The Portland Trail Blazers are experiencing their first rough patch of the season. If you can call two-game losing streak a rough patch. Some issues persisted from the Minnesota game and a question needs to be asked, but we shall get to that.
The Portland Trail Blazers fall to the Chicago Bulls 115-106 on Friday. This loss snaps a seven-game winning streak against Chicago and evens the season series at one game apiece. The Blazers fall to 17-6 on the year, while the Bulls improve to 14-8.
I mentioned in my last post that this game was going to be dramatically different than the one played in Portland a few weeks ago. Two players by the name of Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol would be playing. Derrick Rose was an MVP and Gasol has been averaging 21.5 points and 16.3 rebounds in December. Gasol has been having a sensational year. He is averaging 19.8 points and 12.2 rebounds this season and looks alive. I think playing the last couple of seasons in Los Angeles slowly drained him. He looks to be in better spirits and looks to be playing like 2010 Pau Gasol.
Rose completely changes the way this Bulls team operates. He becomes the primary ball handler (obviously), but also becomes one of the most lethal scoring threats in the league. He is an elite driver and slasher. He has his explosiveness back as well, which showed in a few possessions that were very impressive. The point is, Rose gives this Chicago team much needed offense. When backed up by this great defense of Chicago’s, the Bulls are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.
Needless to say, this game was going to be harder. Portland would get some help as the heart of this team for the Bulls, Joakim Noah, would not be playing. While it does help on the defensive end and opens up the paint slightly, with Gasol, Rose, and most recently Jimmy Butler, the Bulls have options and can patch up the hole Noah would have been in for a game or two.
Portland got off to a hot start, or should I say LaMarcus Aldridge. In the first quarter, he scored 21 of Portland’s first 28 points and was 10-for-12 in the quarter. LA always has fun while playing against Chicago, but this was a zone that untouchable. He got to his spots, made every jumper no matter who was defending him and even made a three-pointer over Gasol. Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau refused to double-team LA in the first quarter and it showed, immediately.
However, Chicago readjusted and went on a 19-2 run in the second quarter. This resulted in them outscoring Portland 35-23 in the second quarter. Nikola Mirotic was the catalyst with his energy plays and good shooting ability. He had 13 points on 3-for-7 shooting, 1-for-2 from three and had six rebounds in the quarter.
Portland battled hard in the second half. They outscored the Bulls by four in the third quarter and Damian Lillard borrowed some of LA’s zone juice and scored 18 on 7-for-11 shooting, 4-for-7 from three in the quarter. Portland did make several runs and got the game within four several times. However, Portland was unable to get the necessary stops. If it was not an Aaron Brooks floater, it was a Mirotic mid-range. If it was not a Mike Dunleavy three, it was a Rose lay-in. Chicago had weapons and a lot of their weapons were feeling it. So, it was tough for Portland to try and get the stops. However, that is something they need to work on. Ultimately, Portland ran out of gas, or rather, out of time. Lillard kept firing away, but it felt like Chicago had to work a lot less to get the shots they wanted, while the good Chicago defense came into play as the Blazers seemed to be working twice as hard. They shot a high-percentage, but it was a rough high-percentage. Portland looked winded by the end.
A couple of things caught my eye once again in this loss to Chicago. First off, though, this loss was not necessarily a bad one. Yes, you do not want to lose back-to-backs in this league, especially if you want to be considered elite; however, Chicago is a darn good team and I much prefer losing to a good team at home rather than losing to Minnesota on a freak night.
Anyway, as I said, Portland shot a high-percentage. They shot 49% from the field and 50% from three. How did they lose? Well, first off, the FT line. Once again, Portland did not use the line. The Bulls were 22-for-28 from the line, while Portland was just 8-for-11. It could be a case of Portland not getting the foul call on some drives or situations, but this Portland team needs to start getting back to the line. This is the second game in a row where Portland has been severely beaten on the FT line. Think about it, the Bulls scored an extra 14 points from the line alone. The Blazers need to get aggressive in the paint and force the referees to call the fouls. I feel like Portland is settling at times by either passing out of a drive or deciding on a mid-range. I also feel there are instances where Portland is not driving as hard or as well as they should because they are expecting the foul call. Regardless, Portland needs to get back on that line because these last two games were not pretty in the aspect.
Secondly, points off of turnovers. Yes, Portland only turned the ball over 10 times, which was better than last game, but the Bulls scored 19 points off of those turnovers. While Portland was shooting a high-percentage for most of the night, the turnovers basically nullified it. Portland’s hot shooting kept them in the game for the most part. It was the constant and lethal turnovers that were the problem. This was a different problem in that normally Portland is still in a good position when they do turn the ball over this much. However, the Bulls were just able to capitalize on the mistakes. Furthermore, Chicago also had 19 fast break points. A lot of points were leaking out in transition and in turnovers. A total of 36 points were scored because of it.
Finally, points in the paint. Chicago scored a whopping 60 points in the paint to Portland’s 34. With Taj Gibson, Rose, Gasol and Butler, the paint is the weapon. It has to be. But, 60 points is still an unacceptable number. That is half of Chicago’s point total right there.
Portland was out-rebounded 47-37. Chicago had 14 offensive rebounds to Portland’s 11. While this game was better than the Minnesota game in the sense that the 50/50 balls were a little more even. However, there was one wacky sequence where Portland was trying to secure the offensive rebound. The ball was flying around every which way until the ball was randomly wacked to the other side of the court, into the hands of Mirotic, who had an easy bucket. That play, I felt, turned the momentum around. Portland was, again, unable to secure the necessary rebounds, especially offensive rebounds, when it mattered. Teams are starting to clog and clutter the inside as to make it more difficult for LA or Robin Lopez to secure them.
Also, a question and problem needs to be asked and addressed. It seems that the defense has been a little light in the past two games. Now, you could chalk that up to wacky and out-of-control games, but with two games now where similar statistics and issues have arisen, it is time to ask, is the defense getting worse slowly? I think Portland is still doing their assignments and being in the right spots for the most part, but I think a sense of urgency and energy has gone away slightly. This could also be a result of the low FT line numbers. Portland needs to get that instinct back. There is something off about this team right now and it has showed in a subtle way.
Furthermore, losing to the Bulls does not help Portland’s cause of being considered an elite team. While I have no doubt that Portland will win quite a few of tough games against good teams, right now it seems that Portland crushes lower-to-mid caliber teams, but has a rough time against good teams. This might be the case now, but I predict that it will swing around.
Portland’s all-stars carried the load tonight. Aldridge finished with 35 points on 15-for-24 shooting, 1-for-1 from three and had nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks. After scoring 21 in the first quarter alone, LA did slow down. Obviously, Chicago was going to adjust and adjust they did. Aldridge was still deadly and a threat, but the Bulls made it tough on him and some of the shots that were following early started rattling out.
Lillard, on the other hand, was cooking in the fourth quarter. He finished with 35 points on 13-for-21 points, 7-for-11 from three, with five rebounds and six assists. Lillard has a couple of games like this a year where he gets ridiculous from the three-point line when the Blazers are desperate for points. I remember a Sacramento game where Lillard almost willed Portland to a victory by shooting a ridiculous number of threes and hitting them. The problem is, each time he has done this, it has been a Blazer loss. It is no fault on Lillard, he did everything he could, but I would like to see the “Lillard Zone” happen in a victory. Regardless, Lillard kept Portland in this game in the fourth quarter, unfortunately, Portland could not get any stops.
Steve Blake finished with nine points on 3-for-6 shooting, 2-for-3 from three with two rebounds and one steal. Blake was solid as usual; however, the bench in general was not very productive. They finished with a combined 14 points, while Chicago only played three players off the bench, but they combined for 40 points.
Portland’s scoring was very uneven and a person could argue that Portland does not play as well when that occurs. Regardless, Portland has a game tomorrow and needs to forget about this one. The Blazers will take on the Indiana Pacers once again on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. PST. The Pacers have not gotten much better in the span since Portland has played them. George Hill is still not back and they will most likely be playing the same line-up as they were in Portland. It should be a grind-style kind of game once again. Stay tuned!