Already without Wesley Matthews for the remainder of the season, Head Coach Terry Stotts elected to hold back LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, and Chris Kaman from this 1-game road trip, and the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Brooklyn Nets, 106-96.
Recap
This game was the result of a scheduling hiccup: a blizzard that hit New York in January forced cancellation on the intended game date. So instead of getting three straight days of rest, the Trail Blazers had to get on a plane and fly about 2.5K miles for this not-even-a road trip. With that in mind, and with the health of the Trail Blazers’ most important players paramount, the decision makes sense.
It’s also understandable to question why the Trail Blazers would handicap themselves when they’re in a dogfight for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Moot points aside, this game saw C.J. McCollum reach two important milestones. He earned his first career start alongside Damian Lillard, Arron Afflalo, Meyers Leonard (for Aldridge), and Robin Lopez. Perhaps more impressively, McCollum’s 15 points gave him his fourth straight game of double-digit scoring, the first such streak of his young career… and he was feeling it early, scoring the Trail Blazers’ first four points.
Portland got a lead and pushed it near double digits, even as Joel Freeland stepped in and collected fouls like it was Monopoly money and he was watching everyone land on his Boardwalk hotel. Whistled for three in 140 seconds, he returned to the bench, and the Nets went on a run to end the quarter with the Trail Blazers up 25-22.
The Trail Blazers allowed the Nets’ run to continue a bit in the second quarter before finally pushing back. Leonard was playing with spirit after being hit in the face and called for the foul for his trouble, but the shorthanded Trail Blazers were slipping as the talent disparity became a little more apparent. The Nets went on a 12-0 run that was only broken by a shot clock bailout by Leonard. Unfortunately, after a timeout following a Lillard shot that was waved off for a RoLo offensive foul, that previous shot by Leonard was also taken away: he had put it up too late.
The half ended with Lillard giving up on a play complaining about a no-call, missing what appeared to be an easy rebound that could have gotten the Trail Blazers a bucket. Portland had suffered through a mighty drought, and was trailing 54-38 at the half.
They went on a little run to kick off the second half, but it was turned away. Lillard can’t win games by himself, though his 3-point deluge in the third quarter was convincing at times. McCollum did hit a floater to end the quarter, and the Trail Blazers headed into the fourth down “just” 13, still hanging on to hope.
Leonard did his best Brook Lopez impression to start the final period, scoring the Trail Blazers’ first 11 points and setting a career-high in rebounds (15). The Nets’ lead dipped to single digits, and the Trail Blazers did have the ball down eight, but that was as close as they got. The Nets got to walk away winners 106-96, and the Trail Blazers got to hop right back on a plane to recharge for their next game.
Players
Meyers Leonard is tall. He’s pretty well built, but not massive. He’s also quick and agile for his size, and reasonably coordinated. He proved tonight that he can be an impact player when he doesn’t think too much. A lot of that comes down to practice: the things you focus on and drill into yourself in practice are there when you play games, even if you don’t think about them too much. His 17-15-4 with two steals performance was as impressive as it was replicable. No, Leonard won’t get double-doubles every game, but he didn’t do anything tonight that was impossible to repeat.
Damian Lillard was streaky, but maybe wanted to make a point that he can carry a team when need be. Offensively, he did that: 36 points on 50%+ shooting was nice, as were the four boards. The two assists? Not so much, but remember the Trail Blazers were missing multiple offensive weapons. His defense was again an issue, as Deron Williams looked more like he did in Utah than he has lately in Brooklyn.
C.J. McCollum, as noted, got his first career start and again scored in double-digits, even if most of those came in the first half. It’s becoming clear: the Trail Blazers have another weapon heading into the playoffs that they wouldn’t have counted on just a few short weeks ago. Will it be enough to cover the gaping chasm created by Matthews’ absence? No. But it sure helps, a lot.
Arron Afflalo was unremarkable, getting just 10 and 5 in his 35+ minutes. The Blazers will need quite a bit more from Arron moving forward, but they still have a handful of games before the playoffs start. At least there’s that.
Robin Lopez was thoroughly outplayed by his twin brother, but for better or worse, 8-and-7 with a few blocks is what we’ve been used to from RoLo lately.
Notes
The Blazers’ bench scored but 10 points, but keep in mind that most of their bench producers were either in the starting lineup or not playing.