The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls 105-87 in a game which featured some impressive dunks, a very serious foul, and discipline from the Blazers. Portland improves to 9-3 on the young season, while the Bulls fall to 8-4.
Portland seems to have Chicago’s number as they have now beaten the Bulls six times in a row dating back to the 2012-13 season. The Bulls pride themselves on their defensive prowess and intensity while also sporting one of the game’s best point guards and scoring threats. However, over the past couple of seasons, the Bulls have been decimated by injuries. Derrick Rose, who was the MVP in the 2010-11 season, has dealt with season-ending injuries in an ACL tear and a torn meniscus. Furthermore, since Rose has been out for so long and for so many games, the Bulls have gotten used to playing without him resorting to a grind and defensive style. Let us put it this way, the Bulls were able to get to the second round of the playoffs two seasons ago with just Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Nate Robinson. This team is very well coached and has been running on pure energy and fumes for a while.
The Bulls acquired Pau Gasol in the off-season and were dominant in the early-goings of this season. They sported the same record as Portland at 8-3 coming into this game and had been arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference. The problem with Chicago has always been that their offense was non-existent over the past couple of seasons. This team depends so much on Rose to be that scoring threat that when he went down, points were hard to come by. Now, with Gasol and Rose healthy to start the season, the defensive intensity as well as the best passing frontcourt in the NBA allowed Chicago to actually put points up on the board.
Unfortunately, Chicago has slowly been getting hit with the injury bug once again. Rose keeps suffering nagging injuries, most recently a hamstring injury that has kept him out for a few games. Furthermore, Gasol has been out for two games (coming into the Portland game) because of a strained calf. Again, the Bulls are in familiar territory. The problem is that they no longer have Boozer to attempt to score some points. Jimmy Butler has been on a tear this season, but you can only lean on him so much.
Portland was on three-days rest, while the Bulls had just had a rough game in Sacramento the day before. Fans could tell immediately that the Bulls had no gas in the tank. Portland jumped out to an 18-3 lead. The Bulls, at one point, shot a measly eight percent in the first quarter. Overall, Portland shot 67% from the field and 50% from three in the first quarter. LaMarcus Aldridge led the way with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, 2-for-2 from three. Robin Lopez went 3-for-3 with six points and Nicolas Batum, his first game back from his knee contusion, had four points in the quarter as well on 2-for-2 shooting. The Blazers were eating the Bulls up on the offensive end and on the defensive end; the Bulls could not get anything going. Kirk Hinrich, the backup point guard for Chicago, was also out for the game so the Bulls had to rely heavily on Aaron Brooks. The starting lineup for Chicago left something to be desired and the offense was dreadful. The Bulls did “increase” their shooting percentage to 29% in the quarter, but that is not going to get the job done. However, considering how the game started out for Chicago, they were only down by 11 as Portland outscored them 32-21.
After a made three-pointer by E’Twaun Moore with 7:20 left in the second quarter, the Bulls were only down by four and looked to make a game out of it. Portland, showing growth once again, made a quick run of their own as Damian Lillard hit two quick threes to push the lead back to 12. Again, the offensive woes were apparent throughout the game for Chicago. They would go on small runs, but it felt like they could not sustain it and when they struggled, the game got out of hand in a hurry. Portland shot 55% from the field and 67% from three. Lillard led the way with 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, 2-for-2 from three. Chicago shot 35% from the field as Portland’s defense combined with Chicago’s lack of options was a recipe for disaster for the Bulls.
The third quarter was the most even quarter in terms of shooting percentages. Portland shot 45% from the field and 75% from three, while Chicago shot 43% from the field and 50% from three. Butler led the way for the Bulls as he had seven points on 3-for-6 shooting. Again, though, Portland’s balanced scoring and three-point shooting nullified any kind of offensive charge Chicago could duct tape together. The Blazers outscored them 28-22. The most exciting sequence in this quarter was the incident with Chicago forward Mike Dunleavy. During an offensive possession for Portland, it was a scrum and a battle for the ball. Portland got four offensive rebounds in that one possession and ended with the ball in the hands of Lillard on the wing. Dunleavy, apparently because Noah was lying down in pain, flattened Lillard has he ran straight at Damian, in the middle of shooting a three, with both arms extended trying to intentionally foul him. As expected, though, Wesley Matthews was not pleased and shoved Dunleavy in retaliation. The fight was broken up quickly, but it was a questionable play that showed frustration. A play like that is what injures players and that was the biggest danger at that time. That play shut down any chance that the Bulls had of getting back into the game. The body language and the feel of the Chicago team went downhill after that.
The fourth quarter was garbage time. None of Portland’s or Chicago’s starters played and it was the best quarter for Chicago. They outscored Portland 22-16, but it did not matter.
To add insult to injury for Chicago, Taj Gibson, normally their sixth man off the bench, went down with what looked to be a sprained ankle. He was on the floor clutching his foot for a while before being helped off the court by teammates and coaches. This is the same ankle that has flared up on Gibson in the past and it looks like he will need to fully rehab the ankle instead of trying to play through it. Gibson is a heck of player and one of the few bright spots in Chicago’s roster right now. A Bulls fan could say they are cursed and it would be hard to argue, but it seems like the injury bug has never truly left Chicago. But, Bulls fans should look forward to the next few games as Gasol and Rose are returning very soon.
Portland has taken care of business in terms of games in the Moda Center and under .500 teams. There is no longer a sense that when a bad team comes to the Moda Center that Portland is going to fold or play down to their level. The Blazers are getting locked in and it is apparent. The Bulls, Pelicans and Nets all were unable to score 100 points against Portland. Furthermore, Portland has already been able to rest their starters for full fourth quarters because the game was out of reach. This was the issue for the past couple of seasons. The Blazers could never put teams away, but now they seem to be learning that and doing it efficiently. The Bulls are still a good team without some of their star players, so this was still a solid win for Portland. They got off to a hot start that killed Chicago a mere four minutes into the game.
Lillard’s hands are seriously on fire. He finished with 21 points on 7-for-9 shooting, 4-for-4 from three, with nine assists, six rebounds and one steal. The assist numbers for Lillard are going up steadily. He had eight assists in the first half, while only recording one in the second. He only played 26 minutes, but had a ridiculous +40.
Aldridge finished the night with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting with nine rebounds, four assists, one steal and two blocks. LA was more defensive tonight as he bothered players driving into the paint and had a couple great blocks.
Allen Crabbe continues to show that he deserves rotation minutes, especially with C.J. McCollum missing a good chunk of time. He finished with nine points on 3-for-5 shooting, 1-for-2 from three with two assists and one rebound. Crabbe did have an impressive dunk over Tony Snell that showed off some athleticism.
The bench did not perform the greatest, but they did not need to. Chris Kaman finished with 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting with three rebounds and two blocks. Steve Blake finished with zero points, but had four assists and two rebounds.
This was another taking-care-of-business style game for Portland. Now, they go on their first mini east coast road trip as they take on the Boston Celtics on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. PST. Boston is another team that is well-coached, but Portland should be optimistic about their chances. The Celtics are still incredibly young with Rajon Rondo at the helm. Boston fans have always shown up so the atmosphere should be good. Stay tuned!