Report Card for Portland’s 106-97 Loss to Atlanta

A report card for the top six contributors in the Trail Blazers 106-97 loss to Al Horford and the Hawks

 Starters

Tim Frazier: 12 points/7 assists/7 rebounds

It feels weird not having Damian Lillard start off my report card, and I’m positive it was even weirder for the Trail Blazers to not have Lillard leading the team on the court. With the all star out with plantar fasciitis, Stotts was forced to start Frazier at point guard. I said in my latest player power rankings that he would be valuable if Lillard or McCollum went down, and (un)luckily, I was correct. The Penn State product filled the stat sheet and was able to run the offense relatively smooth – given his little amount of real game experience. Coming into last night’s game, Frazier had only logged a total of 167 minutes of play after joining the team in late march. Against the Hawks, he played a staggering 48 minutes, nearly a third of his previous total. Considering how depleted the team was, Frazier’s play was much appreciated. A

Allen Crabbe: 19 points/2 assists/4 rebounds

Behind Frazier’s 48, Allen Crabbe came in second in minutes played with 32. Without Lillard and McCollum, Crabbe was Portland’s only natural scorer, and he responded with a career night. He had scored 18 twice so far this season so give him a new career high, but he topped that number last night, scoring a team best 19 points. It will be interesting to watch Crabbe grow, as he continues to receive a big amount of playing time. Behind the two injured guards, no one has a more encouraging start to the year than the 3-year man out of Cal. A

Al-Farouq Aminu: 7 points/1 assist/9 rebounds

Statistically, Aminu was Portland’s top scorer to play in last night’s game. Behind Lillard and McCollum’s 20+ averages, he comes in third averaging 11 points per game. Unfortunately, “The Chief'” was not able to provide the Trail Blazers the offensive firepower they so desperately needed against a proficient Atlanta defense. Although his production was replaced by bench players (mainly Harkless and Henderson), one has to wonder if the game would have turned out differently if Aminu had shot like he had in his last two games (8-12 from 3pt land). C-

Noah Vonleh: 5 points/0 assists/3 rebounds

Last night would have been the perfect opportunity for Terry Stotts to try someone new at power forward, but he instead decided to start Vonleh. Once again, Vonleh played a team low 13 minutes of below average basketball. Stotts needs to do one of two things: commit to Vonleh and give him starters minutes, or let him develop in practice while coming off the bench in games. Please decide quick, because I’m growing impatient. D

Mason Plumlee: 11 points/6 assists/10 rebounds

Even with his guard compadres in suit jackets, Plumlee just kept on being Plumlee. The starting center had the most rebounds, and the second most assists for the Trail Blazers in last night’s game. Although all players had a negative plus/minus, Plumlee had the lowest (with just -2). He leads Portland in double-doubles so far this season, and recorded his third in the last five games. Olshey’s trade for the former Nets big man continues to look like a steal for the Trail Blazers. A

Sixth Man of the Game

Maurice Harkless: 14 points/1 assist/3 rebounds

I picked Harkless purely on the fact that he kept Portland in the game during the second quarter, when Atlanta started pulling away. He finished the quarter with 12 points and 2 three pointers. Beyond that though, he struggled to do anything against the Hawks defense. Despite being the second highest scorer on the night, he finished with a plus/minus of -11, the worst on the team. B-