I could get used to this kind of defense from the Blazers. As a fairly young fan of this team and the NBA, I am not used to having solid defense. The last few seasons the Blazers have had abysmal defense where you just wanted to close your eyes and look away in disgust. Tonight was one of those games where the defense was a pleasure to watch. The Blazers used that defense to beat the San Antonio Spurs 115-105 in Portland for the home opener. We had excellent hustle plays that gave us second-chance points and were able to screw up the Spurs’ offense enough to throw them off their game in a few possessions. The fact that we have so many weapons on this team is starting to be noticed as it seemed like we had an answer for every time the San Antonio Spurs threatened and made a run, which they did throughout the game. I am probably most impressed by Damian Lillard’s defense. It is obvious that he worked on it in the off-season, but I didn’t expect to see the results of it so soon. One play that comes to mind was when the Spurs were coming down the court, Lillard got in front of a Tony Parker drive and was able to stay in front of him long enough to draw an offensive foul. Little things like this are HUGE and it was crucial tonight.
All of the starters scored in double figures tonight as the Blazers had yet another balanced game. Wesley Matthews contributed yet again (sorry for doubting you, Wes!) with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on the night. Wesley, yet again, had a clutch offensive rebound in the fourth quarter that pretty much locked the game up for us. I like that and it is nice to know that all of the starting five will be crashing the boards hard.
LaMarcus Aldridge is having a season already. LA got started early and really never stopped. It seems like that fade away shot of his is getting even more potent and dangerous to the point where I don’t know if there is anyone who can really stop it when he is on. LA finished the night with 24 points on 11-for-17 shooting, 4 assists, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. I like the energy on the defensive end from him. I am seeing him ripping rebounds back into his hands, stick a hand out to try and steal the ball, and just being a problem on that end for other teams. If there was one part of his game that you could critique last year, it was probably his defense. Not so much this year.
Damian Lillard, yet again, is continuing to have an excellent sophomore season as he had 25 points on 7-for-16 shooting, 3-for-8 from three, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists with just 3 turnovers. I am thinking we will see a triple-double out of him at some point in this season. Lillard did not take a single shot in the first quarter, but was able to get his teammates involved and then eventually start getting his offensive game going. It seemed like Lillard was able to answer pretty much all of the Spurs’ runs with either a clutch three or getting to the line. I love how he is finding a balance between getting his teammates involved and just flat out scoring.
Nicolas Batum had a really nice game and ended up with a triple-double. Although it was a little awkward at the end as Batum just chucked a half-court shot as the game finished and ended up scoring the bucket and getting his triple-double. Whatever you may think of that, I still take this as a legitimate triple-double. Batum finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds (4 offensive), and 11 assists. I mention a lot how I think he should be scoring more, but if he is able to produce numbers like this, then I am fine. We have enough scorers on this team that if he becomes really efficient at getting his teammates involved, then by all means focus on that. His defense has definitely improved from last year and we are seeing the old Batum defense. You can just see him shut down players and create match-up nightmares if head coach Terry Stotts decides to put him on a shooting guard.
The MVP for this game for, though, was Robin Lopez. In his first game as a Blazer in Portland, he did not disappoint. Do not let the stat sheet fool you as he finished with 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting, 6 rebounds (3 offensive), and 2 blocks. He made his presence be known as he was able to block some shots at the rim and make fantastic hustle plays that gave us second-chance opportunities. I know everyone moaned a little bit when they heard we were getting Lopez, but I think everyone should stop now. I think Lopez really has the potential of being Przybilla 2.0 and that is okay. I really liked the pick-and-roll he and Batum had tonight. It seemed to work really well on a couple of possessions and I am assuming they will be exploring that as the season progresses. I am looking forward to watching him and his “beautiful” hair as the chemistry develops and how he fares against centers like Dwight Howard and Roy Hibbert.
Overall, I thought this was probably a better game than the Denver one. We got out to a good start and were able to keep the Spurs at bay every time they threatened to take over. I know every game will not be like this, but if we can just not get into a 10-point hole 3 minutes into the game like last season, then I will call that an improvement indeed. Next game will be against the surging Houston Rockets (I know, schedule just keeps getting better, eh?) on Tuesday, November 5th at 7:00 PM PST. Stay tuned!