Oof, so many things to say. The 76ers were coming into the building with a full head of steam as they have completely dominated this west coast road trip taking four out of the six total games. Well the 76ers will keep on truckin’ so to speak as they beat the Portland Trail Blazers 101-99 in a back and forth, high-intensity game.
The beginning of this game says it all. The 76ers jumped out and completely blind-sided the Blazers by being up 16 with 6:28 left in the first quarter. The 76ers were using their young energy as they ran the Blazers up and down the court and never allowed the Blazer defense to really set up. Although, when the defense did set up, at least in the first quarter, it wasn’t that much better. However, I am going to say the beginning of this game was just an ice-cold freakish start from the Blazers. Wide-open looks that Blazers normally hit rimmed off and the 76ers seemed to be making every wacky shot in the book. The 76ers outscored the Blazers 32-19 and it looked to be a long night.
All Blazer fans, however, were waiting for the retaliation and they got it. In the second quarter, Mo Williams went 4-for-8 and scored 9 of his 16 points in that quarter. The Blazers would punch hard as they outscored Philadelphia 31-20 in the second quarter and 26-17 in the ever deadly third quarter. This looked to have all the makings of a typical Blazer game and for a while it seemed like this game was in the bag. The Blazers were up by 7 with 7:01 remaining in the fourth quarter and the 76ers were hardly the high-flying team that they were early in the game. Spoke too soon I guess. The 76ers started making shots thanks to the heroics of Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young who have gone off on this road trip. Thaddeus Young is averaging 21.8 and 7.0 rebounds in his last 10 games and Evan Turner is averaging 17.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in his last 10 games. This team is not garbage-tier no matter what their record shows right now. They outscored the Blazers 32-23 in the fourth quarter. Ouch.
With rookie Michael Carter-Williams at the point, this team is vastly different. Carter-Williams plays good defense for a rookie and it is evident in his steals average. He is averaging 3.0 steals a game, while averaging 17.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 5.6 rebounds. He pushes the pace up and it was evident in how the game would always shift whenever the 76ers would run up and down the court in transition. The Blazers made their runs by slowing down the 76ers and forcing them to play a half-court game and obviously that is not their game. However, every time they would decide to score and this was especially noticed in the waning minutes of the fourth where the 76ers were just running everywhere and cut the lead and ultimately pulled out the W. All credit to the 76ers, this team is going to be good and when Nerlens Noel comes back, look out. With a couple of better pieces, this team will be back in contention fairly quickly.
Ultimately, the 76ers got in the last punch and were able to squeak out with a victory. On the Blazer side of the things, this was just a bad shooting night from three. Portland went a disgusting 3-for-22 from three. However, the Blazers did outrebound the 76ers 59-43 and that makes sense considering that the 76ers do not really have size at the moment. LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez were able to eat up the frontcourt of the 76ers and combined for 43 points and 29 rebounds. For once, the Blazers played good defense, especially in the second and third quarters. The thing with the 76ers, like I said above, is the fact that they run. So, what stat would not help with that? You guessed it, turnovers. The Blazers had 18 TOs on the night. In the first quarter, it felt like the ball was slippery. No Portland player seemed able to catch the ball cleanly. Portland also allowed 64 points in the paint. Yet another 60+ point game and still a stat that just makes you shake your head. However, if the Blazers can continue to play the defense they have been playing, then I can live with this. Forcing opponents off the three-point line is very nice; however, scoring 64 points is a bit much. Another glaring stat is the FTs. The Blazers went 24-for-30 on the night. Now you may think that six isn’t a lot. Well, tonight it was. Considering that Portland is the best free-throw shooting team in the league that should have 29-for-30 or 27-for-30 at the very least. Robin Lopez went 6-for-10, which was unusual. For a big man, he is actually dependable at the line shooting 79.3% from the line after tonight. I bet he wants those four FTs back.
Say what you want about some of the calls down the stretch, but the Blazers should not have been in that position. Like I said above, they had a decent lead going into the fourth quarter and it just felt like a little bit of a choke. Well, something to learn from for them.
The big guns statistically were easy. LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 29 points on 13-for-30 shooting, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks. He was an animal tonight plain and simple. His defensive presence was felt throughout the night and he was the only Blazer early in the first quarter that had some balls actually go through the basket. LA hustled all over this game. Fighting for rebounds and blocking shots, he was able to abuse the size factor of this 76er team and was able to the affect the defense more so than he has in games past. Hopefully he continues to defend like this even against teams with bigger bodies down there. Otherwise, just another game that you add to his growing resume to be in that MVP conversation.
Robin Lopez, along with LA, had a fantastic night. He finished with 17 points on 4-for-8 shooting and had 15 rebounds (9 offensive). Other than going 6-for-10 from the line, Lopez had a stellar game, all things considered. He even helped the Blazers have a chance at overtime at the very as he stripped an inbounds pass with 5.8 seconds remaining in the fourth. He was all over the place and he seemed to always snatch up the rebound, especially on the offensive end. Lopez has certainly exploded alongside LA and has become more than anyone ever thought he would be.
Mo Williams had a nice shift in the second quarter and he finished with 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting, 2-for-6 from three, and had 5 assists. Mo was crucial in the second comeback. He was the reason the Blazers were even in the game to begin with. He is just one of those players where if his shot is falling you love him. But, if his shot isn’t falling, you want him off the court ASAP.
Well, as disappointing a loss this is, this doesn’t sting nearly as much as some of the other games. Thinking on this game, it is a miracle the Blazers were even in this game. Most teams when they go down 20-4 in the first quarter would fold. The fact that the Blazers made this a game and still had a great chance to send it to overtime in the end is pretty impressive all by itself. The 76ers team really reminded me of the Blazers a season or two ago where they would come into someone’s building and just upset them. A hungry team with a lot to prove and right now the Blazers are on the other side of that coin being one of the top teams in the west. It is an interesting perspective.
The Blazers will have two days off before flying to Sacramento to take on the Kings on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM PST. The Blazers have yet to play the Kings since they acquired Derrick Williams and Rudy Gay, but, Portland did win a small back-to-back series against them back in November that started their 11-game win streak. However, this Kings team is much different, especially with Rudy Gay. If the 76ers game is any indication, the Kings will be ready. Stay tuned!