Well, that was a clinic. The Portland Trail Blazers started off the road trip on an incredibly good footing as they beat the Philadelphia 76ers 139-105 to increase their record to an impressive 20-4. Now, you did indeed see that score correctly. The Trail Blazers scored 139 points. Tonight really showed the offensive machine that is the Blazers as this was the first time I have seen a team look lost when we were passing the ball. Granted, tonight was a night where everything seemed to working and even the dumbest plays were looking like gems. However, I took a step back tonight and realized that this team’s offense is definitely one of the best in the league. I saw the numbers, the wins, and knew that our offense was ranked number two in the league, but this game really showed how efficient and how dominant the Blazers can be if they are firing on all cylinders.
Now, I will back up a step and say that the 76ers are horrid at defending the three-point line so you would imagine the Blazers just being giddy this entire game. It was not exactly a challenge to get an open three-pointer, the only issue would be if we could hit them or not. Well, in the first quarter and into the second quarter both teams were shooting an unbelievable clip. Spencer Hawes was 2-for-3 from downtown, Tony Wroten was 2-for-4 from there, and Hollis Thompson was 2-for-2 from out there. This looked to be a shootout from the tip and, for a while, I was worried. The 76ers have not been the worst team in the NBA this season as they were projected, but they have definitely come back down to earth about starting off so hot. This seemed like the perfect game for the Blazers to lay an egg or the 76ers to go completely ridiculous on the offensive end and steal a game. Well, one team went completely ridiculous and it was not the 76ers.
The deadly third quarter, which the Blazers tend to turn on the defense and start to pull away from teams, showcased an offensive show as they outscored the 76ers a whopping 40-15. Any doubt that the 76ers might make this game was immediately gone. The basketball always seemed to find their target no matter how ridiculous the pass was, the 76ers started playing hero ball and shooting low percentage shots, and it seemed like the threes the Blazers would shoot never missed. No matter where the Blazers were a three would hit. I knew this game was ridiculous when Dorell Wright banked in a three pointer from almost half court to end the third quarter. It was just that kind of game.
Here are some ridiculous stats to let you know what kind of game this was. The Blazers ended the night with going 21-for-37 from downtown and shot a staggering 57% from the three. Wow. The Blazers were just two away from setting an NBA record for most made threes in a game. The Blazers broke their previous record on made three-pointers in a single game, which was set on December 6th against Utah, and set a new franchise record tonight. Everybody was hitting and I mean everybody. Mo Williams hit three, Dorell Wright hit all five of his, Damian contributed four, Batum had three, Wesley had four, and finally Allen Crabbe had two of his own. Well, that is one way to make sure that you will win the ball game. This was a bad matchup for the 76ers. Like I said above, they do not defend the three point line very well and from early on in the game it became apparent that the Blazers would have their spots all night long. It was just matter of hitting them. The Blazers also recorded 41 assists, which was the most since 1990. This is an unselfish team to the core.
One negative stat was the turnovers. The Blazers recorded 18 TOs on the night, but take into account that some of them happened in garbage time in the fourth quarter. However, still an unhealthy stat. The Blazers could get away with it tonight, but still not good to see. The part that frustrated me was how they were turned over. The first possession of the game for the Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge threw the ball to the left corner and into the stands as Damian Lillard cut to the rim expecting the pass. There were three or four cross court passes that were way too high and ended up flying into someone’s nachos. It was very unusual as the Blazers have definitely been better at taking care of the basketball. Hopefully this is just a fluke. If so, this was the perfect game to do it in.
LaMarcus Aldridge continues his hot streak as he finished with 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting and 16 rebounds (6 offensive). Through all of the shooting and just the ridiculousness of the night, you forgot that LA was in the game at times. Most of the time he was just watching the outside shots go in. He did get his shots in the second half and was drilling them from a ridiculous range. This team has been so good from an outside shooting perspective that teams forget that the Blazers have an all-star power forward that is just waiting patiently. It is a great problem to have and I was glad to see that we did not ignore LA all night. It is sometimes easy to get caught up in drilling threes that you forget to get the guys inside involved.
Nicolas Batum, who was the birthday boy as he turned 25 today, ended the night with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting, 3-for-7 from three, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds. Very good night for Batum and was really the only Blazer who was defending consistently in the first half. He was also, again, the first Blazer to get going tonight and carried the team through the first quarter. It is nice to see that Batum is trying to score again. There was period where he was too focused on passing that he would pass up wide open shots. It seems like he is finding that balance of distributing and scoring.
Dorell Wright had his best statistical game as a Blazer as he went up against his former team for the first time this season. He ended the night with 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting all from beyond the arc. He was probably playing with a little bit of extra motivation, but I was waiting for this game from Dorell. He had been struggling from three-point land recently and it was nice to see his shots go in. He only played 11 minutes. I thought he played longer, but that was a productive 11 minutes.
Well, I could go down the list, but honestly this game was a little stupid from a stats point of view. Everybody was shooting lights out for the Blazers and the starters were able to get the whole fourth quarter off, which was needed as the Blazers will be going at it again tomorrow as they head to Detroit to face the Pistons. This is a different Detroit team than who the Blazers faced back in November. For an Eastern Conference team they have been playing well and have gone 5-5 in their last 10 games. Blazers need to do their homework and get ready for an inside oriented game. Andre Drummond has been playing phenomenally and it’ll be a rough game from a rebounding stand point. The Blazers tip off at 3:00 PM PST as they try to get win number two on this road trip. Stay tuned!