The Portland Trail Blazers, minus Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and a number of others, did not have a distance during Thursday night’s game in Philadelphia, which set the best record in the Eastern Conference.
But sometimes the coincidence of the NBA has a sense of humor, and this evening the Blazers were the court jester and won 121-105.
The Blazers (12-9) started Gary Trent Jr., Rodney Hood, Robert Covington, Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter, four of whom are usually reserves, and then delivered one of the best defensive performances of this team for the season.
Portland coach Terry Stotts said the remaining players sometimes find a way to work together and get the job done when a team is short-lived. Where this victory is among his many victories is, according to Stotts, difficult to say. But he added that it certainly had significant significance.
“It will always be an unforgettable victory,” Stotts said.
The key was defense and ball movement. The Blazers (12-9) were disruptive in defense, contested perimeter shots and were aggressive towards anyone who went to the basket. Offensively, the team moved around well, putting screens on each other and finding the open man. There was clearly no ball-dominating figure who controlled the game, forcing everyone to be on the move to make the offense flow.
“Everyone played the game the way it was supposed to be played,” Stotts said. “If they had an opportunity to score, they did it. If not, they passed. ‘
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The Blazers will trade Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic tomorrow.
I’m not kidding.
The victory pushed the Blazers to fifth place in the Western Conference. It also proved that the team could play aggressive and attentive defense for 48 minutes. If only the Blazers could do it more often and when most of their best players are available.
It was over when …
The Blazers played an enthusiastic first half to push Philadelphia to a 57-57 halftime score.
But definitely, the superior 76ers would come out for the second half and take control, right?
Nope.
Portland opened the third quarter with a run of 14-0 and led 71-57 with 9:19 left.
Trent hit two tries during that piece.
Philadelphia stopped the bleeding for a few minutes before the Blazers were on the roll again, with their defense to force stop after stop until they led 88-66 by as many as 22.
Portland led 97-76 in the fourth quarter.
“Third quarters, especially on the road, can really be a swing quarter,” Stotts said. “It obviously made a difference.”
ELLEBY RISES TO THE OPPORTUNITY
Aside from the big chance of winning, tonight’s story was the game of the Blazers’ second round in 2020, CJ Elleby from Washington state.
He enters the game with 19 points and eight rebounds on the season in 44 minutes of action.
Elleby scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting in 31 minutes from the bench on Thursday and also had seven rebounds, two blocked shots, an assist and steal.
According to Kanter, Elleby’s setback, defense and energy are “the next level”.
“He did a wonderful job,” Kanter said.
SHOWN UP AND POSTPONED
The list is long.
Kanter had no real chance of stopping the Joel Embiid Center in Philadelphia, but the Blazers Center did its job in other areas by delivering 17 points and 18 rebounds. He had seven of the team’s 18 offensive setbacks.
“These extra possessions really helped,” Stotts said.
Trent made just 8 of 23 attempts on goal, but sank 4 of 9 tries to finish with a team high of 24 points. He also added three assistants.
Hood, who played point guard, has succeeded in various ways and appears to be getting closer to being physically back from his Achilles injury last season. Hood made 7 of 14 shots for 16 points and had five rebounds and three assists.
“I thought he did an excellent job of committing the offense,” Stotts said.
Anthony started and made 8 of 14 strokes with three makes on four three-point attempts to finish with 22 points. He also had four assistants. After going through a five-game slump, Anthony made 16 of 30 shots (53.3%) in his last two games, while scoring 44 points.
Embiid scored 31 points in the first half and finished with 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting. Portland was satisfied that he could shoot midrange jumpers most of the night, and he shot them well. But not many of his teammates shot well, and in the end Embiid’s points were unimportant.
DRAWN UP AND FIZZLED
Not one Blazer. Eight played important minutes and everyone excelled. So much so that Keljin Blevins came on for a few minutes late in the game.
As for Philadelphia, the team shot 6 of 26 from three points. Danny Green starts, plays 27 minutes and goes 1 of 5 off the field (all tries) to finish with three points.
FOLLOWING (Blazers schedule)
Portland concludes its six-game series Saturday at 10 a.m. with the New York Knicks (10-13). The Blazers’ next home game is Tuesday against Orlando (8-14).
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress(Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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