In their first game back after an extended All-Star break, the Portland Trail Blazers flew into Utah rested and confident. They had just traded for “overqualified bench player” Arron Afflalo, and while he wouldn’t be available for tonight’s game… come on, it’s the Utah Jazz. The Jazz who had just traded their starting center Enes Kanter for (essentially) cap space and draft picks.
This was going be a cakewalk. Perhaps fully expecting this would be the Trail Blazers’ approach, the Jazz instead came out and took the Trail Blazers’ first punch, then punched back. Again. And again. And again.
As the Trail Blazers flailed and swung wildly, the Jazz kept popping them in the head, once, twice, again, and Portland’s effort got weaker and less focused.
The result: The Trail Blazers fell to the Jazz 76-92 in their biggest loss of the year, margin-wise.
Players
We can start with LaMarcus Aldridge, who had eight points in the first as the Trail Blazers built a modest lead. He had just six more the rest of the game for 14 total points to go with eight boards, no blocks, no steals, and three assists. Aldridge now has two straight games in which he’s failed to score 20 points, his first such streak since November. You can’t be too worried, but still…
Damian Lillard had 19 points and did hit 3-9 from deep. Not great but not palatable. He only had two assists to compliment his four boards, but most telling was his five turnovers. Lillard and Steve Blake had nine turnovers between them. Lillard had a nice, Lillard-esque dunk, but it came after the Trail Blazers fell behind and gave little notice that they planned to storm back.
Wesley Matthews had 0 points deep in to the second quarter, then flurried seven points in 57 seconds. He finished the game with 14, missing 4-of-5 threes, but grabbing seven boards and nabbing a steal. If both Aldridge and Lillard are off, it’s very helpful to have someone else with a shot. If Matthews too is cold, the responsibility falls to…
Nicolas Batum, who looked marginally comfortable before taking a hard fall and getting up slowly. He was 3-6 with five boards, three dimes, two steals, a block, and just a single turnover, but the Trail Blazers need more than eght points from their small forward. As both Dorell Wright and Allen Crabbe played garbage minutes and didn’t score, there were no other small forward points from the team. One hopes the arrival of Arron Afflalo will fill that vacuum.
Robin Lopez was being pushed around and probably fouled, a lot. They weren’t called, for the most part. Eight points and four rebounds was somewhat unusual, and his two offensive rebounds was 2/3 of the Blazers’ total as a team. The Jazz buried those three Trail Blazers o-boards with 13 of their own, and if there is any team that knows how dangerous second chance possessions can be, it should be Portland. A taste of one’s own medicine is always bitter, but that it came against the lowly post-Kanter Jazz made it chard-level repulsive.
The NBA All-Star break rest rejuvenated Chris Kaman, who played hard and got a few blocks in the first half. Unfortunately, he’s just too far out of his prime and too dinged up to go into any sort of carry-mode. His six points were welcome, but he had just two boards as the Jazz won the rebounding battle 48-37.
C.J. McCollum had six points, but it took eight shots to get them. His shot looked shaky. Not just like it was off, but like he wasn’t squaring up very well.
Meyers Leonard got four boards, but missed all five shots en route to his first scoreless game since January 21st in Phoneix. Shaking this game off and playing well against Memphis will say more about his development than his recent hot shooting streak.
Notes
- We peppered in some stats throughout the player breakdowns, but it’s worth repeating: the Trail Blazers were out-rebounded, out-assisted, out-hustled, and out-shot. The Trail Blazers won the free throw battle and committed fewer fouls…. and that was it. They trailed in every other major statistical category, at least those provided by ESPN.
- The Trail Blazers’ bench scored 14 points. The Jazz bench scored 41 points. Save us, Afflalo. But seriously, one person can’t change this. It won’t hurt, though.
- There are beatdowns, there are bad beatdowns, and then there bad beatdowns from bad teams.
The Trail Blazers will forget tonight and focus on the frightening Memphis Grizzlies and their matchup Sunday at 6:00 p.m. PST in Portland.