Well, it was projected and predicted as a possible trap game for Blazers. They completely erased any sort of fear that the Utah Jazz, who were a then 4-16 and sitting dead last in the West, might be able to steal a game after the Blazers played their heart out against the Pacers and the Thunder. The Blazers beat the Jazz by a score of 130-98. That’s not a typo. The Blazers shot a RIDICULOUS percentage from three. Going 17-23 and shooting 74% from beyond the arc, the Blazers not only iced the game in the middle of the third quarter, but also set a team record for most threes hit in a single game. Wow. Being at the game tonight and watching the first quarter, it was clear that this was going to be a crazy stats night. Lillard had 10 points with 7:45 remaining in the first quarter and almost had 20 points in the first half. There was a point where our three-point percentage was in the 80s. How do you even win against that?
The Jazz are a team that likes to hustle and run up and down the court. This was evident in the first half as the Jazz were reading bad passes and were able to execute on the fly and on the fast break. However, the Jazz were also making dumb mistakes at first as passes were flying out of bounds, air balls, and traveling. It wasn’t pretty. The Jazz made it “interesting” when they cut the lead down to 11 at halftime. The Jazz were shooting about 55% at the time and seemed to be making shots with ease. The Blazers’ defense seemed a step slow and were allowing the Jazz’s big men easy lay-ups or allowing their guards to penetrate for a high-percentage shot. However, once the second half began, the Blazers completely stomped all over the Jazz outscoring them by a staggering 40-13 in the third quarter. The Blazers made dang sure that no unbelievable comeback was going to occur and sealed the game right there. The defense immediately picked up at the beginning of the third quarter as the Jazz missed nine straight field goal attempts and were able to score one point within the first 3-4 minutes of the quarter. Some of that is on the Blazers’ defense, but I think the Jazz were just coming back down to earth. In the second quarter, this team was shooting, I think, way better than they could have and I knew this would have to change eventually. Well, it did.
This was a great night for the starters. The starters sat out the ENTIRE fourth quarter and allowed a line-up of Barton/Robinson/Crabbe/Leonard/Watson to finish out the game. There were some entertaining moments as Allen Crabbe hit his first two three-pointers of his NBA career and enjoyed his first extended playtime this season. The one player that didn’t really help his case was Meyers Leonard. Man, I like the guy personally and I want him to do well, but he has got to play some better basketball than this to get some time. It seemed like nerves got him again tonight as he would drop straight passes or be under the hoop too much so an easy alley-oop would not work. He had 3 fouls in 12 minutes, but did have 6 rebounds (6 offensive) which I was impressed by. Hopefully he is able to get some extra time down the line and improve his game. It seems like once he gets used to playing in an NBA environment again that he will play a lot better. Tonight just felt like he was really anxious and it just got worse as the fourth quarter went on. Overall, I enjoyed watching these guys play. Shows us what kind of talent we could possibly have on the bench and see some players you do not normally get to see. Crabbe impressed me by scoring 8 points in 11 minutes. The guy has a nice shooting stroke and could be valuable down the line. Most of all, I enjoyed all the starters being able to play under 30 minutes tonight as the Dallas Mavericks will be in town for a back-to-back. As Dallas hasn’t played since Wednesday, the Blazers need all the rest they can get. This was a perfect night to sit back and enjoy the game from the bench.
The MVPs tonight were LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, and Damian Lillard.
LaMarcus Aldridge continues to add to his MVP resume as he had a +45 on the night and ended with 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting and 15 rebounds. LaMarcus was able to dominate the two big guys that the Jazz feature, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, and easily get to the rim for a close bucket or foul. The fans were chanting MVP every time he was at the line and it was quite nice to hear the fans shout that at someone that is not Kobe Bryant. He definitely deserves to be in the conversation right now as he has taken his game to another level. His shot seems as fluid and consistent as ever and his body strength seems to be too much for people. Be interesting to see how he plays tomorrow against a team that has been on the wrong side of a couple of LaMarcus game-winners. I fully expect him to go off again and produce another excellent game.
Damian Lillard was hot from the start as he hit his first two shots of the game from long distance and was able to dissect the Jazz’s interior defense. He ended the night with 21 points on 7-for-9 shooting, 5-for-6 from three, and 6 assists. This was more like it tonight from Lillard as he finally put together a great shooting night. He was locked in and single-handedly carried the Blazers to a nice start in the first half by scoring 19 points alone. After playing teams like the Thunder and Indiana who rushed the three-point line and made it difficult for any three to go off, Lillard must have had a field day tonight as the Jazz were leaving people wide open the perimeter. His defense was a little suspect tonight as Trey Burke was able to get around him with his quickness, but it shaped up in the second half, which was nice to see. Overall, a great game and a great SHOOTING game for the point guard. It was nice to him not need 20 shots to score 21 points tonight. Hopefully this starts a trend of a better shooting percentage moving forward.
Finally, Wesley Matthews had a “quiet” 24 points as he shot 8-for-11, 4-for-6 from three and had 1 assist. He mainly made the score look silly in the third quarter as he wasn’t missing a dang thing. They were many broken plays where the ball would end up in his hands and the ball would somehow go in the basket. It was just that kind of night for Wesley Matthews and for the team in general. He got a huge ovation when he checked out for the final time and he deserved every bit of it.
Not much to say about this game. The Utah Jazz are not very good and it was very evident tonight. The Blazers basically took care of business tonight and were focusing more on the Mavericks game tomorrow night. Once the Blazers led by 30, it was just a matter of the clock running out and moving on. Good win by the Blazers, but ultimately the Blazers need to set their sights on the Mavericks whose duo of Monta Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki are playing extremely well and surprising some people. Blazers got some much needed extra rest tonight as they will need the energy to run up and down the floor to stop Monta Ellis who is flourishing in Dallas. The Blazers tip-off at 7:00 PM PST at the Moda Center and if they can pull out a W, then they will have swept the week that many dubbed as the “test” week for the Blazers. I think they passed guys. Stay tuned!