The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls with their own medicine. Instead of using offense, the Blazers got tough and scrappy on the defensive end and probably surprised the Bulls. The Portland Trail Blazers get a much-needed win yet again and salvage this road trip by beating the Chicago Bulls 91-74 on Friday night. The Blazers improve to 47-27 on the season and Bulls fall to 40-32 on the season. Portland, after starting the trip 0-3, finished by winning the last two and gained some momentum going into the closing games of the season.
Chicago’s particular style of play isn’t pretty, but it usually gets the job done. They play hard, scrappy and tough defense that wears opponents down over the course of a game. They win by making sure that the other team never scores. That works to their advantage as, without Derrick Rose, the Bulls cannot really score or put together consistent offense. Tonight, their style of play backfired. Portland came out and played the best defense I have seen them play in a while. This was also against a team that does it on a nightly basis. To set the scene, the Bulls hadn’t played since Monday and the Blazers were playing on the end of a back-to-back and in the final game of a four games in five nights stretch. The Bulls got blindsided.
Portland was being really physical on the defensive end and really making it difficult for the already struggling offense of the Bulls to score. Not only that, but there was tough defense around the rim. Robin Lopez ended with five blocks on the night and really set the tone for the tough play of this Portland team. The Bulls still held the Blazers under 100 points, but the highest scoring quarter for the Bulls was 22.
Portland started the game shaky. They only made one of their first seven shots. The puzzling aspect was the fact that the Blazers were only down four. The Blazers finally got their offense rolling on a three-pointer by Batum with 6:11 remaining to give Portland the first lead of the game. Even so, Portland only outscored the Bulls 19-16. This was playing right into Chicago’s hands as that is how they play basketball night in and night out.
The second was when things started to open up. The bench came in, yet again, and played superbly. Mo Williams finished with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting, 1-for-2 from three. If there was one player that had to have a good game for Portland to have chance, it was Mo Williams. He was effective as he was drilling transition buckets and always seemed to have an answer when Portland needed one the most. Thomas Robinson finished with 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting and had 4 rebounds. I still do not like Robinson shooting from mid-range, however, in the past couple of games he has swished from that distance. Still not comfortable, but maybe that is something that is coming into his game.
Portland kept going in the third quarter as they scored a quick five points and outscored Chicago by four for the quarter. After that, it was smooth sailing for Portland, which was probably the best thing as the starters could use some much-needed rest.
Chicago struggled on offense even for them. Mike Dunleavy went only 1-for-9 and had 2 points, while Kirk Hinrich never even made a basket. Carlos Boozer, D.J. Augustin and Taj Gibson were the ones carrying most of the scoring load, but they all combined for 54 points.
On a night when you expect the exact opposite, it probably surprised Trail Blazer fans that Portland pulled this one out. However, Portland has now won six straight games in Chicago. LaMarcus Aldridge, who struggled with his shot by going just 2-for-10, changed his game around tonight. He became a rebounder and a defender. He finished with just 5 points, but had 13 rebounds and 4 steals. All of this in just 29 minutes of play. That was probably the stat that had Head Coach Terry Stotts get the most excited about.
Portland shot a blistering 46% from three-point land and 44% from the field. It is amazing what LaMarcus Aldridge can do even when he isn’t hitting. Portland couldn’t sniff 40% from three when LA was out. Portland cut down on the turnovers only committing nine.
Chicago, on the other hand, finished shooting 39% from the field and took, in my opinion, way too many threes as they finished going 3-for-17 and shooting just 18%. The body language for Chicago switched in the second half and the Blazers forced them into playing a style that they are not accustomed to.
Individually, no Blazer really went off, it was a balanced effort. Damian Lillard finished with 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting, 3-for-5 from three, 4 assists and 4 rebounds.
Nicolas Batum finished with 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting, 4-for-7 from three, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block.
Robin Lopez, like I said above, had 5 blocks, but he also finished with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and 9 rebounds. He was impressive battling with Boozer, Gibson and Noah in the paint.
The Blazers get a day off to fly home and then Portland will take on the Memphis Grizzlies at the Moda Center on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. PST. Memphis has been the team that has handed Portland some ugly losses. Hopefully, with a different mindset and the urgency and importance of this game, Portland can come out with a good effort like tonight and continue the streak. Stay tuned!