Hold on one moment. I just need to get my bearings and come to grips with the fact that the Blazers won this game. Both the Indiana Pacers and the Blazers were playing on the end of a back-to-back and funnily enough were both in Los Angeles yesterday as well. The Pacers have been the powerhouse of the NBA. Say what you want about a really weak Eastern Conference, but Indiana was 16-1 going into this game and playing the best defense in the league while they were at it. This was going to be a tough, tough game and it showed from the tip off. Ultimately, the Blazers just wanted it more as they beat the Indiana Pacers 106-102 in a back and forth grind of a game that was very reminiscent of the Phoenix game in Portland a couple weeks back. This time, however, it was against a team you knew was going to bring it defensively.
From the tip-off, the Indiana defense was suffocating. The Blazers were unable to get into their offensive rhythm at the beginning. Indiana was clogging lanes and closing out on all of our three-point shooters and making every offensive possession for the Blazers seem like a mountain climb. You have to give credit to the Pacers. These guys play the game HARD and will make you work for every single bucket. However, the Blazers were able to keep it close only trailing by 5 to 8 points at a time. You had the feeling that something was going to break. Either Indiana was going to shoot the lights out or the Blazers were finally going to break through the little five point hump that was dogging them for most of the game. This game felt like a boxing match with David West and LaMarcus Aldridge trading shots and going blow for blow, Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum trying to play defense on a SCORCHING Paul George (will get to him in a minute), Lopez fighting with Hibbert down low and Lillard getting pummeled and dropped to the floor on almost every possession. All of these players are going to have some bruises tomorrow.
Finally, the Blazers started getting their offense rolling. They outscored the Pacers in the second, third, and fourth quarter and were slowly regaining confidence and were closing the gap and eventually extending their lead. The Blazers picked up the tempo, which is what you need to do against this team and with some timely and clutch shots by Damian Lillard, Mo Williams, and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers were able to hold back the run by the Pacers, but man the Pacers were being ridiculous down the stretch, or more specifically Paul George. George is one monster player and it is a joy to watch him play. He went off tonight as he ended with 43 points on 16-for-30 shooting, a staggering 7-for-15 from three, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. Batum and Wesley were playing pretty good defense on George, but he was hitting some of the most ridiculous shots I have ever seen. Towards the end of the game where the Blazers and the Pacers were trading buckets, it seemed like if he had three hands in his face he would still swish a three. It was unbelievable and he single-handedly kept his team in the game.
Another key event was the fouling out of Lance Stephenson. This guy is big for them. He does everything from rebounding, scoring, but most importantly playing hustle defense. With him in foul trouble pretty much all night, the Pacers were down a man for most of the game. Stephenson only clocked about 29 minutes in the game, so I would imagine that the Pacers missed his presence on the field.
Some interesting stats, Indiana was defending the three-point line superbly, which is evident in the Blazers only getting up 13 shots from out there. Luckily, the Blazers were hitting from downtown as they were able to hit 5 of those 13. They didn’t come much, but they came when they counted. Indiana has been holding teams to 86.5 points a game. That is first in the NBA. The Blazers scored 106. Let that sink in. Not much else to say about this game other than what a game to be at. The crowd was going bananas and it was one of those games that Blazer fans crave. The hustle, knock-down, scrappy, ugly games that get you pumped if your team comes out the other side. This was yet another test for the Blazer and they passed impressively. The first half could have obviously been played better, but the Blazers came out in the second half with a mission and were able to keep the Pacers defense moving and not allowing them to set up like they want to. Heck of a game and it just continues the feel-good story of the season that is the Portland Trail Blazers.
The MVPs for this game were Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Mo Williams. Pretty standard stuff, but let’s get into it.
LaMarcus Aldridge continues his hot shooting stroke by finishing with 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting and 10 rebounds. Against guys like Roy Hibbert, David West, and Paul George who all go for rebounds with a vengeance, 10 rebounds is mighty impressive. At the beginning of the first quarter, Aldridge snatched up the first couple of rebounds that and continued to go for them. If he can consistently crack that double-digit rebounding number, he will be unstoppable. Again, I am running out of things to say about him. He is being so consistent and playing so well this season that I would be shocked if he wasn’t an all-star this year.
Damian Lillard is pretty much the same story that it has been all year. Shooting percentage could be better, but man oh man does he come up clutch. Lillard finished the night with 26 points on 7-for-17 shooting, 2-for-4 from three, 6 rebounds, and funnily enough 2 blocks. You remember in my last post when I said that he has at least one freak three a game? Well, he had two tonight. He hit a two big ones in the fourth quarter. One to gain the first lead of the night at the beginning of the quarter and one really clutch 25-foot three pointer with 1:16 left to increase the lead to 5. Stats seem familiar?
Mo Williams off the bench tonight was absolutely huge and really kept the Blazers in this game. Mo has been struggling offensively for the past couple of games and I have wrote that it seems that sometimes his shot-making ability can be a negative. Not tonight as he finished with 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting, 1-for-4 from three. In 23 minutes of play, Mo was able to get some much-needed pressure off of Lillard and was able to get some quick shots off, which against the Pacers is vital. Williams pushed the tempo up and was able to change the feel of the game. I will say this now; Williams’ game is one that if his shots are falling, you absolutely love this guy. However, if his shots aren’t falling he will make you bury your head in despair. Luckily it was the former tonight and it was needed. I would expect that after the bench performances in Los Angeles last night that they felt they needed to do more tonight. Well they did. The bench scored 21 points to the Pacers’ 23 points. Much better.
This train keeps going and it doesn’t get any easier as the Blazers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in their first meeting this year on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM PST. Luckily, the Blazers have a day off to tend to their battle wounds and bruises from tonight, but Lillard and Batum better be ready as Durant and Westbrook have been playing exceptionally this season. Stay tuned!