The Portland Trail Blazers went against the script. After a thriller of a game against the Spurs that went into three overtimes, fatigue was obviously going to be a factor. Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews and LaMarcus Aldridge all logged 50 minutes or more. Furthermore, the New Orleans Pelicans had a day off and were going to be fresh coming into the game.
Well, it looked like the teams were the exact opposite. The Portland Trail Blazers rolled over the Pelicans 114-88 in a game that was not even competitive.
The Blazers improve to 22-6 on the season and 10-4 on the road. The Pelicans fall to 13-13 and have an 8-4 record at home.
Like I said, on a night where the Blazers could have looked slow, lazy and fatigued, Portland showed up in a big way and took control in the first quarter and never looked back. The Pelicans never had the lead in this game. Portland would go on to score 30 or more points in the first three quarters of this game and give themselves the opportunity to rest. Head coach Terry Stotts could not have asked for a better outcome. He was able to rest his starters the entire fourth quarter and the most played starter was Nicolas Batum who played just 30 minutes and had not played the night before. Portland was effective on both ends and executed lethally. After fighting a disciplined and suffocating Spurs defense, the Pelicans’ defense must have been a cakewalk.
Almost immediately, Matthews had wide-open threes at the top of the key and in the corner. The Pelicans defense was able to be fooled on multiple occasions leaving certain players wide open. On one possession, Steve Blake drew four players to the right corner and left Matthews wide open at the top of the key. New Orleans had a couple of instances where two players would over-commit on defense when Portland started swinging the ball from side-to-side that it would get the defense all out of sorts for the Pelicans.
This game was, in a good way, anti-climactic. This game featured what was supposed to be the battle of the two premiere power forwards in the league in Aldridge and Anthony Davis. Davis had just come off of scoring 30 points in two consecutive games. In his last 10 games, he is averaging 24.7 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.6 blocks and 1.4 steals. Obviously, those numbers are ridiculous.
Aldridge was locked in and effective in this game, but Davis was anything but. Portland made it their mission to make everything difficult for Davis. Surprisingly he settled for a lot of mid-range shots (that he normally hits), but considering he can do immense amounts of damage in the paint, it was surprising to see him not get as many touches down on the block or near the rim. He finished with just seven points on 3-for-14 shooting with six rebounds, one assist, one steal and five blocks. He played only 28 minutes and was taken out in the third quarter along with the rest of their starters. Davis seemed off and not his usual self. He picked up an early foul in the first quarter and that could have potentially thrown him off his game, but a player of his caliber should have easily been able to bounce back. Give credit to the Portland defense for making it challenging and difficult.
In the first half, Davis only attempted nine shots. Here is another problem, Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday, the Pelicans’ backcourt, combined to shoot 3-for-16 from the field in the first half. So, it may have been that Davis was having a bad night, but he also did not have very many opportunities to make something happen. Furthermore, he only attempted five shots in the second half, granted he did not play in the fourth quarter. Again, Evans and Holiday combined to go 2-for-7 from the field with just five points in the second half. Ill-advised and one-on-one basketball hamstrung Davis and any offensive rhythm. This happened against the Blazers when they played in Portland. The backcourt for the Pelicans makes questionable decisions and I am still shocked. They should have easiest job in the world feeding the beast in Davis.
I will not go into specifics because there really was not much of a game here. Portland shot the lights out. They shot 53% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc. They had 25 assists to the Pelicans 15 (telling stat) and they recorded 11 steals to the Pelicans’ seven. Portland did turn the ball over a little more than my liking. They had 13 turnovers, which New Orleans did score a whopping 22 off of them. If this game had been competitive and close, that would have a much more damaging statistic than what it turned out to be.
New Orleans does a lot of damage in the paint. With Davis, Omer Asik, Holiday and Evans, they use the lanes and the rim to their advantage. However, Portland actually outscored them in the paint 46-38. This is also a testament to how many outside shots the Pelicans were taking. Portland forced New Orleans to be a jump-shooting, three-point shooting team and it worked. They looked out of sorts and it obviously is not their strong suits at this point.
The Pelicans did out-rebound Portland 48-45. They also were able to grab 20 offensive rebounds, which in any game would be a fantastic statistic.
LA was Portland’s highest scorer and had an extremely effective night. He finished with 27 points on 12-for-20 shooting with 12 rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks. He has combined for eight steals in the past two games. He had it going early and made the most of his opportunities. He hit from his usual spots and allowed Portland to balloon the lead.
Lillard, fresh off his career-high 43 point night, had a “back-to-earth” kind of game. He finished with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting, 3-for-6 from three with seven assists, three rebounds and one steal. He played just 28 minutes and, again, was efficient and hit a couple of deep three-pointers that sucked the air out of the building.
Chris Kaman, awaiting the arrival of his first child, has had a few sub-par games in the past week. However, tonight he was feeling it. He finished with 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting with six rebounds and one steal. He hit a lot of mid-range shots as well as challenging the basket. He was more Kaman-like tonight and Portland needed his energy.
Batum, who probably would not have played tonight had it not been for the starters’ minutes in the Spurs game, finished with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting with five assists, three rebounds and three steals. He played excellent defense and his shooting confidence is obviously increasing. He took it easy on some offensive possessions mainly because of his right wrist that has been bothering him ever since that nasty fall in the Bucks game. He looks to be good to go.
Well, this is what Portland needed exactly. They now have a day off before heading to Houston to take on the Houston Rockets in their first meeting this season and first time since the emotional playoff series last season. The Rockets have lost some pieces (Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Asik), but they have added players to the mix (Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer), while also riding a good year from Donatas Motiejunas. It will be a tough game that is for sure and I am sure the Rockets want a little revenge. Just remember, no threes. Stay tuned!