From the Top: Ho-hum, another 20-ish-point win against a Western Conference Contender. Once again, the Blazers trailed for much of the first half, and DAL started off hot from the field. But Dallas’ 3rd-quarter woes continued, as Portland used a 35-18 12-minute run to take a big lead into the 4th—and from then on it was a combination of Lillard time and garbage time. Player of the game: I’ll let our friends at TNT take it from here… LaMarcus (with a big assist from the bench—see below) kept the team in the game in the first half. Of the 28 points combined that the starters accounted for, LMA had 14. By the time that the garbage time bell rung he’d accumulated 20 points, along with 7 rebounds. Monster Games ™: After a slow start, Lillard lit it up in the early goings of the 4th and ended up with a 18pts/6ast/5reb line on 6-13 shooting. Kaman had a quick 12 off the bench. Batum didn’t have a good shooting game, but in the words of Stan Verrette and Ice Cube (since it is Friday): ...to the tune of 8pts/9reb/9ast in 28 minutes, including 0 in the 4th quarter. “3”J McCollum had the best game of the young season off the bench, pouring in 13—helped by 3-4 shooting from 3. Points Per Shot: LaMarcus’ 20 points on 16 shots was good for a 1.20, Dame’s 18 points on 13 shots was good for a 1.38, CJ made a run for the glory with 13 on 8 shots, but this one goes to a guy who didn’t miss tonight. 12 points on 6 shots? We salute you, Kaptain Kaman! Coin Ratio: In a game where you shoot over 50% you’ll have some dimes being dropped. Nic (9 assists for 8 shots) and Wild Will (3 assists against 3 shots) both busted a buck. Blake had 5 against 8 shots (63 cents), while Dame’s 6 assists against 13 shots is back up to around the 50-cent ratio he needs to be in to keep the offensive flow going. Rebounding/Defense: The Blazers destroyed DAL 53-34 on the boards, including a 12-8 edge in offensive boards. Some portion of this can be attributed to Coach Carlisle’s idea to spend most of the second half going small and trying out a zone. Including Dirk, there were 75 minutes played by personnel 6’8” or above, combining for 11 rebounds. The Blazers had 124 minutes’ worth of 6’8” players and collected 37 rebounds. In a related note, no DAL player corralled more than 4 rebounds. Godzilla, you want to take it from here? The defense also continued its trend of watching shots go in at a high rate in the first quarter, and then tightening the screws. Shots at the rim for DAL were 8-9 in 1st quarter, 3-10 in second, 2-7 in 3rd, 5-8 in 4th (garbage time). From the time DAL led by 4 at the end of the first quarter until 6 minutes left in the 4th, DAL went from shooting 89% in the paint to shooting 27% on their next 20 shots in the paint. Somewhat related: The Blazers outscored DAL by 21 during that time frame. They are now 3rd in the league in rebounding, 3rd in points per game, 6th in defensive efficiency and first place in the Northwest Division. Bench: The Trail Blazers bench finished 16-for-28 from the field and 7-for-12 from 3-point range, totaling 42 points and 10 assists. No, seriously. In the roughly-6-minute span at the end of the first to the middle of the second quarter, Kaman didn’t miss a shot, Barton had 3 assists, Blake played solidly, Butters McCollum had back-to-back 3’s (!!!) and the Blazers were able to extend out a lead. Even in garbage time, they eschewed Hero Get-Mine Ball and played within the flow of the offense, to the point that Meyers Leonar_ looked too uncomfortable to shoot a second 3 30 seconds after making his first. But we’ve already lauded Kaman, so “3”J, this one’s for you. Just a total team effort last night, and one that is scary in that there is still a tremendous amount of room for improvement. But having a Top 5 D, some semblance of offense, a league-average bench, and oh-my-goodness. This could be fun. See you Saturday afternoon @ the Clip Joint! But until then, remember…
The one thing that stuck out to me the most was Nic crashing the boards. When a shot went up he'd run from wherever he was (often the 3-point line) to be ready for a rebound. So many of the shots went in, but had they come off the rim Nic was ready. He had a terrible shooting night, but was a major impact throughout the game and the two shots he did get to fall helped blow the game open. Also really like what Robinson brings. I don't think it's a coincidence that our overall energy increased with the insertion of Robinson into the rotation. It looks like he got credited for two turnovers which rightly belong to Kaman. CJ doesn't look like he's going to work in a "team" setting. If he touches the ball he's gotta think "score" or just quickly give it to someone else to keep the ball moving. If used as a poor man's Kevin Martin he might contribute.
I noticed many times where Dame did the same thing and he and Nic were almost fighting for the board.
I noticed that too. He was in position for a number of rebounds that a teammate snagged as well. Gotta love it any time players focus on rebounding.
Our stats were spread out pretty well throughout the roster. This may be the most unselfish team I've ever seen in Portland!
I do think it's real. Dallas and Golden State are the best offensive teams and we held them both under 100. I expect teams to scout out our defense and it could be a little harder. I do believe our defense still will be hard to scout now. We leave very little holes
I know we keep saying this but I feel like this is another big game coming up against the Clipps. A team that is expected to contend, on the road, high scoring. And then we come home and play 5 of the next 6 at home. This is a great chance to set the tone and maybe go on a winning streak
