In a game that looked more like a rock fight than a previous shootout, the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 101-93 in the Late Center on Thursday evening. Damien Lillard led all scorers with 36 points and Annes Carter scored another double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Zion Williamson topped tonight’s Licons with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
You can find a quarter-quarter description of this game in Ryan Roseback’s Instant Recap. After you see it, here are six observations of tonight’s action.
Improved defensive effort
Blazer had a good defensive night! Unlike Tuesday’s game where they were unable to defend a car on display at Lillard’s car dealership, Portland played aggressively and caught the Pelicans shooting less than 40% off the floor and 27% shooting from the outside. Considering the Blazers were making teams 120 runs like it was last week, it was a big improvement.
It wasn’t always perfect. Portland had not yet been able to do anything to stop Zion, but honestly, no one could really stop him. It was honestly a blessing that Brandon Ingram continued to try to start proceedings instead of Williamson. Otherwise, this paragraph about improved effort does not exist because Williamson would have had a 40-plus. But overall, it was a really impressive defensive effort.
Lillard is great, but everyone moved on
Damien Lillard had his stunning performance with a 36-point performance from yesterday’s game to tonight. Of those, 21 points came in the first quarter alone and 26 in the first half. While the second part was not quite spectacular, the first part set the tone for how the game would play out. Lillard continues to cement himself as an MVP candidate.
Lillard had just 10 points in the second half. The team’s efforts brought Portland down from the top of the Pelicans, especially to the defensive end. It’s always a way to see a win that only Lillard is quite dominant, or at least not, “I have to get 50 points” is dominant. It was an ugly win, but it was a team win.
What does CJ McCollum look like?
Well, he’s working on it. It was a difficult night for McCullum. He shot 3-for-16 from the field, it came from three buckets three. He played a tough game and felt like he wasn’t terribly affected by his foot, but his shooting was neo-doubtful.
Even so, McCallum looked comfortable enough to shake Jackson Hayes with a hesitant gust in fourth place. It’s one of those plays whose highlight we won’t be able to see because it’s missed, but it does give me a hint that McCullum is working his way back to the pace of the game.
It will be a difficult path backwards, especially considering the difficult schedule ahead. The second part of the COVID-short season will be brutal for both the return columnist and Joseph Nourik. The direction in which Portland’s season goes can determine how well they carry. With back-to-backs becoming a regular occurrence, both returning stars will be thrown to the deep end.
Is Nasir Little cooling off?
Remember in February when we thought Nasir Little was the best shooter to please the basketball court? No? I was just thinking that? Well, cool … well, it’s getting a little bit cold. It never had a large sample size to start with, so it’s no surprise that its percentage from the outside is coming down after shooting three lights for an entire month. But still, I like to see that he can’t miss his two thrashings at night.
But I also don’t want his missed threes to do well by Little tonight. He grabbed six boards and had a burglary and obstruction playing with his trademark. That’s what you expect from him; Shooting the stars was just a bonus.
Getting started a little bit, but I believe the shooting improvement is real.
Talk about rubbing salt in my wounds – d’oh!
Gary Trent Jr. doesn’t make shots like he did before. Coming into the game, he was shooting only 36% of the field and 3% of the last ten performances. He scored a single field goal tonight on a total of 11 attempts, going 0-for-6 out of three. He’s still playing defensively with Energy Rja, but his value has always been in what he does on the offense.
Will this be Trent Junior’s trend? Will it be an alternative between becoming an absolute flamethrower and putting each shot in a different stretch for the rest of his career? We don’t have to decide on a career path here, but GTJ is the kind of guy who lets the ball go recklessly. Such players get cold every day. Presumably, this is a tough line for Trent and he will be back in rhythm soon. No need to panic.
DJs fly everywhere
It was a really fun night for Derrick Jones Jr., an excellent part of Portland’s defensive achievements, directly from what Jones Jr. was doing. His career had four blocks high, including two steels, including some impressive defensive order. My personal favorite was when he blocked Ingram on a quick break, recovered and immediately blocked Williamson. It was an excellent sequence.
Unless he throws out the highlight jam, we don’t usually hear much from Jones, Jr.. He’s a low-consumption player who handles tough assignments for defense that aren’t usually very good. But on a night like this, their hard work is crucial for Portland. He didn’t include anyone inside, but when asked he did plays and played a big role in Portland’s victory.
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Next, the Blazers will come on a short reversal as they welcome the Dallas Mavericks to the Late Center tomorrow. Tip- pm f 7 p.m.
