Well, the streak had to come to an end at some point as the Blazers lost to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night 120-106. The Blazers looked like they were on their way to another victory in the first quarter when they outscored the Suns 32-21. However, the Suns countered back by outscoring the Blazers 40-26 in the second and basically controlled the game from then on. If you had to pick a game on the schedule that might break the streak, it would be this game. The Suns, for whatever reason, have our number and are able to take the Blazers out of their game. All three games against them thus far have been hard fought and dirty. I would say they have been the hardest games the Blazers have had to play this year. The Suns adjusted their defense after the first quarter and started pushing the ball up faster on offense. The Blazers would get the ball to LA and the defenders would rush the three-point shooters. They had a hard time getting open threes and in general getting their offense to flow past the first quarter. Luckily the Blazers do not have to play the Suns until April, which is good news.
Now, Blazer fans, this team accomplished quite a bit during that streak and exceeded all expectations in the early going, but it had to come to an end at some point. Heck, even the Spurs’ streak ended tonight against the Thunder. It will happen. The best thing is to not dwell not it or assume that this is the beginning of a long road of misery. This team is different and I fully expect them not to get hung up on games and have those 13-game losing streaks like last year. I would also prepare for more losses to come. This is the first real hard section of the schedule coming up with teams like Indiana, Dallas, and OKC. Don’t forget, this team is still 13-3 and still way ahead of any expectation.
A few thoughts about tonight’s game. One, Goran freaking Dragic, this guy torches the Blazers pretty much every time we play him. He ended the night with 31 points on 10-for-18 shooting, 4-for-5 from three, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds. This year against Portland, in three games, he has averaged 20 points and 5 assists and shooting 56% from the field and 43% from three. Last year, he wasn’t blowing us out with points, but he was averaged 10.3 assists a game. Dragic has been able to run circles around the Blazers, literally. In tonight’s game, you saw him collapse the defense, have them run around and get discombobulated and then he kicks it out to a three-point shooter. He was one of the main weapons that the Suns used tonight and he had to be as Eric Bledsoe, the Suns’ star was out for his sixth straight game with a shin injury. Two, Channing Frye, the former Blazer who is probably the closest power forward in the game who can defend Aldridge with some results. Tonight he was on fire. He ended the night with 25 points on 10-for-12 shooting, 3-for-5 from three, and 9 rebounds. The Blazers just did not have an answer for these two players and the Suns were able to take advantage of it. Thanks goodness we do not play these guys again until April. Three times in one month is quite enough.
The Blazers had a few bright moments in the stat sheet tonight. LaMarcus Aldridge shot the ball pretty well tonight and Robin Lopez was able to grab 8 offensive rebounds on the night. Let’s look at their full lines. LA ended the night with 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting, but just four rebounds. That was a bit interesting. Phoenix was able to just box us out and get to rebounds faster than we could and once the game started shifting, LA and the Blazers were never quite able to get stops or go on runs. I wouldn’t take this stat as a slump for LA. I would look at it as a good matchup for the Suns and they just took that aspect of the game away.
Robin Lopez ended the night with 10 points and 10 rebounds, 8 of them offensive. Lopez was pretty impressive in the early going, but only played 23 minutes. I think because of the fact that Dragic was bringing him out of the paint with his merry-go-round routine to allow for Miles Plumlee, or one of the Morris twins to get an easy lay-up forced Stotts to look for something different tonight. Lopez played a great game for the time he was in the game. Again, this was just a well-played game by the Suns who strategically dissected us and executed flawlessly.
Tonight also featured the return of Mo Williams, but you could hardly tell as he finished the night with just 3 points and 4 assists on 1-for-8 shooting. I love Mo, I think he was an excellent pick-up, but tonight really featured the Mo-zone that you love and hate about him. A couple of possessions were no pass pull-ups that looked really awful. I am not that worried considering that Mo is a pro and he’ll figure out a way to get out of this offensive funk that he has been in for the last couple of games.
Couple last minute stats, the Suns shot 52% from the field and 42% from three as a team. They also shot 26-for-31 from the line. Ironically the Blazers outscored the Suns in points in the paint, but maybe that isn’t such a good thing. The three-ball is the Blazers’ strength and we went 7-for-19 tonight. Not a whole lot of threes were shot considering what we tend to do on a nightly basis.
Well, time to enjoy some turkey and this small break before the Blazers head to LA to face the Los Angeles Lakers in their first meeting of the season. The Lakers have been playing well considering what people had them projected, but they will still be without Kobe Bryant. Hopefully, with some rest and some nice food tomorrow, that the Blazers will be able to get back on the winning track and start yet another streak. The game is on Sunday, December 1st at 6:30 PM PST. Stay tuned!