The Portland Trail Blazers’ nine-game winning streak comes to close on Friday night as the juggernaut that is the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Blazers 112-99. Portland falls to 12-4 on the year, while Memphis continues to climb as they improve to 14-2.
There has been some talk that the nine-game winning streak that Portland was on was impressive, but not necessarily indicative of how good this team is. After all, most of the teams they have faced have been under .500 teams. Chicago was over .500, but they were also playing with one leg. New Orleans was over .500, but just barely. A person could make a case that the streak was nothing special. While I disagree with most of that, I do agree that Portland has not faced a good team in quite a while. In fact, the last good team they faced, in my opinion, were the Los Angeles Clippers on November 8th.
This was a good test to see how good Portland is and if they can stop the Grizzlies in their tracks.
That was not the case, but it was not for lack of effort by Portland. Memphis is good this year, really good. For the past couple of seasons, they have hung their hat on their defensive intensity and grit and grind style of play, similar to the Bulls, except with better offense. The issue has been that their offense was rigid and they have few options. Marc Gasol is a beast of a player, but a team needs more offensive options that him. Furthermore, their three-point shooting was not up to par with the rest of the league. As such, a lot of games would end up being in the 70-80 point range, but their defense dominated and kept them cruising. Heck, a couple of seasons ago, they went to the Western Conference Finals.
Now, this Memphis team has offense. A resurgence by Courtney Lee, Mike Conley continuing to improve and run the point, Gasol slimming down slightly and becoming more of a beast than he already was and good role players off the bench such as Vince Carter, Quincy Pondexter and Beno Udrih.
They have been steamrolling through the early goings of this season. Not only is their defense still fantastic, but their offense has caught up. They are not taking threes like Golden State or Portland, but their offense is much more potent. How many times would a fan see that Memphis scored over 100 two seasons ago? That would have been a miracle.
Throughout this game, it was apparent that this was going to be different and more uphill battle for Portland. They started off well, however. They jumped out to an 18-9 lead in the first quarter. Portland only missed one of their first seven shot attempts. Wesley Matthews picked up right where he left off in Charlotte by swishing his first two shots of the game, including a three-pointer.
However, after a timeout, Memphis quickly got back on track and Portland only outscored Memphis by two in the first quarter. That was as good as it was going to get for Portland.
The story of this game is the second quarter. Memphis outscored Portland 29-18 through mainly bench play and suffocating defense. Portland shot 36% from the field and just 17% from three. Memphis, on the other hand, shot 62% from field and 60% from three. Pondexter did not miss a shot finishing with eight points on 3-for-3 shooting, 2-for-2 from three. Jon Leuer had seven points, while Udrih had four. The starting lineup combined for Memphis scored just six points in the quarter. Portland looked as fragile as they have looked all season in this quarter. Memphis out-rebounded Portland 12-9, out-assisted 8-5. Ultimately, it was the defense and the good shooting by Memphis that did Portland in. Portland only shot 8-for-22 in the quarter and could not get any traction.
That was also a theme to this game. Portland had plenty of opportunities to score easy lay-ups or high-percentage looks, but the bounces and the rim were unkind. Portland had to work extra hard on the glass to keep the possession alive, while also dealing with the fact that Memphis was not giving any space on the perimeter. The offense staggered at times. It would take a while for Portland to get into their offensive set and by the time LaMarcus Aldridge got the ball or the ball got an open man, the shot clock would be under ten.
Really, this was a case of Memphis doing what they do best and taking advantage of a particularly good shooting night. Would Portland have been in a better spot if the Grizzlies did not shoot 54% from the field for the game? Of course, but I think a lot of those shots Portland would deal with. There was a lot of mid-range play as well as some particular hot shooters (Pondexter). Ask any player and they might say that Portland could have played better defense, but for the most part I think they would have let Memphis have those shots again.
Furthermore, Portland did play better in the second half, but allowed Memphis to score 31 points in the third quarter. Every time Portland threatened, and they did late as they cut the lead to four before Memphis pulled away, Memphis were able to hit a mid-range or get a shot they wanted. Zach Randolph would get into his spots under the basket and quickly hook one in. Or, Gasol would be wide open to take one of his patented mid-range jumpers.
Portland played well in stretches, but Memphis answered.
The highest scorer for Portland was Matthews who had an unbelievable shooting night .He finished with 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting, 7-for-12 from three with three assists and four rebounds. Matthews, once he gets into a zone, is almost unstoppable. Matthews kept Portland’s hopes alive in stretches; it was just a matter of getting him open. Obviously, no issue with how he played.
Damian Lillard finished with 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, 1-for-6 from three and had nine assists, four rebounds and three steals. The steals are becoming apparent in Lillard’s game. In the last ten games, he is averaging 1.9 steals a game. Almost two a game!
Aldridge struggled again shooting-wise, but still managed to finish with 19 points on 7-for-19 shooting, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Chris Kaman did wonders for Portland and almost brought Portland back single-handedly. He finished with 16 points on 7-for-16 shooting, 11 rebounds and two blocks. Kaman did foul out, but the energy and savviness he provided was outstanding.
Portland fans, its one game. Portland was going to lose again, it was just a matter of when and honestly, they lost to an excellent team. Next up, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Tip-off is on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. PST at the Moda Center. This will be the first meeting between these two teams this season. The Timberwolves look very different from last season. Not only is star power forward Kevin Love no longer there, but rookie sensation Andrew Wiggins will make his first visit to Portland. Mo Williams will also make his first return after signing with Minnesota in the off-season. The Timberwolves are worse than they were last year, but they will surprise you. Just ask the Lakers who recently lost to them by one. Stay tuned!