There was a heavy dosage of jazz in tonight’s Trail Blazer game. Now, you are probably thinking, “what is he talking about?” I’ll get there in due time.
The Trail Blazers had to gut out an intensely frustrating game against a Sacramento Kings team that was at full strength. In the end, Portland made more plays, but something else occurred that could have implications for the next couple of weeks or even the rest of the season.
The Trail Blazers snap their three-game losing streak as they beat the Kings 98-94. The Blazers improve to 31-11 on the season, 19-4 at home, while the Kings fall to 16-25, 6-11 on the road.
Oh boy, where to start. Portland has been struggling mightily in different aspects of their game in the past week. Offensively, shots that usually fall for Portland have been stubbornly falling out, Nicolas Batum’s confidence has been a no show for quite a bit now and Portland is still dealing with a depleted frontline. The only silver lining is that certain Western Conference teams (Memphis, Houston) have not exactly been playing lights out either. Portland has been able to take the brunt of a three-game losing streak and still be in great position. However, they cannot last for too much longer and the Blazers knew it going into this game.
Portland’s recent first quarter woes have been something of a problem. In the past four games (including this one), Portland has been outscored in the first quarter. Now, another pattern is that teams are shooting a high percentage out of the gate. The Kings sported a 58% field goal percentage and 50% from three in the first quarter. Portland played better at the beginning, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, but the Kings fought back quickly after a quick timeout. What seems to be part of the first quarter problems is Portland’s defense being a step slower than normal and the fact that Portland has not been sharp on the offensive end. Tonight, they did shoot 43% from the field in the first quarter and 43% from three, but that was one of their better outings. Furthermore, Portland turned the ball over six times resulting in ten Sacramento points. Again, all these factors combined have given Portland some issues at the start of games, similar to what was the theme and narrative two seasons ago.
The Kings would have an eight-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Again, remember the statistic that Portland is insane when they are behind after three quarters. It is funny to consider that Portland fans might be more comfortable when their team is down after three than tied. Another crazy statistic, Portland has won 12 times in games where they have been down by ten at some point. Let that sink in.
The Blazers slowly started rallying in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Kings 31-19. Instead of a steady diet of the usual suspects, it was the bench and a little dose of jazz that sparked the comeback. For those of you that do not know, jazz is what I call the combination of Will Barton and Thomas Robinson when they are both on the floor. Usually, both players improvise more than they run plays and fans never know what is going to happen. It could be fantastic or it could fall on its face.
In the fourth quarter, Portland shot 46% from the field and just 27% from three. The usual explosive backcourt combined for just 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting, 1-for-8 from three. Damian Lillard made two clutch baskets, including a powerful and extreme dunk that gave Portland a three-point lead. Robinson played some of his best basketball this season, having five points on 1-for-2 shooting with two rebounds, but his defense and energetic playstyle jump-started Portland and led to many Sacramento turnovers, which they had eight in the quarter that resulted in 11 points for Portland. Barton would play the entire fourth quarter and have six points on 3-for-4 shooting. A weird combination of players somehow figured out a way to get a victory. The Blazers had eight fast break points in the quarter, while the Kings had zero. The Blazers would grab seven second-chance opportunities to the Kings two. The hustle plays and the unpredictability threw a wrench in the Kings’ mindset.
Keep in mind, the Kings are a better team than they have been in years past. DeMarcus Cousins is becoming one of the best old-school-type centers in the NBA and, along with Rudy Gay and Darren Collison, have formed a big three of sorts to carry their team. Unfortunately, that is all they have. Their bench, for the most part, is sparse and offers little in the way of help. Reggie Evans was not the all-star he usually is when he plays Portland and Ray McCallum is still young and inconsistent. Omri Casspi is nice to have on the bench, but is not Kyle Korver in the sense that he has developed much beyond his three-point game.
The reason I bring this up is that four out of the five players in Sacramento’s starting lineup had to play 34 or more minutes. Gay logged 39 minutes, while Cousins logged 38. Gay looked exhausted by the end of the game and it was evident by the six turnovers he committed during the game and watching him settle for long-range shots instead of risking contact.
Probably the biggest storyline of that fourth quarter was Cousins fouling out on what was an ill-advised foul on Robinson. Cousins would only commit one foul in the entire first half. Cousins has always been an emotional player to the point of confusion. Simple foul calls have seemed to get him fired up in ways that players find confusing and useless. One possession comes to mind where Cousins was so frustrated at not getting a foul called that he was behind on defense. He did not get to half-court until the ball was running back for the Kings. His emotions started showing themselves in the way he got physical. He started throwing elbows, shoving, being a little too aggressive and getting more frustrated. Eventually, it bit him and his team. With Cousins out, the Kings have a lack of size and it brought Sacramento even to Portland in that regard. Lillard made clutch lay-ups in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. I guarantee you that those options are not available if Cousins keeps his cool.
Portland kept at it and once they saw Sacramento stumble, they got themselves through the door in a victory that was sorely needed. If the Blazers lose this game, questions start piling on this game and doubts start to seep in.
The leading scorer for Portland was Lillard who finished with 22 points on 6-for-19 shooting, 2-for-9 from three with five assists, six rebounds and three steals. Lillard has been having some off-shooting nights of late. Lillard, in his last three games (including this one), has gone 5-for-24 from three and 24-for-62, yet he has still scored over 20 in all three of those games. It may not be pretty, but it still gets results and the clutch play still has not gone away.
Wesley Matthews, normally a sharpshooter was anything but. He finished with 17 points on 7-for-20 shooting, 2-for-12 from three with three steals. Matthews’ job in this game was to wake his team up. Portland seemed lazy in first half, especially in their transition defense. After Matthews had a pow-wow in the huddle, Portland tightened the screws. Matthews also played fantastic defense on Gay. After scoring 22 points in the first three quarters, Gay only mustered four in the fourth. Fatigue was a factor, but Matthews was being physical with Gay all game long.
Batum, after all the grief I have given him, played better. His shooting percentage was still not fantastic, going 2-for-8 from the field, 1-for-4 from three. But, he scored eight points and had four rebounds and four assists. I continue to say that when Batum scores eight-to-ten points, this team is in a much better rhythm. Similar to Robin Lopez scoring his four-to-six points, it might not seem like much, but it keeps the other team from focusing solely on one all-star or player.
The contributions came from the bench. The bench combined for 37 points. Meyers Leonard had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting with three rebounds, one assist and one block. Dorell Wright had a sneaky nine points on 3-for-6 shooting, 1-for-3 from three with two steals, three assists and two rebounds. The bench stepped up and everyone played, except for Allen Crabbe.
What surprised me was the number of turnovers the Kings committed. The Kings are known for turning the ball over, but they had 21 turnovers that resulted in 29 Blazer points. Portland, on the other hand, had a whopping 16 steals.
While the victory was needed and much appreciated, there was another looming storyline that has Blazer fans nervous. LaMarcus Aldridge, in the second quarter, wacked his thumb on Cousins’ right knee. Aldridge had to take himself out of the game as he was apparently in a lot of pain and could not play. Automatically, the similar nature of Lopez’s injury came to mind and with a frontline already being held together with duct tape, the thought of Aldridge having to miss time is something Blazer fans do not want to think about. He did not return to the game, but Blazer fans can breathe somewhat a sigh of relief as the X-rays came back negative. He will be evaluated again on Tuesday.
Portland will have a day off before flying down to the desert to take on the Phoenix Suns for the first time this season. I do not think I need to remind anyone of the stomping the Suns put on the Blazers last season, but it seems like the guard line-up of Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas is not quite as smooth as they would have liked. They currently hold the eighth seed and will look to run the Blazers out of the building. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. PST. Stay tuned!