The Portland Trail Blazers, minus Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, and several others, had no business close during Thursday night’s game in Philadelphia, which sets the best record in the Eastern Conference.
But sometimes the arbitrariness of the NBA has a sense of humor, and on this night the Blazers were the court jester, winning 121-105.
The Blazers (12-9) started with Gary Trent Jr., Rodney Hood, Robert Covington, Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter, four of whom are mostly reserves, then went out to deliver one of the best defensive performances of this team of The season.
Portland coach Terry Stotts said that sometimes when a team is short-handed, the remaining players on the roster find a way to come together and get the job done. Where this win ranks among his many wins, Stotts said, was hard to say. But he added that it certainly had meaningful significance.
“It will always be a memorable victory,” said Stotts.
The key was defense and ball movement. The Blazers (12-9) disrupted the defense, contested perimeter shots, and were aggressive towards anyone going to the basket. Offensively, the team moved well, placed screens in front of each other and found the open man. Clearly, there was no ball-dominant figure controlling play, requiring everyone to be on the move to get the attack going.
“Everyone played the game the way it should be played,” said Stotts. ‘If they had the chance to score, they did. If not, they have passed. “
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers should trade Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic tomorrow.
Just kidding.
The win brought the Blazers to fifth place in the Western Conference. It also proved that the team could defend aggressively and attentively for 48 minutes. If only the Blazers could do that more often and when most of their best players are available.
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
The Blazers played a tough first half to push Philadelphia to a halftime score of 57-57.
But sure, the superior 76ers would come out for the second half and take control, right?
No.
Portland opened the third quarter with a 14-0 run to take a 71-57 lead with 9:19 remaining.
Trent hit two threes on that stretch.
Philadelphia stopped the bleeding for a few minutes before the Blazers got back on track and used their defense to force stop after stop until they were leading with a whopping 22 on 88-66.
Portland entered the fourth quarter with a 97-76 lead.
“Third quarters, especially on the road, can really be a swing quarter,” said Stotts. “It clearly made the difference.”
ELLEBY RISES TO THE OPPORTUNITY
Aside from overcoming big chances of winning, the story of the evening was the game of the Blazers’ 2020 second round CJ Elleby of Washington state.
He entered the game with 19 points and eight rebounds in the season in 44 minutes of action.
In 31 minutes off the bench Thursday, Elleby scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and also had seven rebounds, two blocked shots, an assist and a bargain.
Kanter said Elleby’s rebound, defense and energy were ‘next level’.
“He’s done a great job,” said Kanter.
SHOWN AND SHOWN
The list is long.
Kanter had no real chance of stopping Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, but the Blazers center did its job in other areas, producing 17 points and 18 rebounds. He had seven of the team’s 18 offensive rebounds.
“Those extra possessions really helped,” said Stotts.
Trent made only 8 of 23 field goal attempts, but sank 4 of 9 threes to finish with a team-high 24 points. He also added three assists.
Hood, who played point guard, scored several ways and appeared to be getting closer physically last season after his Achilles tendon injury. Hood made 7 of 14 shots for 16 points and had 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
“I thought he had done an excellent job in carrying out the attack,” said Stotts.
Anthony started and made 8 of the 14 shots with three makes on four three-point attempts to finish with 22 points. He also had four assists. After a five-game slump, Anthony made 16 of 30 shots (53.3%) in his last two games, scoring 44 points.
Embiid scored 31 points in the first half, finishing with 37 points on 14-of-21 shots. Portland was pleased to be able to shoot midrange jumpers most of the night, and he shot them well. But not many of his teammates shot well, so Embiid’s points turned out to be insignificant.
SHOWN AND FIZZLED
Not a single blazer. Eight played important minutes and all excelled. So much so that Keljin Blevins got into the game a few minutes late.
As for Philadelphia, the team shot 6 out of 26 from three-point range. Danny Green started, played 27 minutes and went 1 out of 5 (all three) to finish with three points.
NEXT ONE (Wind instruments scheme)
Portland will close its six-game trip Saturday at 10:00 AM against the New York Knicks (10-13). The Blazers’ next home game is Tuesday against Orlando (8-14).
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @BuienRadarNL(Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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