Trail Blazers Report Card – The top 6 contributors in Portland’s 115-110 win over Kevin Durant and OKC.
Starters
Damian Lillard: 31 points/9 assists/7 rebounds
Portland was in an entirely different time zone last night against the Thunder: Lillard Time. Following a 40 point outing against the Warriors, Lillard one upped himself, having one of the best games in his career. The last time he got over 30 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds, was back in February of 2014 against the Nuggets. What’s most impressive about Lillard’s night was his ability to put a rough first half behind him. After scoring just three points on 1-5 shooting, he was able to score 28 points in the second half. Despite solid performances from several Trail Blazers’ players, there is no question that Lillard single-handedly won last night’s game. He drained five shots from downtown in the final minutes that eventually put the Thunder away. A+
CJ McCollum: 22 points/6 assists/7 rebounds
If it wasn’t for Lillard’s career night, we would all be talking about McCollum’s well rounded performance. He flirted with a triple-double, and had the highest plus/minus of any starter on the court (+8). His play of the game was certainly the buzzer beater, which cut OKC’s lead to just five heading into the 4th quarter. In a win like last night’s it’s easy to look past things that went wrong. For McCollum, he shot just 8-23 from the field (.348%), making it three straight games with a sub .400 shooting percentage. Since Lillard’s return to the lineup McCollum has struggled with his shot. With teams now fully aware of what he is capable of doing, McCollum will need to adjust to schemes focused just as much on him as on Lillard. Once he figures that out, expect his field goal percentage to jump back up around his season mark of .442%. A-
Al-Farouq Aminu: 14 points/2 assists/4 rebounds
Aminu had an inspiring first half, scoring a team high 12 points. Then the second half rolled around, and he promptly disappeared, scoring just two points on five shots. To his credit, one basket was a poster dunk on Serge Ibaka, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Aminu did next to nothing in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Still, he had his best game since the double-double effort against Memphis on Monday. With Lillard scoring just three points in the first half, Aminu’s scoring outburst was not only exciting, but vital in keeping the Blazers close in the opening minutes in the game. In the two games prior, Portland had fallen behind double digits in the first quarter. With a big contribution from Aminu, they prevented that from happening again. A
Noah Vonleh: 0 points/1 assist/3 rebounds
Once again, Vonleh failed to give Portland any sort of production. He had scored in four straight games heading into the contest against Golden State, but has now gone without a bucket in two straight games. What will it take for Terry Stotts to pull Vonleh from the lineup and play an NBA caliber player at power forward? D-
Mason Plumlee: 11 points/4 assists/11 rebounds
Mason Plumlee had a stellar game last night, collecting his first double-double of January. He made one of the plays of the game when he was able to block a Serge Ibaka layup late in the 4th quarter. With four assists on the night, Plumlee continues to be one of the best passing big men in the NBA. Only Marc Gasol, Al Horford, and Pau Gasol have more assists this season than Plumlee. A-
Sixth Man of the Game
Ed Davis: 10 points/3 assists/9 rebounds
Much like Aminu, Ed Davis had an amazing first half, with 10 points and 7 rebounds. And also like Aminu, he went silent in the second half. Even so, his scoring was encouraging, as Davis hadn’t scored over 10 points since early December until doing so against the Warriors on Friday. I’d love to see what Davis could do as a starter for the Trail Blazers, but Stotts seems very stubborn to the idea. He will just have to keep on producing off the bench until called on for a more prominent role. B+