(Photo by Cole Elsasser/USA TODAY Sports Images)
A balanced attack.
The Trail Blazers are hitting yet another stride at the right time and looking back on the season; this four-game homestand will stand out as one of the more important stretches.
After battling their way against Boston on Thursday night, it would not have been a shock to see fatigue against the Miami Heat, especially with them playing without star guard Dwayne Wade.
However, it was anything but a fatigued performance as the Blazers rout the Miami Heat 110-93 on Saturday night. The Blazers improve to 41-36, while the Heat fall to 44-32. The Blazers are now guaranteed to finish .500, which is incredible considering their initial predictions in the pre-season.
Riding a 39-point second quarter and having four of the five players in the starting lineup score in double-figures, it was the definition of a balanced attack. In the Celtics tilt, there needed to be more players to step up as Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum were forced to give the ball to someone else.
In this outing, it seemed to be second nature. The Heat, playing short-handed and Portland using their quickness to their advantage, blew by the Heat on several occasions. Mo Harkless, once again, has proven to be a first quarter assassin, starting games off on the right foot and with plenty of energy. He finished with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting with four rebounds, one steal, one block and one assist.
He surprises teams with his explosiveness as well as just being in the area. There is always one basket that Portland gets in the first quarter that features the opposition simply losing track of Harkless or getting out of sync, leading to an easy basket for someone else. It is the type of concept that the Golden State Warriors use, obviously not to the level of a Draymond Green, however.
With Al-Farouq Aminu playing the power forward position, Portland’s offense has kicked into high gear and the Blazers have not dug themselves into those dangerous holes in the first quarter.
Miami kept it competitive thanks to Hassan Whiteside clogging the paint. The free agent-to-be finished with 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting, with 13 rebounds and four blocks. Whiteside is coming off the bench for the Heat and that seems to be his best position now. When he entered the game, the Blazers lost a step and Miami gained a two-point lead at the end of the quarter.
Portland adjusted and got efficient, especially from three. In the second quarter, Portland shot 57 percent from the field and 4-of-4 from three, outrebounding the Heat 16-16 and going a perfect 9-of-9 from the line.
McCollum, Lillard and Gerald Henderson combined for 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting. It was determined and fast execution forcing Whiteside to react quickly and move his feet rather than sitting underneath the basket and waiting for the guards to penetrate.
This was a similar strategy the Blazers utilized against the Utah Jazz with Rudy Gobert. Portland begins to make quick decisions and move the ball in such a way to get the shot-blocker moving. There were plenty of occasions where the Blazers had Whiteside looking in another direction, which led to Henderson going coast-to-coast and finishing with a dunk. In those possessions, it then fed Portland’s transition tactic and sped up the tempo going 9-0 in fast break points in the quarter. The Heat shot just 35 percent as Portland’s defense tightened the screws, sensing blood in the water.
The second half was merely a formality as the Blazers surged to as big as a 28-point lead and kept it that way. Without Wade to spark an offense, the Blazers clamped down on guards Joe Johnson and Gerald Green, preventing them from getting hot and causing any late-game troubles.
McCollum was superb, finishing with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 6-of-6 from three with seven assists, two rebounds and four steals. In his last five games, McCollum is averaging 2.8 steals a game and shooting 54 percent from three.
Dealing with the elite perimeter defense from the Celtics made the Heat defense seem like toilet paper. There were plenty of open shots and spots on the court; it was just a matter of the shots going in for the Portland’s backcourt.
Henderson, once again, provided a spark, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 1-of-3 from three. What Portland is witnessing are the fruits of figuring out how to utilize a healthy Henderson and the right situation for Harkless. Those two moves have been instrumental in Portland simply becoming a good team.
Lillard finished with 18 points on 5-of-14 shooting, 0-of-2 from three with two rebounds and four assists, but Lillard sat out the whole fourth quarter and logged just under 30 minutes.
The way Portland won makes it seem like the Heat are not a good team, when it fact that is simply not the case. Miami is the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, but is just half a game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the third seed. They are far from being an inferior team, which makes this win impressive despite it not feeling like it.
However, Portland does not have long to celebrate as they head to the Bay to take on the Golden State Warriors one last time in Oakland on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. PST.
Stay tuned!