It’s Thanksgiving, and Trail Blazers’ fans everywhere should be thankful for Portland’s defense
The Portland Trail Blazers are 12-3 and off to a hot start for the second straight season. And, like Rodney Dangerfield, the Trail Blazers still can’t get no respect.
For those people not just looking at the box score, it’s obvious the Trail Blazers have improved in almost every aspect of the game, but they’ve made the most improvement on the defensive end of the floor. For that, I’m very thankful.
Through 15 games, the Trail Blazers are only allowing 95.4 points per game, the sixth-best average in the league. Compare that to last season’s 102.8 points per game allowed, and it’s clear that the Blazers have figured something out.
What’s the cause of such a great improvement?
To me, the answer is simple: commitment.
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The Trail Blazers have bought in on the defensive end of the floor. Sure, there are little tweaks here and there, but for the most part, the Trail Blazers have guarded basically the same way, schematically. It’s that extra effort to get in the right position that has allowed them to stop teams from scoring as they would have in the past.
The Trail Blazers are also doing three things slightly differently that have contributed significantly to their defensive effort. Here is what I’ve noticed so far:
1. The Blazers’ starters are playing fewer minutes
By getting Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Robin Lopez more rest over the course of the game, they are fresher to keep up the defensive intensity and pressure throughout the game.
2. The Matthews-Batum Cross-Matchups
You’d think since Matthews is the shorter option with more of a shooting guards build that he’d be guarding guards and Batum, who is the more lengthy defender, would guard small forwards. Well, that’s not always the case.
The Blazers have liked to work Matthews on the bigger, stronger offensive players, especially those who like to post-up. Batum, then, switches onto the best, smaller guard. We saw this cross-matchups used a ton against the Cleveland Cavaliers, with Batum taking Dion Waiters and sometimes Kyrie Irving, and Matthews taking LeBron James.
Basically, it plays to each players strength. Matthews isn’t the quickest defender, but he’s strong enough to guard anyone around the basket. Batum, on the other hand, isn’t quite as strong, but he has the length to bother shots of shorter players.
3. Lillard
Lillard has made strides, defensively, and looks like he’s using his quickness to stay in front of opponents. He’s keeping other guards in front of him on straight-line drives, and he’s recovering much more quickly in the pick-and-roll. There’s little else Lillard could do on defense that he’s not doing already.