would be waiting for them on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

To get that first of two wins this week the Blazers had to take on Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, and the 7th seeded Dallas Mavericks.

Damian Lillard scored 61 and Carmelo Anthony had a big 26 points as the Blazers defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 134-131.

The Blazers are now in possession of the 8th seed.

First Quarter Thoughts

Luka Doncic is such a special player. He’s going to be one of the better players to ever grace the hardcourt in the NBA. I’m predicting possibly a top five player of all-time. This is why I question putting CJ McCollum on him to start the game. CJ is one of the worst defenders in the league.

The Mavericks did anything they wanted to start the game off. Luka was hitting wide open threes, Porzingis scored 16 and was abusing Carmelo Anthony, Zach Collins, and Jusuf Nurkic. Dallas raced out to a 31-23 lead and were on the verge of breaking the game wide open.

Gary Trent Jr. and Hassan Whiteside checked into the game at this time and the Blazers defense really ratcheted up the defensive intensity. Portland began to force turnovers and missed shots, running out from there. They finished the quarter on a 15-0 run.

Portland has a 38-31 lead going into the second.

That was the best I’ve seen Portland play defense all season long. Imagine if they could keep that up for a full game.

Second Quarter Thoughts

The Blazers continue with solid defense to start the quarter. They can’t get any shots to fall though. Carmelo Anthony is playing inspired defense though. This is the toughest amount of defense that I’ve seen him play in years, if ever.

I am really enjoying the the urgency in Melo’s game today. He’s getting the ball when he has an offensive end and making the Dallas defenders pay with his patented back down and turn around jumper. On the defensive end he’s been really physical and moving whomever he is guarding off their spots. Also, has quick hands and making life difficult.

Speaking of making life difficult, Stotts took our advice and put Gary Trent Jr. on to Luka Doncic. Luka does not look comfortable with Trent on him. While CJ was on him he was getting to the basket with ease, making crisp passes, and knocking down threes. With Trent on him he looks hesitant because Trent has become his shadow.

Gary Trent Jr. has earned himself a starting spot next year.

Nurkic and Collins are both struggling to make shots in the paint. It’s amazing how many easy inside buckets they have both missed.

Damian Lillard is not guardable by the Mavericks. He’s getting to the hoop any time he wants to. It seems like any time the Blazers run a high screen the Mavs overcommit to the three point line and then Lillard goes right to the basket for any easy layup.

Lillard had 25 points at the half and the Blazers take a 66-58 lead into the break.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Terry Stotts made an in game adjustment for the first time in six years. He benched Zach Collins in favor of Gary Trent Jr. Trent rewards that decision immediately by causing Luke Doncic to turn the ball over and then pick up a quick foul.

Lillard started the quarter hot too. He hit his first three shots to give him nin in the first four minutes and 34 overall for the game. I expected Rick Carlisle to make a change at how the Mavs were defending the high screen and roll that has been giving Dame wide open looks, but they didn’t and it has cost them.

On the offensive end, Carlisle did make a change. He’s running high double screens and forcing switches on the Blazers defense. This gets Trent off Luka and on to CJ, Dame, or Nurkic. This allowed Luka to get to the basket or find easier passes to teammates for easy baskets.

The Blazers for some reason decided to stop guarding Kristaps Porzingis on the three point line again. He knocked down threes on consecutive possessions to start a Mavericks 11-0 run to give the Mavs their first lead since the first quarter. He had 14 in the quarter and 30 overall up to this point.

Third quarter woes continue to haunt the Blazers this season. It is by far their worst quarter all season and then they usually have a huge hill to climb in the fourth. With a couple big shots by Melo and Dame, the Blazers actually got a lead back just before the end of the quarter.

Melo and Dame have combined for 59 through three quarters and only Trent and Collins were the only other Blazers in double-digits scoring.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Once again CJ is having a stinker of a game. He’s 2-11 with five points. His defense is also putting a lot of his teammates in really bad positions. Gary Trent Jr. has had two to guard two guys at one because CJ wasn’t really guarding anyone at the time. This led to a wide open three by Delon Wright. Trent can’t guard Luka nd Wright at the same time.

He’s a great defender, but not that great.

Maxi Kleber has come in and gotten into the Blazers’ heads. He’s instigated some stuff with Melo and Whiteside.

Zach Collins hasn’t been great on the high switches either. His instinct is to dive to the hoop on the screen, but this leaves numerous Mavs open on the three point line and it’s not like CJ is defending anyone.

The Blazers defensive communication has been downright awful in this quarter. Everyone outside of Gary Trent Jr. is in the wrong spot and they are giving up easy baskets all over the floor or causing stupid fouls to let the Mavs shoot free throws.

This is what I get for praising their defensive play in the first quarter. You knew the Blazers could not keep that type of defense up all game, but you had to hope they didn’t swing completely the other way and attempt to become the worst defensive unit ever.

The defense is something that can’t be fixed overnight either. They are going to have to start out by getting a solid defensive coach on the bench and trading away CJ and Collins.

Damian Lillard then got into a back and forth shootout with the Mavs. Dame and Melo traded three pointers in the final couple of minutes, then Dame drew four Mavs to him on the three point line and dished to Whiteside to get the Blazers a 132-130 lead with just a minute left.

Play of the game might have been when Gary Trent Jr. drew in Porzingis into an offensive foul on a break. Porzingis fouled out and he was the only automatic Mav on the floor all night. Well, I take that back, with 4.5 seconds left, Damian Lillard drew a charge as Dorian Finney-Smith knocked down a three that would have given the Mavs a 134-132 lead.

Next Up

Thursday (8/13) in a win and in game against the Brooklyn Nets at 6:00 PM PST.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard drops 51 as Blazers edge Sixers, 124-121

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Blazers are coming off a tough loss to the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday afternoon and have to turn around and take on the Philadelphia 76ers less than 24 hours. Both teams came into the game with three wins a piece. The Sixers will finish somewhere between the four and six seeds in the East.

Portland came into the game fractions of percentage points ahead of both the San Antonio Spurs and the red hot Phoenix Suns. It’d be cliche to say that this is a must win game against Philadelphia but this a must win game against Philadelphia.

The Suns and Spurs both have favorable schedules going forward and the Blazers only have two games left after today. One against a really explosive Dallas team and the last against a depleted, yet dangerous Brooklyn Nets.

With both Simmons and then later Embiid out, the Blazers got a big 124-121 win.

First Quarter Thoughts

Early on we saw the game plan from the Blazers immediately. Lots of high screens from Blazer bigs that freed up Damian Lillard to attack the rim at will. Both Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins did a great job of setting these high screens and then popping to the three point line to draw the defenders. This left Lillard with a wide open path to the basket. This was big in helping the Blazers get an early double digit lead.

One of my big fears was Jusuf Nurkic picking up quick fouls while guarding Joel Embiid. Fears were realized in the first 47 seconds of the game. Nurk picked up two quick fouls and will spend quite a bit of time on the bench. Embiid a few minutes later ended up tweaking his knee or ankle when he crashed into the stanchion.

Without Hassan Whiteside that means that Wenyen Gabriel would get a lot of minutes in the first half. Gabriel is a hustler and wants to earn his spot in the NBA. He did pick up a couple of quick fouls, but did have a steal, a rebound, three points, and played some really solid defense. He took away a couple of easy baskets by the Sixers.

Lillard continued to dominate the Sixers to a tune of 14 points in the quarter. This came without hitting a single three pointer or an outside jumper. He did have two old fashioned three point plays.

Both teams looked tired and played incredibly sloppy throughout the first quarter. The teams had seven combined turnovers while the Blazers shot 12 of 25 and the Sixers shot 6 of 24.

Portland had a 33-19 lead heading into the second.

Dame had about the craziest shot go in that I have ever seen.

Second Quarter Thoughts

The Sixers did not start off the quarter well. They look incredibly lost out there without Ben Simmons. The offense is stagnant and the passing is god awful. Blazers were able to force a total of five steals, two coming from Mario Hezonja. Those two steals led to a layup for Mario and then one where he dished it to the corner to Gary Trent Jr. for another three.

Trent might be the best overall player in Orlando right now.

Philadelphia started running their offense through Josh Richardson and the Blazers 17 point lead quickly dropped to seven with about six minutes left in the quarter. The Blazers helped a lot by taking a lot of jumpers and missing a lot of jumpers. Their offense was totally out of sync with Lillard going to the bench.

Lillard and Carmelo checked back into the game and started attacking the soft interior of the Sixers and once again finding success. Portland pushed the lead back up to 13, but then started to make some really odd offensive choices and their defense became porous. They had no answer for Richardson. For some reason the Blazers stuck with CJ on Richardson and didn’t let Trent have a crack at him. Trent was on Tobias Harris and kept him quiet while he was the main defender.

Carmelo Anthony moved up to 15th on the NBA’s all time leading scoring list. He needs to score 99 more points to pass Tim Duncan for 14th all time.

Portland was outscored 39-34 in the quarter and went into halftime with a 67-58 point lead.

It’s going to be interesting to see if Terry Stotts stays big as the Sixers are more than likely going to go ultra small to start the second half. Al Horford will be at the five and Harris at the four with three guards. Based on Stotts passed I don’t expect him to make any adjustments. He’s going to keep both Nurkic and Collins out there to guard a three point shooting lineup.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Lillard continued his hot shooting. He had a quick seven points in the first five minutes of the quarter, bringing his total to 29 points for the day. And up to this point he was only 1-7 from three to this point. However, he was 8-8 from the free throw line.

Josh Richardson and Tobias Harris continued to knock down buckets. The Sixers started running the Blazers offense against them with Richardson getting or setting high screens and slipping late for open jumpers. If he got covered he’d dump it down to Tobias Harris for an easy basket.

The Sixers managed to come back and tie the game at 86 with about three minutes left in the quarter. Stotts kept CJ McCollum on Josh Richardson throughout the quarter and CJ is one of the worst defenders on a team of horrible defenders.

The Sixers shot 70% for the quarter and outscored the Blazers 34-24 in the quarter. It looks like Gary Trent Jr. has come back down to earth and the only Blazer able to do anything is Dame with some help from Melo. CJ has once again disappeared in a big game.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The fourth did not start off well. Mario Hezonja attempted a step-back three on the Blazers first possession. Philadelphia continued to knock down shots and if it wasn’t for Carmelo Anthony the Blazers could have quickly been down by double digits in the first three minutes of the quarter.

The defense has really come off the rails the last two days. They really could use a Trevor Ariza or Rodney Hood for games like this. And CJ McCollum has been absolutely useless on the defensive end all season. He has the ability to score a lot of points, but his inability to guard anyone almost makes his points scored irrelevant.

Richardson continued to make big threes to push the Sixers lead up. Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony kept the Blazers close.

WIth just under three minutes to go Lillard goded Richardson into the air on a three, drawing the foul and converting the free throw to put the Blazers up three, 117-114. Lillard had been short on most of his threes on the day and this one got him zeroed back in. The next trip down he knocked down another three to give the Blazers a six point advantage with about two minutes left in the game.

There isn’t a player in the league with a heart bigger than Damian Lillard.

Al Horford was left wide open with 12 seconds left to hit a three to cut the Blazers lead down to a single point, 122-121. The Blazers three point defense has been so bad throughout the year. They really need to address this in the offseason. Give all the money to the best defensive assistant coach out there. It is absolutely inexcusable that this keeps happening.

Their inability to get stops against a bunch of backups two days in a row is everything you need to know about the Blazers defense.

Blazers were lucky to get out with a win.

Next Up

Tuesday August 11th, against the Dallas Mavericks at 3:30 PM PST.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Clippers second unit beats Blazers, 122-117

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Blazers came into another must win game against the Los Angeles Clippers 3-1 since the restart. The Clippers are one of the best teams in the league and a championship favorite. This morning they were without Kawhi Leonard, Patrick Beverley, and Montrezl Harrell, but still had Paul George and Lou Williams. Both those guys are able to light it up at a minutes notice.

Portland had numerous chances to take advantage of the shorthanded Clippers and could not get the job finished and fell to the Los Angeles Clippers, 122-117.

The Clippers finished the game with Paul George on the bench for the final nine minutes of the game.

First Quarter Thoughts

Through the first six minutes of the quarter the Blazers did a great job of moving the ball around, getting everyone involved. This is the type of action that will allow guys like Carmelo Anthony to benefit throughout the game. Melo had an early eight points and his game looked real smooth and confident, unlike the game against the Nuggets on Thursday.

In his four minutes on the court Zach Collins also looked like a more confident player too. His defense was smart and not sloppy like it had been through the restart and when he knocked down his one corner three he didn’t hesitate. The ball dropped straight through the hoop.

Terry Stotts has gone deep into the bench today without Hassan Whiteside. Gary Trent Jr. is usually the first one off the bench, but today it was Mario Hezonja in for Collins. Wenyen Gabriel even got a few minutes in the first quarter as well. Stotts has been running a tight bench lineup, but as the restart has progressed we’ve seen guys getting extra minutes. Let’s see how the Blazers adjust to the different rotation.

Portland looked to be building a solid lead through the first, pushing it out to nine, but their bench came in to go against Lou Williams and JaMychal Green and did not fair well. The end of the quarter became a shootout.

Blazers won the quarter, 37-34.

Second Quarter Thoughts

What can I say about Gary Trent Jr. that I haven’t said already this week? He continues to be the best three point shooter in the NBA in the restart and he continues to be the best defender for the Blazers. I have to give props to Wenyen Gabriel for coming off the bench for the first time during the restart and immediately matching up with Paul George. Gabriel played some intense defense on George, even getting a gorgeous steal five feet behind the three point line that led to a lob from Trent Jr. to Anfernee Simons.

The Blazers gave up 69 points in the half, but their defense was better than that throughout the half. They forced the Clippers into a lot of tough shots and gave up very few open three pointers. The rotations were pretty on point for the most part. The Clippers are a great team full of great shooters so they are going to knock down shots against the best defenses in the league. Really impressed with how the Blazers played in the half. Damian Lillard is primed for another big second half.

Jusuf Nurkic has been a little quiet on the scoring portion of the stat sheet, but he has eight assists that has led to 12 Blazer points. He’s finding different ways to make an impact in games so far in the bubble. I was really starting to think that Hassan Whiteside might be the long term answer at center for the Blazers, but Nurk is a very special player and I had forgotten that.

I will not forget that ever again.

Blazers lead 75-69 after one.

Third Quarter Thoughts

We’re witnessing the Blazers third quarter lull to start the half. The defense is trapping Paul George almost every time he has the ball. George is then finding open teammates for shots and the Blazers are a step or two behind on the rotation each time. This has led to a lot of good looking jumpers by the Clippers. They aren’t knocking the shots down like they normally do, but they are doing enough to cut the Blazers lead down.

Stotts has apparently also made the decision to let Nurkic or Collins cover Reggie Jackson to start the half and that has not worked out so well. Reggie has knocked down a couple baskets and gotten a couple of assists in the half.

The third quarter was sloppy by both teams. The defensive intensity did pick up, but at the same time we saw a lot of bad passing by both side, poor rotations, off the ball offensive guys dragging extra defenders into the paint as teammates drove.

You’ll usually see one team be a bit more disjointed than the other in a quarter, but not both teams.

Blazers hold a 96-95 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The quality of play has not picked up in the fourth quarter. Blazers are again slow on rotations out to the three and it costs them the lead off a wide open Jamychal Green three from the corner. Zach Collins has been getting worse and worse on rotations and close outs throughout the game. He was hustling to those in the first quarter and no he is not making the effort to get out there.

Blazers are looking to get Jusuf Nurkic going in the post this quarter. The past few games they looked to do this early to get him some confidence early on. Today they focused on getting a hot start from Melo and Dame. Nurkic has affected the game in other areas (assists and steals). He still continues to struggle on his finishing.

Gary Trent Jr. is having another ball game. It looked like he might start coming back down to earth in the third quarter, but he’s back to doing what he does best in the fourth, knocking down open threes. Trent Jr. might be the best player right now in the bubble. It’s a coming out party for him.

CJ McCollum is having a great ball game himself. He’s had some really clutch three pointers in the quarter.

Portland had a chance to really pull away in the final four minutes, but the offense slowed down way too much. Shots were coming late in the shot clock with hands in faces, and very little ball movement. This is not the offense that built the Blazers a lead. They are a bit susceptible to this during games.

Next Up

Blazes don’t get a lot of rest as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow at 3:30 PM PST.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. shoot Blazers past Denver Nuggets

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Tonight could have been a big let down. The Nuggets were missing five rotation players and had a tough game against the Spurs the night before. Throughout the year these are the types of games that have been tough for the Blazers and down the stretch it did get tough with Denver taking a lead late in the fourth

Key three pointers from Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. put the Blazers ahead for good and Jusuf Nurkic ended the scoring with one of his many dunks on the night as the Blazers defeated the Denver Nuggets, 125-115.

The Blazers are now only a half game out of the eighth seed.

First Quarter Thoughts

Coming into the game I had some worries that Michael Porter Jr. was going to have a good game against pretty much whomever the Blazers threw out there against him. Porter has been one of the better players in these bubble games over the last week.

He rarely hit rim in the first.

Porter had 10 points on 4-7 shooting. He came off screens well, beat both Carmelo Anthony and Zach Collins to spots on the floor to knock down some jumpers. Porter did exactly what I thought he was going to do against Portland in this game.

Speaking of Collins… I know he’s just coming back from an injury and he’s not as polished of a player as Jusuf Nurkic, but Collins has been dreadful so far in the restart. He hasn’t been able to finish at the rim, his jumper is off, his defense is non-existent. I’d like to see Hassan Whiteside start along with Nurk, but then Portland doesn’t have any good bigs to come off the bench. Collins might need to be traded for something. A second round pick might be more valuable now.

Damian Lillard finally got off to a hot start tonight. He hit his first four threes tonight and had 14 points. The BLazers are going to need a big game from him tonight. Gary Trent Jr. did come in half way through the quarter and locked down Porter. MPJ did not score against him.

I continue to think that Trent is the future at the two for Portland.

Blazers were up 27-26 after one.

Second Quarter Thoughts

The Blazers really have something with Gary Trent Jr. He’s the Blazers best defender the Blazers have on the perimeter and the confidence in his shot is currently through the roof. Early in the season I thought Anfernee Simons was going to be the one pushing for a starting spot in the rotation, but Trent Jr. has started to make a case for him to start in the place of CJ or maybe he moves to the three.

Lillard and Trent Jr. are simply feeling it tonight for the Blazers. They are a combined 9-12 from three and have combined for 35 points in the half. Trent Jr. has not missed in the half and his defense has been spectacular. He was the main defender on MPJ again in the second and held him to two points. He might have had a block had not Porter used the rim to protect against the defender.

Bol Bol might be the smoothest big man to ever play the game. He’s got great range and can put it on the floor to get to the rim. But his defense could use a little help because Jusuf Nurkic murdered him on a dunk toward the end of the quarter.

The Blazers headed into the half up 62-49. This was one of the better halves I’ve seen the Blazers play all year. The Nuggets are missing five rotation players at the moment, but the same could be said for the Blazers throughout the first part of the season.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Jusuf Nurkic has played well since coming back from that gruesome broken leg. He’s rebounding well, passing well, his jump shot looks as good as it has in a while. The one thing that’s off and it’s probably just a comfort thing, but it is touch within a couple feet from the hoop. He’s missed quite a few layups and gimme hook shots. This will probably work itself out in the near future.

At least I hope so.

Lillard looks like he’s having a shoot around session in this game. He’s calm, collected, and determined tonight. If Dame can get into one of those stretches where it doesn’t matter who is guarding him, he’s going to put up 50 points. And there won’t be damn thing anyone can do it about.

In the third quarter any time the Nuggets have made a run Lillard responded with a big basket. Nuggets would cut the lead down to six or seven and Dame would just run it back up to 10-12.

Until the end of the quarter. Nuggets got some solid contributions from Bol Bol, Jerami Grant, and Tori Craig to cut the Blazer lead down to five at the end of the third.

Blazers lead 92-87.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The Nuggets continued their hot shooting and excellent ball movement ways. Michael Porter Jr. converted an old school three point play for the Nuggets to get their first lead in the game. Denver made some excellent halftime adjustments to start picking the Blazers apart on the offensive end. There is a lot of movement off the ball that is forcing the Blazers to switch. The Nuggets then either find an open cutter or takes advantage of a mismatch. Something they were not doing at all in the first half.

I have to say it again, Damian Lillard is outstanding. The man has no quit in his body. A team without him might get blown out at this point in the game. We’ve seen this happen in numerous games over the years. Damian Lillard flat out doesn’t allow the Blazers to fall apart. He’s going to fight until the very end, every night.

Gary Trent Jr. has guarded all five positions tonight. He’s got two steals, but the most impressive stat so far on the night is that his man is only 2-8 against him tonight for four points. In the fourth quarter he had two dagger three pointers to keep the Blazers safely out front.

Lillard had 45, Trent with 27, and Nurkic had 22.

Next Up

Blazers have a rare 10:00 AM game on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers hold on against Rockets, 110-102

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

In a game that I thought would be a huge blowout win for the Houston Rockets, the Portland Trail Blazers came out hot, played great team ball, and had big performances from both Gary Trent Jr. and Carmelo Anthony the Blazers gutted out a big 110-102 win.

The Blazers are now only 1.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for eighth place in the west.

First Quarter Thoughts

We all knew coming into the game that the Rockets were going to put up a ton of three pointers. That they did. They put up 12 in the quarter and only made four of them. Nine of those twelve shots were open shots. Houston was not able to capitalize on the Blazers wanting to pack the paint.

Speaking of packing the paint, the Blazers left eight points in the paint after both Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins failed on four different chances when either of them were guarded by James Harden or Russell Westbrook. These are chances that the Blazers can’t afford to miss. All these shots came within three feet of the basket. With a team like the Rockets you can’t leave any of the points on the floor. They are one of the few teams in the league that can go on a 28-4 run.

Carmelo Anthony and CJ McCollum carried the Blazers in the quarter. Each scoring seven points each and had some smooth moves out on the floor.

I honestly expected the Blazers to be down by at least 14 to end the quarter. They gave up a ton of open threes (as I expected) but the Rockets were not able to knock them down. Really liked how the Blazers trapped both Harden and Westbrook as soon as they came over half court. I think that has slowed down the Rockets offense.

Blazers were up 29-24 at the end of one.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Gary Trent Jr. is the real deal and I want to see him start picking up more and more minutes. I love his intensity on defense and his outside shot is getting better and better. I am starting to think that he’s the future at the shooting guard spot in Portland. The Blazers need a solid wing defender and Trent is not a guy who is going to back down.

He and Melo also work really well off each other. There is a little magic brewing there. And as Charlie said on Twitter, would love to see how CJ handles defense once Rodney Hood and Trevor Ariza comes back, but I think Trent is going to be the next big star in Portland.

I’ve been impressed with Carmelo Anthony tonight. He’s been ballin’ smooth all night. There is a swagger in his step and there is a confidence that I’m seeing tonight that wasn’t there against Boston. He had a decent game against Boston and made some really clutch shots to help keep the Blazers in the game. Tonight, there is something different about him.

The Rockets started making threes in the quarter. The Blazers got up by 14 and Houston hit three of their next five wide open threes. Those threes were on consecutive possessions too. This was my biggest fear of the night. There was no way that the Rockets were going to miss a ton of threes and there was no way they were going to stay cold all night. They kept chipping away at the lead.

Lots of missed layups for the Blazers. These are going to come back to bite them in the ass.

Piss poor defense by Lillard and CJ in the final 2.1 seconds of the half that allowed the Rockets to score at the buzzer.

Blazers led 61-56 at the half.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Damian Lillard has been basically non-existent so far in the game. He has only four points at the beginning of the third quarter. Nurkic finally started making layups in the third and that has really helped keep the Blazers up early in the quarter.

James Harden has four offensive rebounds to start the quarter and somehow Houston is out rebounding the Blazers overall to start the third. The Rockets are just out hustling the Blazers on both sides of the floor right now.

CJ and Lillard have both been playing sloppy this quarter. CJ has been scoring points tonight, but both he and Lillard seem off tonight. Lillard hits a three off a pick and roll as soon as I finished typing the previous sentence. Then hits a fade away out of bounds the next trip down.

Harden picked up his fifth foul about half way through the quarter and the Blazers could not capitalize at all. They allowed more threes by Austin Rivers and PJ Tucker. This was a great chance for the Blazers to put some distance between them and the Rockets, but they kept failing to make shots in the paint.

Blazers up six, 86-80.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Portland started the quarter by not attacking likey were before. Lots of standing around and not doing much of anything. Meanwhile, the Rockets attacked the basket and ended up tying the game up at 88 three minutes in.

This has also been a Portland trademark this season. They get a lead and relax against the bench, give up the lead, the starters come back in and the Blazers proceed in getting blown out.

Somehow that did not happen tonight. The fourth quarter was pretty sloppy, but when the game got close Gary Trent Jr. and Carmelo Anthony hit two big threes. Damian Lillard iced the game with two free throws.

Next Up

Blazers play a banged up Denver Nuggets Thursday at 5:00 PM.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers fall short in big comeback against Boston Celtics, 128-124

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Blazers entered the day only two and half games behind the Memphis Grizzlies (who are playing at the same time as this game) and were playing Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics for the second time this season.

Earlier this season the Blazers did not have an answer for Tatum and the Celtics. If the game wasn’t a blowout there is a good chance that Tatum could have gone for 50+ that game, but he sat out the last 16 minutes of that game.

Today’s game was not much different, Tatum blew up and it looked like the Boston Celtics were well on their way to another blowout win over the Blazers as they built up a 24 point lead in the first half. In the third quarter behind Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard the Blazers actually battled back and cut the 24 point lead down to six and took a lead multiple times late in the fourth, but it was not enough and Portland fell, 128-124 after some questionable plays calls in the final seven seconds.

First Quarter

The Blazers started off the game going right into the paint with Jusuf Nurkic attacking Daniel Theis and then picking up a switch and easy layup with Zach Collins on Kemba Walker. Another Nurkic dunk and the Blazers have six quick points, all coming off great feeds by Damian Lillard. Lillard then found Carmelo Anthony for a three and the Blazers offense was rolling.

The Celtics then started to pick on the Blazers biggest weakness this season, guarding the three point line. Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown began to attack the paint and if they couldn’t get all way way to the basket they would kick it out to a shooter. The Celtics were 5-7 of eight from three in the first seven and half minutes of the game to build out a 26-15 lead.

The Celtics created some mismatches against the bigger Blazer team. With Collins still at the power forward spot on transition he naturally runs to the paint, while Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum flare out on the wings and have easy looks at threes.

Again, it’s like the Blazers did not work on this at all in the four and a half months off. If I were Terry Stotts I would have sent out daily videos of bad three point defense to the whole team. Collins and Hassan Whiteside do not work well together in a matchup like this. The Celtics rarely have less than four good outside shooters on the court. Against a team like Memphis a bigger lineup can be effective, but it’s going to get you killed in a game against the Celtics.

The Celtics abused the Blazers bigger lineup and shot over 60% from the field in the first to build a 13 point lead, 37-24.

Second Quarter

Boston hits a couple of threes to start the second quarter. The Celtics are just abusing the Blazers on the drive and dish. If the whole team would quit collapsing on a drive and leaving four guys open on the perimeter for the Celtics they might not be down 20 points early in the second.

Brad Stevens before the game said they were going try to cause mismatches during transition to open up easy shots. And it has worked, getting easy threes for both Tatum and Walker. The amount of open three point looks that the Celtics have gotten here in the quarter has been insane. The Blazers are not even on their heels defensively and chasing the shooters. They are flat footed and watching the Celtics shoot open jumpers.

The game might already be out of hand at this point and Stotts should use this as a teaching moment for the final six games. Six games that the Blazers are going to need to win.

The Celtics have also done a great job of smothering both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Dame has not had a single open look in the lane and the Celtics have taken away his passing lanes, forcing him into three turnovers. And CJ has just been off. None of his shots have looked good leaving his hand today.

Blazers head into half down 67-48.

Third Quarter

The Celtics hot shooting continued with Tatum hitting a few more shots and Hayward getting his offense going. The Celtics continued to drive and find open three point shooters on the wing. Off any drive the Celtics had the Blazers allowed no fewer than two open shooters.

Stotts made zero adjustments at half.

For the Blazers only Jusuf Nurkic seemed to be the only one who could do anything in the quarter. He either scored the buckets or had the passes that led to buckets. He was able to do whatever he wanted down low against the Celtics bigs.

The Blazers did a good job at getting Theis off of Nurk and letting him go to work against Tatum, Hayward or Brown. Running everything through Nurk allowed the Blazers to start chipping away at the lead. He found Gary Trent Jr. on the wing for his fourth three of the game and the Celtics lead was down to 12 points.

Damian Lillard drew a foul on Marcus Smart toward the end of the quarter on a three point make, he then finished the four point play off to cut the Celtics lead down to six.

Portland outscored the Celtics 38-27 in the quarter and only trail Boston, 94-86 heading to the fourth. Lillard had 11 of his 19 in the quarter.

Fourth Quarter

Damian Lillard continued his hot shooting in the fourth quarter. His two threes cut the Boston lead down to 92-96. CJ follows up a possession later with a three of his own and the Blazers have cut the Celtics former 24 point lead down to one.

A few moments later CJ hit another three to give the Blazers their first lead since the first minute of the game.

Lillard has been amazing in the second half. He took over the guarding duty on Jayson Tatum and slowed him down and started to cary the Blazers on offense at the same time.

Here, Portland stopped covering the transition three again and Tatum and Brown gave the Celtics a lead again. The Celtics have really abused Zach Collins on the defensive end today. They have done a fantastic job of getting Collins into a terrible matchup and then exploiting it.

CJ came back and tied the game up 116, the next possession Gary Trent Jr. hit his sixth three pointer of the game to give the Blazers the lead back. Jaylen Brown came back to hit another big three pointer to give the Celtics a six point lead with under a minute left.

Carmelo Anthony hit a three pointer to cut the lead down to three.

With 6.8 seconds left in the game, the Blazers ran a layup play with Nurkic to cut the lead to 125-124. Portland was out of timeouts and they decided to play the free throw game, which makes zero sense.

Lillard and Nurkic finished the game with 30 points each, Trent had 21 off the bench, CJ and Melo each had 17 and 13 respectively.

Next Up

Portland takes on James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and the Houston Rockets Tuesday night at 6:00 PM.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers survive the Memphis Grizzlies in NBA restart, 140-135

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

The Blazers are back. They had a weird 1:00 PM local tip time today as they took on the team just ahead of them in the standings, Memphis Grizzlies. For the Blazers this was virtually a playoff game for them. They could not afford to fall 4.5 games behind the Grizzlies with only seven games left in the season.

Jusuf Nurkic also made his Blazer return, playing 33 minutes and scoring 18 points, with nine rebounds, five assists, and six blocks. CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 33 points, Damian Lillard had 29, Carmelo Anthony chipped in 21, and Gary Trent Jr. had 17 off the bench as the Blazers won, 140-135.

First Quarter

The game starts off just as you think it would with turnovers, bad passes, questionable shot selection. Memphis attacked the paint early to try and get some momentum going. They took a quick lead behind the shooting and attacking of Jaren Jackson Jr. The Blazers, as before the break, were slow on defensive rotations and allowing the Grizzlies to knock down open threes. They know Jackson is a good three point shooter and Collins collapsed three times into the paint instead of working to cover Jackson on the wing.

CJ McCollum got the Blazers on the board early with two easy drives into the paint. Jusuf Nurkic got his first NBA basket in 16 months on a big and one dunk. A couple of possessions later Carmelo Anthony hit a jumper to put the Blazers up 17-16.

Grizzlies respond to the Blazers switching to a 2-3 zone by finding Jackson in the corner again for another three. Jackson has 11 in the first six minutes of the game.

Defending the three point line was the biggest issue for the Blazers before the season was halted back in March. There has been plenty of time to get this rectified and the Blazers have simply not done it. Adding an elite defensive wing will not solve this, as the rest of the team is terrible on rotations and close outs.

One positive in the quarter was the bench scoring for the Blazers. They had 14 bench points in the quarter. Six points each from Mario Hezonja and Gary Trent Jr. With two more from Hassan Whiteside.

We also got to see the vaunted giant lineup from the Blazers with Nurk and Whiteside playing up front with Melo at the small forward position.

Blazers outscore the Grizzlies 35-30 in the quarter.

Second Quarter

CJ McCollum starts off hot in the quarter. He got a quick five points to open the quarter as the Blazers pushed their lead to eight, 43-35. Hezonja is also having a really solid game. He was playing really well toward the stoppage and he’s picked up right where he left off.

Before the stoppage the Blazers couldn’t ever afford to let Dame have a long rest. To start the second quarter CJ, Mario, and Trent Jr. carried the team with ease. All three were making sharp passes, finding the right spots on the floor during breaks, hitting threes, knocking down shots. It allowed Dame to get five game minutes of rest and this was about 17 minutes in real time. That’s one of the longest rests he’s had in a game all year.

Jusuf Nurkic had a nice finish at the rim and a couple free throws to take the Blazers to a 54-42. The Grizzlies went a long stretch without knocking down a three point shot, but they have been to the line 26 times in the half. The Blazers started playing sloppy at this point and the Grizzlies cut the lead to six with 3:10 left in the half. Grayson Allen and Brandon Clarke both doing some damage to the Blazers.

Damian Lillard pushes the lead back to 11 in a hurry with a quick layup and his first three of the night.

Memphis closed the lead to five in the last minute, but Gary Trent Jr. hit another three at the buzzer to give the Blazers a 68-60 lead at the half.

Third Quarter

The Blazers start off the third quarter by attacking the paint. Lillard got into the paint for a couple easy buckets and then Nurkic hit a jump hook in the middle of the paint to extend Portland’s lead out to 75-63 to open the half.

Memphis, behind Ja Morant, started to push the pace. Morant was able to get to the rim with ease to get a few layups and a floater in the lane. Jackson pushed the Grizzlies up to a 15-4 run by hitting a three. Stotts called timeout to stop the bleeding with the Blazers lead cut to 79-77.

Portland got sloppy a few minutes into the third after pushing up the lead. They weren’t able to keep up with the pace of Morant set. The Grizzlies started trapping in half court sets and forced the Blazers into more turnovers, with Morant having a person 7-0 run to give the Grizzlies an 84-81 lead. After going down by a quick 12 in the quarter, the Grizzlies have outscored the Blazers 22-6 in a five minute stretch.

The Blazers offense became stagnant, the ball stopped moving, and they could not make a shot. The pressure the Grizzlies defense put on the Blazers really got them out of their game. The Memphis defense was absolutely swarming. Any time the Blazers attempted to get a set going the Grizzlies would trap the ball handler and swipe the ball away. This led to a lot of turnovers and the Grizzlies to get a double digit lead as they went on a 30-6 run.

Lillard led the Blazers back getting the lead back to single digits in the final two minutes. Zach Collins ended the quarter with five points and got the Blazers within three points, 93-96 as the third quarter ended.

Fourth Quarter

CJ McCollum and Hassan Whiteside give the Blazers the lead back in the first 45 seconds of the quarter. Portland looked like they were ready to get back into the groove they were in through much of the second and the first two minutes of the third.

Former Blazer, Anthony Tolliver, hit a corner three to give Memphis the lead right back. Memphis once again pushed the lead out to double digits.

It was at this point the game slowed down. Lots of fouls and missed free throws by both teams. Memphis got into the penalty in the first three and half minutes in the quarter. Portland could not take advantage of it.

Nurkic started to get moving in the final few minutes, getting another block, and dominating Memphis in the low post. Jaren Jackson Jr. attempted to body up on him, but Nurk went right through him for a nice hook in the post. A possession later Nurk made a great move for a thunderous dunk. Collins attacked the basket hard the next time down the floor to cut the Grizzlies lead down to one, 114-115.

In the final two minutes, the teams traded blows. Melo gave the Blazers a lead with a three from the corner. Ja Morant came back to give the Grizzlies a lead, then CJ answered for the Blazers, then Morant got the Grizzlies the lead back.

This felt like an old school 80’s playoff game. Up and down, teams answering each other.

Blazers had a chance to ice the game, but couldn’t get a shot off in the final 10
seconds. Ja Morant got the loose ball and raised down the court, but tripped over his own feet as the ball bounced away and time expired with the game tied up at 124.

Overtime

The Blazers started overtime with a pair of threes by both CJ McCollum and Gary Trent Jr. Trent also got the assignment on Morant and forced the Grizzlies into a couple of tough possessions. Damian Lillard hit a layup to force the Grizzlies to call a timeout. After the break, CJ his another three to give the Blazers an 11 point lead.

Once again, the Blazers got sloppy as the Grizzlies forced three quick Blazer turnovers and they were able to cut the the lead down to three, 135-132 on another Jaren Jackson Jr. three.

Damian Lillard iced the game with a layup and two free throws.

Next Up

Blazers take on the Boston Celtics in another must win on Sunday at 12:30 PM. The game is on ABC.

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