The train keeps on a-rollin as the Trail Blazers beat the Brooklyn Nets Monday afternoon, for their seventh straight win, 108-98 in a game where the stats are, quite honestly, confusing and astounding. Not only did Brooklyn get off to a hot start in the first quarter by scoring 40 and shooting a blistering 80%, but they had an 11 point lead at one point. I bet a lot of Blazer fans were thinking that since we were on this winning streak, the train had to stop somewhere and, for a while, it looked like tonight was going to be that night. Especially with the Nets missing key players like Brook Lopez and Deron Williams, Blazer fans would not have been thrilled to get beat by the old man’s club. However, as I was watching this game, at first there was not a lot of defense happening by both teams. The first quarter was a shoot-out with both teams shooting well over 50% in a ridiculous back-and-forth swing. Turns out that the Nets used up all their buckets in that quarter as they shot under 30% for the second half, that’s right I said HALF, and the Blazers clamped down on defense. Just to give you some perspective, the Blazers only made one field goal in the last 7 minutes of the fourth quarter and still won by 10. That goes to show you that our defense really started frustrating the Nets and what was working for them earlier was definitely not working now. I would also say that the Blazers got a little lucky as Paul Pierce missed a few wide, WIDE open threes in the fourth that would have shifted the momentum, but the Nets could not buy a bucket in the second half.
This was a different kind of game for the Blazers tonight for a couple of reasons. One, they had just played an OT thriller in Toronto the day before and the starters had to play some more minutes than normal. You would think that the Blazers would be a little tired and slow, especially in the second half. The Blazers were anything but as they, like I said, shot 70% in the first quarter and their offense just never stopped. As I watched the Nets’ lead slowly dwindle, I figured that the Blazer offense would go cold and they did for very short stretches, but it always seemed like the Blazers were just chipping away at the lead constantly and would not succumb to the Nets’ furious offensive barrage. Another reason, and the main one that I want to talk about, is how the Blazers got their lead. They did not just comeback from an 11-point deficit, they poured it on. The Blazers outscored the nets 27-15 in the third quarter and they outscored them again in the fourth 25-20. It was good to see the Blazers just continue to score and take advantage of the Nets’ shooting woes. Last year’s team, I think, would not have capitalized as much on the cold stretch like this team did. Before you knew it, we were up by 5 going into the fourth quarter and just continued to make bucket after bucket.
The bench was huge tonight. I credit them with the huge lead we ended up getting as it was mainly the bench unit at the end of third going into the fourth quarter that whizzed around the Nets’ defense. Joel Freeland and Thomas Robinson were monsters off the glass as Robinson had a couple nice offensive rebounds that he converted into points via dunks. Nice to see that he is making sure that the ball goes in. Early in the season he would try and lay it up or bank it, but tonight he left nothing to chance. Again, with about 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter, you started to see the fatigue set in with the Nets that Blazer fans probably assumed would happen to the Blazers. This bench allowed the Blazer starters to get some much-needed rest and it showed. In the fourth quarter, the Blazer starters still played with energy and determination and seemed to not suffer from exhaustion in any sense. I have to admit, that surprised me a little bit. Even with the bench, I thought we would have to fight through some tiredness and some sluggish play. You could argue we did in the first quarter as some of the defense lagged behind on a few plays. All-in-all I give credit to the bench tonight. I do not think we would have won without them. Also, another stat is that the Blazers shot 53.9% from the field and shot 44.4% from the behind the arc. Terry Stotts’ offensive is clicking amazingly well and giving the opposition a lot of grief. The Blazers just have way too many weapons.
The MVPs of this game for me were Wesley Matthews, Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Mo Williams with Thomas Robinson finishing very close behind Mo. Let’s see what they did.
Wesley Matthews is still shooting phenomenally from the three-point range as he ended the night with 24 points on 9-for-13 shooting, a blistering 5-for-8 from three, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist. Matthews hit his first 5 threes, which really kept the Blazers in the game in the first half as the Nets seemingly could not miss a thing. Wesley Matthews has been on fire ever since he got left off of the All-Star ballot. I think he should at least be considered as a reserve now as he has been such a threat from out there and he is doing other things. He is able to rebound, he guarded Joe Johnson pretty well tonight, and he has been able to get to the rim when we need to go to the line. Matthews, for me looking back, has been the MVP for these last 4-5 games. He has continued to shoot the ball well and has been able to stretch the defense out to a degree that is insane. Keep it going, Wes!
Damian Lillard has not been shooting the greatest as of late, but still gets it done as he ended the night with 19 points on 6-for-13 shooting, 2-for-7 from three, 9 assists, and just 1 turnover. The assist-to-turnover ratio is what I like. He has not turned the ball over hardly at all in the last 5 games (his worst being Boston with 6 TOs). He is averaging 20.1 points and 5.8 assists in his last 10 games and that assist number is climbing. If Lillard could get his FG% up a little bit like it was in the first few games, then he will be disgusting. As of right now he is shooting 39.4% from the field. Would like to see that a little bit higher, but overall Lillard has been a weapon to be reckoned with and I hope that he gets into the All-Star game this year, he deserves it.
LaMarcus Aldridge did not get his 6th consecutive double-double tonight, but he did end the night with 27 points on 9-for-16 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He and Kevin Garnett were going blow-for-blow early in the game as it seemed like they were the only people on the court. Both were hot and it was just fun to watch LA go one-on-one against the future hall-of-famer. LA was great tonight at drawing fouls and getting to the rim. He abused Mason Plumlee and was able to work around Andray Blatche and, to some extent, Kevin Garnett. Let’s face it, LA is in the prime of his career. It is going to be tough to stop him unless his shooting stroke is off.
Mo Williams and Thomas Robinson were the sparks off the bench the Blazers so desperately needed tonight. Williams is continuing to be an offensive threat as he scored 12 points on 6-for-14 shooting and had 6 assists and 5 rebounds. After starting off slow, he is turning into a very important and effective player. He talks about how he is driving for sixth man of the year. Well, this is a good start. Williams had a +18 tonight and he helped keep the pressure off of Lillard and hit some tough shots that helped the Blazers stay in the game in the first half. Thomas Robinson is continuing to develop, but is showing more and more signs that he is going to be a beast. He finished the night with 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting and 7 rebounds in just 13 minutes of play. When Robinson wants to get to the rim, do not try and stop him as he was able to draw some fouls just by charging in and trying to score. Robinson is a big kid, big enough that he can pretty much do whatever he wants if he can learn how to use his body in the correct way. He obviously had a very productive night and, again, we are starting to see more and more from him as this season goes on. Looking forward to seeing what he is doing in April.
Man, the Blazers just keep figuring out ways to win and are now 3-0 on this four game road trip. You could argue this was probably the hardest game of the trip, but the Milwaukee Bucks, the last stop for the Blazers, have been playing horribly and are looking to bounce back against anybody. Look for them to come out hard, especially since the Blazers are now getting a lot of media publicity and teams are getting up for playing the Blazers. The Blazers play the Bucks at 5:00 PM PST on Wednesday and look to go for their eighth straight win and get a sweep with this road trip and they have a great shot at it. Stay tuned!