In a game where everyone and their mother decided to test their series, the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 123-111 in the Moda Center.
Carmelo Anthony led the Blazers off the bench with 29 points, while Damian Lillard and Robert Covington both complemented a doubles double. Lillard had 23 points and 10 strokes; Covington had 21 points and 10 rebounds, along with two steals and two blocks. Lamelo Ball scored the Hornets that night with 30 points.
If you want a quarterly overview of the action, see Ryan Rosback’s immediate summary here.
Hot shoot drives jackets
Man, that’s a fun offensive game from Portland. Every time you score 24 tries, it goes well. [ed. You can say that again. It was an all-time franchise record.] Every time you do it on 26 assistants, it gets even better. It was an incredible shooter from Portland tonight, and it completely compensated for Charlotte’s otherwise offensive night (15 tries made with 44% shooting is very good!).
Good offense is currently the most important factor in the NBA. If your team can dominate the three-point arc, they can never play. Portland in particular is a team that needs such nights to make up the sub-defense. It’s a cliché and tiring saying, but the team that makes the most hits really has the best chance of winning.
Blitzing Dame
It was something we saw a lot in this one, especially early on. The Hornets’ exceptional focus seems to be defensive: “let someone other than Lady beat you.” This is not particularly surprising. Teams across the league have been doing this for many seasons. While I will admit that I was worried in the beginning when the Blazers were lagging behind due to the strategy, I was delighted with how well they adapted.
The supporting cast made shots tonight when asked. Lightning defense killed Portland in the playoffs for years; only CJ McCollum can hit shots consistently. They are not going to play Charlotte in the playoffs, but it was encouraging to know that the Blazers are capable of hitting if asked.
ROCO !!!
Let’s talk for a moment about Robert Covington, because … wow. He’s a career 35% from the depths, but if a man struggles like this year, it feels surreal to see him hit 5 of 7 tries in a game. He was offensively effective offensively and was strong again in defense with a few blocks, two steals. and 10 rebounds. It was the perfect Covington game.
It was hard to see RoCo struggling with his hold all season, especially since his role has always been offensive: “I’ll make the three if you pass it on to me.” It’s very important that he hits tries and I’m glad Covington can play offensively well.
Nassir Little Getting Minutes
Few things this season have made me happier than watching Nassir Little play basketball. He plays with so much energy and seems to have fun at least like 99% of the time. Seeing him get 20 minutes of action tonight was perfect. He played well.
Little ran down the floor and rolled hard toward the basket as needed. He dealt with authority. He looked pretty comfortable with shooting movement tries. I think there’s an argument that he would take more minutes than Rodney Hood, although it’s hard to consider Hood’s ball handling ability (Hood was also +15 tonight if you care about something like that).
The Duality of Melo
Look, I do not want to be a total hit when it comes to Carmelo Anthony, because tonight was nice. His fourth term was absolutely absurd. He hit four tries and at least two of them were from the “No no no no … YES!” variety. I even grinned from ear to ear when he swapped jerseys with LaMelo Ball afterwards. It was a very nice end to the game for Melo.
Although the ending was nice, however, it was also a perfect match to show the duality of Anthony. In the equal quarters you will be forgiven if you think you are watching a Knicks game. In the odd regions, he was a black hole that completely stopped the ball movement and killed possessions by either trying to pull a foul or just shooting a bad shot. There’s a give and take with Melo, and I think there needs to be a better balance in that. Just because he posts, does not mean he has to shoot it. It’s hard to stop, but it seems like the answer is just fewer post-ups. In the end, it was just nice to see Melo finish the game with an insane shooting performance.
[ed. 5 steals and 2 blocks to go along with his 29 points eased most of the sting. Both Melos played defense tonight! Yay!]
The disc ends
The most important thing for Portland on every night is the win. This win ends a four-game tie and puts them back on track to complete the first half of the schedule strongly. They have the Warriors and the Kings next, two teams that are definitely beatable. Can they end the week on a high note and then hit a healthy CJ in the second half? It is possible.
Following
Immediate summary
Box count
On Wednesday night, the Blazers will face the Golden State Warriors in the Moda Center. Tip is set 19:00 PT.