In yet another imperfect (some might say ugly) game, the Portland Trail Blazers did just enough to get the win over the struggling New York Knicks, 103-99. The win is Portland’s fourth straight, and they are now 16-4 on the year.
Recap
LaMarcus Aldridge started by hitting two jumpers in a row, but the Trail Blazers’ offense looked pretty out of sync. Multiple reporters noted that the arena was very quiet, not surprising considering the Knicks have won just four games this season. Neither team did much to give either fanbase anything to get pumped about early on. The Knicks’ triangle offense looked a little more like a line between Carmelo Anthony, Iman Shumpert, and the rim, and the Trai Blazers’ offense didn’t have its usual spark.
Back-to-back lobs for either team helped wake some folks up, including a nifty one from Steve Blake to Damian Lillard for the dunk. Some nice defense and a three from Allen Crabbe pushed the lead to 19-12, but the quarter ended with the Trail Blazers shooting 55% and up 25-20.
The Knicks quickly tied the game at 25 to start the second. With both teams’ benches looking a far sight more motivated than the starters, the energy picked up and what had been a slogfest started to resemble a professional basketball game. J.R. Smith quickly became the game’s top scorer with 11 points, and the Trail Blazers’ three-point shot had once again abandoned them. While it is notable that Portland has been able to win despite struggling from deep, it makes getting every other kind of basket quite a bit harder, and the Trail Blazers found themselves unable to hit much of anything and trailing 38-31 with 7:00 left in the half.
The Blazers’ woeful shooting improved just enough, when combined with a Knicks’ offense sitting somewhere on the scale from “Hero Ball” to “Nonexistent,” to crawl back to within one-point with 2:30 in the half. Some good ball movement gave Dorell Wright (returning after missing a few games with illness) as easy of a three as you could hope for, and it was knotted up with less than a minute left. A Knicks bucket, a Wesley Matthews three, and a drawn foul by Lillard gave the Blazers a 53-50 lead at the half.
Lillard led all Blazers at the half with 11, LaMarcus Aldridge had nine and eight, and the Trail Blazers had gotten their three-pointers north of 35%, while shooting 46% overall from the field.
The second half started with a Knicks timeout… or at least that’s how it seemed, as the Trail Blazers’ five quick points forced Knicks Head Coach Derek Fisher to call it in after less than a minute of second-half action. However, a few blown calls and some spirited Knicks offense tied the game, before a MONSTER dunk by Lillard on the break and a foul drawn by Matthews on the three point attempt restored just a three-point lead as Matthews missed 2 of his 3 free throws.
Aldridge, after not hearing his number called much since the first quarter, started heating up again, but Matthews’ fourth foul put a damper on the Trail Blazers’ run. The game found equilibrium with the Trail Blazers up right around five points. A Batum three made it 74-69 with three minutes to go in the third. A super sweet give-and-go between Aldridge and Batum gave Batum an and-one from behind the basket. The Trail Blazers were up eight with a chance to push it out a little more, and briefly got their largest lead at 10, but the score was 83-75 heading into the fourth.
With all the Trail Blazers starters resting except Lillard, the lead was trimmed to four with 10 minutes to go in the game. Fortunately, Matthews was fouled shooting a three for the second time. This time he made them pay, and the lead was up to 86-79 with nine minutes to go. Matthews tapped magic from deep not once, but twice, and the lead was 11 again, the game flow favoring Portland. However, Smith woke back up after a multi-quarter absence, and his and-1 and a tough drive pulled the Knicks to within six, and Stotts needed time.
With about six minutes left, the game had become a ping-pong match: Smith hit a jumper (ping!), Blake hit a three (pong!), Carmelo hit a three and a jumper (ping! ping!)… then an Amar’e Stoudemire jumper (ping!)… then a Carmelo layin (ping!) and suddenly it was too much ping, and not enough pong as the Knicks pulled ahead 87-85 with 3:20 to go.
The officials, blowing yet another call in New York’s favor, failed to give Lillard a goaltend and his missed free throw pulled the Trail Blazers only to within one instead of possibly giving them a one-point lead. The Knicks were now in the middle of a 16-3 run, the crowd was fully awake.
Some Aldridge free throws and an up-and-under gave the Trail Blazers the 100-97 lead, and the Knicks were finally missing some shots.With the ball up three with 1:50 to go, Robin Lopez appeared to have the ball goaltended, but while he complained the ball ricked off his head and out of bounds, leading to a Stoudemire dunk. Aldridge bailed the Trail Blazers out by hitting a fading jumper, and they held on the other end, still up three, with the ball and under a minute left.
They couldn’t capitalize, but they held again on the other end, and with time running out, Aldridge missed the jumper… but Robin Lopez had a heroic offensive board, kicking it out to the perimeter as the seconds ticked off. With less than two seconds left in the game, Matthews was fouled… missed the first… but made the second to give the Blazers a 103-99 lead, and the Knicks had it with 1.7 seconds left. All the Trail Blazers needed to do was not foul, and they stood around as Tim Hardaway Jr. air-baled the Knicks’ final attempt of the night.
Players
LaMarcus Aldridge was hot early, but the Trail Blazers went away from him until the third quarter. By the end of the game he was fully ensconced in his “best player on the team” role, racking up six straight points late when the game was up in the air. He had 25 and 11 with an assist and a steal.
Damian Lillard was playing with his middle and ring fingers on his right hand heavily wrapped. He sprained both fingers in the previous game against the Indiana Pacers, but if it bothered him, he wasn’t showing it. His 5-16 shooting looked to be more a function of poor shot selection and the necessity of bailing out the Trail Blazers’ offense (which didn’t look great all night). He had 20 points, five rebounds, and two assists.
Nicolas Batum was noticeably more aggressive on offense, not just because of how many shots he took, but in how quickly he was shooting them. It paid off in the box score, going 11-5-7 and hitting half of his shots overall and 40% of his threes. Might this be a sign that his long slump is over? Stay tuned.
Wesley Matthews struggled from deep yet again early, before busting out two triples in a row late. His energy was palpable, his three steals an indicator that he was staying active. Matthews finished with 17 points and 3-6 from deep.
Robin Lopez had the heroic rebound as time wound down to keep the Trail Blazers’ possession alive. Without it, they were facing a Knicks possession that could have tied the game with a three, but with it the Blazers effectively shut the door. Lopez had six and eight with a block, and one box out so well executed that he let the ball hit the rim, then hit the floor before casually bouncing to his waiting hands.
Chris Kaman was nice in the first half and finished with eight and four. He plays his game at the elbows, which works well for Portland when he is on, but can sometimes be a detriment when he shoots before teammates are in rebounding position.
Steve Blake has been playing as locked in and aggressive lately as I can remember. He had 5-5-6 and just a single turnover. If anyone’s missing Mo Williams right now, let me tell you I’d much rather Blake get five points and assists as part of the offense rather than 11 and seven and acting as the entire offense.
Allen Crabbe wasn’t a game-changer, but all signs point to his promotion into the rotation as a smart decision. You’ll take the six points, but even more the steal and the block.
Notes
- Batum was undercut slightly by Anthony on a jumpshot in the first, and rolled his right ankle. No foul. He went to the bench, but thankfully returned before the quarter was through.
- Aldridge has collected 10 or more rebounds in eight straight games for the first time in his NBA career (via @TrailBlazersPR). He also has 10 double-doubles on the season.
- Neither Terry Stotts (as the Trail Blazers coach) nor Damian Lillard have lost to the Knicks. Ever.
- Portland is the first team to record at least 20 assists in each of its first 20 games since Utah accomplished the feat in 2007-08 (via @TrailBlazersPR).
At 16-4, this years’ Trail Blazers now have one of the top-5 best starts after 20 games in franchise history. The Trail Blazers’ second game of this five-game road trip will be against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, Dec. 9th at 4:30 p.m. PST.