Game Recap 10/18: Utah Jazz at Portland Trail Blazers Blazers

By Steven Dewald | Oct 19, 2015

The Blazers made the most of their final home preseason game by treating the home fans to a little free basketball. After falling behind by double digits in the first half, the Blazers rallied back to a 116 – 111 overtime victory over the Jazz(box score). While Damian Lillard left little question about his penchant for late game heroics, the rest of the game opened a lot more for discourse.

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With Al-Farouq Aminu resting and Gerald Henderson still rehabbing from injury the Blazers went yet again with a new starting five: Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Moe Harkless, Meyers Leonard, and Mason Plumlee. The new squad looked shaky at best to start the first, falling behind quickly. It is plain to see turnovers are going to be an issue as the new additions learn the offense and their teammates.

Oct 18, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts looks at the scoreboard during the second half of the NBA preseason game against the Utah Jazz

The second quarter started with much of the same: cold outside shooting, turnovers, and poor defensive rotations. Halfway through the second quarter, the Jazz elected to go with a smaller lineup and that is when the real problems started.

Leonard found himself in space on the perimeter guarding Joe Ingles for several possessions in a row, and frankly, he had no answer. Ingles looked like an All-Star shooter, going 5-7 from three. That is a problem. No one should ever have to type “Ingles looked like an All-Star shooter”. After a Terry Stotts timeout the Blazers elected to go with a lineup featuring Harkless at the power forward spot. This change stopped the bleeding for the rest of the half.

After the half, the Blazers seemed to find a little more rhythm on both the offensive and defensive side of the court. A frontcourt pairing of Noah Vonleh and Ed Davis looked highly effective on the glass. Both big men seem adept at crashing the offensive boards, resulting in easy points in the paint.

The overtime period was over before it started. Lillard and McCollum continued their hot shooting from the fourth quarter, resulting in a Blazer victory. One should never complain about a victory, but this game raised a lot of questions about the new crew in Rip City.

Stotts played four guys over 30 minutes in this game, including a Lillard performance that saw him on the court for over 41 minutes. Meanwhile, Utah only had one player see more that 30 minutes(back up center Jeff Withey). Keep in mind this was a Utah team that was missing three of their starters(Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, and Rudy Gobert). For now we celebrate the win, and patiently wait in Rip City for the home opener against the Pelicans.

One last note. According to Jason Quick of CSNNW-
“Blazers coach Terry Stotts said veteran shooting guard Gerald Henderson is still “unlikely” to be ready for the Oct. 28 season opener as he continues to rehabilitate from offseason hip surgery.”

Ain’t that the way it goes?