Report Card for Portland’s 90-88 Loss to Milwaukee
A report card for the Trail Blazers heartbreaking 90-88 loss to Greg Monroe and the Bucks.
Starters
Damian Lillard: 23 points/7 assists/5 rebounds
Lillard had a well rounded stat line, and stepped up big time near the end of the 4th quarter to put the Blazers back up after falling behind by 6. His 8-19 shooting isn’t great, but it looks better when you compare it to CJ’s shooting (5-21). The Blazers and Bucks were tied for 21st in turnovers per game (15) heading into this game, and they both showed their true colors with 17 and 16 turnovers respectively. The bad news for Lillard is that he had the top mark in TO’s for anyone in Portland colors with 4 total. A-
CJ McCollum: 17 points/4 assists/2 rebounds
CJ might be the most hot/cold player I’ve ever seen. He’s scored in double digits in each of Portland’s games this year, and has been a solid source of offense for Terry Stotts. On the other hand, there are stretches of games where he can’t get a shot to go down and will shoot over and over again until one goes in. In 3 of the past 4 games McCollum has taken 20+ shots. In those 3 games, his average field goal percentage sits at .259%. That won’t cut it for any starting NBA shooting guard. Last night’s performance was another example that CJ hasn’t quite figured out how to handle his big time minutes and ample opportunities to shoot the ball. On the defensive side of the ball, McCollum led all players with 5 steals. B
Al-Farouq Aminu: 9 points/1 assist/5 rebounds
Although Aminu played 30 minutes in last night’s game, there were stretches in which he seemed to disappear completely. In fact, 5 of his 9 points came in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, which isn’t actually a bad thing. After falling behind by 6 in the 4th, Lillard, Davis, and Aminu led the charge in a 12-0 run to put Portland up. Aminu has now made a total of 6 three’s in the last 3 games, and it appears that he has regained his touch after a stretch of 5 games where he shot 3-17 (.176%) from beyond the arc. C+
Noah Vonleh: 6 points/1 assist/7 rebounds
This is usually the part of the report card where I criticize Vonleh or speculate on when Stotts will take him out of the starting lineup. Well, I think it’s time to give Vonleh a little love. The beginning of the second half was filled with lots of offensive rebounds, all supplied by the project out of Indiana. His 7 rebounds is a season high, and out of those 7, 6 were offensive rebounds. If he can continue to show hustle on the boards, I could see Stotts sticking with him to start games. C+
Mason Plumlee: 3 points/1 assist/4 rebounds
Not the best game from Mason Plumlee, who failed to collect at least 5 rebounds for the first time in over a week. He only played 20 minutes, so there was not a lot of playing time for him to crash the boards. Most of his playing time was handed to Ed Davis, who posted a double-double while playing most of the 4th quarter. Look for Plumlee to get back on track tonight versus Cleveland. D+
Sixth Man of the Game
Allen Crabbe: 12 points/1 assist/3 rebounds
Other than Ed Davis, no one is more valuable off the bench than Crabbe. It was the 4th straight game in which Crabbe scored in double figures. It is the first time that that has happened in his career. I certainly hope it isn’t the last time either. Crabbe’s plus/minus was tops for Portland, at +10. Long story short: If he had played more of that game, the Trail Blazers would have come away with the victory. A