The Portland Trail Blazers were able to keep their winning streak going last night as they beat the Detroit Pistons 109-103 in a very streaky game that had very little defense in it. This game showed a little bit of growth in the Blazers, but it also showcased what we, again, have to work on, particularly on the defensive end. The Pistons scored 50+ points in the paint, which should not come as a shock as the Pistons have a really nice frontcourt and that is definitely their strength, but you can’t really give the Blazers too many passes when it comes to that stat. The Blazers need to do a better job at making it difficult for big power forwards or centers to get into a position for an easy bucket. We saw that plenty last night as Greg Monroe would already have a deep position and would only need to take a couple of steps to easily lay it up. The Blazers did a pretty decent job defending the three-point shot as the Pistons only shot 21% from out there and they only took 14 shots from beyond the arc. Again, though, the Pistons aren’t really known for their three-point shooting so I wonder if they would have a taken many more shots than that regardless.
The players addressed this in their post-game interviews, but it needs to be said here: the Blazers need to do a better job of closing games out. The Blazers jumped out to a commanding 11-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game, but let the Pistons get into their flow and back into the game where Detroit eventually got their one and only lead of the game in the middle of the second quarter at 45-42. To give credit to the Blazers here, they did answer and were able to re-secure the lead, but when you jump out to an 11-2 lead like that you have to keep your foot on the gas and just run them out of the building. You knew the Pistons were going to make a run, but I thought this was game was not going to be as close as it was. Furthermore, just when you thought the game was over when the Blazers had a 107-94 lead with 3:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, Brandon Jennings was able to split the defense for a couple of easy buckets and he also made a tough three in the corner to put the Pistons down by 4 with 1:28 remaining. The players themselves said that they probably relaxed a little bit more than they should have and that is great that they noticed that. I am just worried that there will be games where the Blazers “relax” and all of sudden we lose a game because we thought it was over. We have to take care of business and shut the game down, especially when you have the big a lead in the fourth quarter.
On a positive note, the Blazers were able to weather the Piston runs and had enough mental and physical strength to not give in completely. When we really needed stops defensively, we got stops and whenever we needed a big shot or a couple of free-throws to ice the game, we got it. I will say this now; I think the team last year would have not won this game. The bench was so good and really showcased what we have as backup. Mo Williams had his first breakout game as a Blazer and Dorell Wright has been incredibly useful with his three-point shooting. However, Joel Freeland is still winning MVP of the bench. He affects 3-to-5 possessions a game and they tend to be absolutely huge as momentum shifters. Joel Freeland is definitely embracing his role on the team now. I think last year was hard for him because he was trying to be an offensive powerhouse like he was in England, but this year he is really focusing on defense and he is making a HUGE impact. He even took away minutes from Thomas Robinson as Robinson did not play the entire second half. The last thing I’ll mention is that the Blazers are taking care of business against teams we should beat and slowly getting back that feeling of home-court dominance. You could easily see how this game could have shifted into the Pistons favor and we would be sitting here talking about how the Blazers need to beat teams like these, but the Blazers were able to beat a pretty solid Detroit team and continue their winning streak. Now, let’s look at a few statistics.
MVP of the game for me was Robin Lopez as he had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and 10 rebounds (4 offensive). Lopez’s mom was in attendance last night and if he plays like this whenever his mom is watching, get her some season tickets. Just as I was talking about how Lopez had his best statistical game as a Blazer in the Sacramento game, he had his best all-around game last night as he was doing a little bit of everything: passing, rebounding, scoring, and even exchanging words with Andre Drummond after Lopez got a few “soft” elbows to the throat. It looks like the Blazers finally have their enforcer and you can tell Portland fans are absolutely loving it. This stat line is even more impressive if you consider who he had to go up against. You had guys like Josh Smith, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drummond who make it very difficult for anyone to do anything down there, but Lopez was able to go to work and even had a few flashy moves.
Damian Lillard had a very nice bounce-back game after his abysmal shooting in Sacramento. Damian finished with 25 points on 7-for-16 shooting, a staggering 5-for-8 from three, 4 assists, and 5 rebounds. If you remember back to last year, he scored just 4 points on 1-for-16 shooting in a game against Orlando and then the very next game came out against the Miami Heat, no less, and scored 33 points on 10-for-18 shooting. It should be no surprise by now that Damian doesn’t get fazed by bad games. In a post-game interview, he even said that besides the shooting stats he had a pretty good game in Sacramento. He hit three straight three-pointers to start the game, which almost immediately erased the memory of the game in Sacramento. The only other thing to say is that his three-point shooting has improved noticeably since last year. It seems much smoother and it seems like his range is increasing. He can drill threes from a few steps behind the line, which is incredibly difficult to guard. Overall, a very nice game from Lillard and, like I said, a great bounce-back game for him.
LaMarcus Aldridge was felt throughout the game as he finished with 18 points on 8-for-19 shooting and 12 rebounds. I love how the past two games have been double-doubles for him. He did not have the greatest shooting night, but he hit shots when it counted to either stop a Piston run or hit a crucial shot in the fourth. He was also able to secure plenty of defensive rebounds, which I am glad his rebounding numbers are regularly hitting double-digits. He has also been a 20 points 8 rebounds player and I always felt like he would be so dangerous if he could average a double-double. Hopefully this is the start of a nice trend for him.
Mo Williams had his best game as a Blazer tonight as he scored 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting with 4 assists and 3 rebounds. He was playing at a solid tempo and couldn’t miss. This was the Mo Williams that Blazer fans knew all too well and I think they were glad he was on our side for once. My only issue with Mo right now is that he seems very turnover prone. I noticed a few times that he would push up in to the paint and have nowhere to go so he was forced to either make a bad pass or shoot a bad shot. He had a total of 5 turnovers last night, the most on the team, and I hope that those decrease. The silver-lining there is that it seems like his turnovers aren’t overly damaging, yet. We will have to see how that aspect of his game improves, but that is something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
Overall, the Blazers did win so there is cause for celebration there, but it came with some glaring problems, which I am sure the team is working on today. The biggest test is actually coming up next game as the Blazers take on the Phoenix Suns for the second time this season on Wednesday at 7:00 PM PST in, what I hope, is a much better game than the first meeting. If the Blazers can pull this out, then it shows that they have definitely stepped up since opening night. Don’t forget people, Phoenix has the same record as Portland right now and Bledsoe is being what everyone saw in him in LA. Blazers get ready.