Some superlatives for the Portland Trail Blazers: Saturday Blazer

Welcome to your Saturday Blazer. Let’s take a quick look back at the week that was and try not to be distracted by the fact that it’s, ya know, Saturday, and we should be playing instead of working.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Dallas Mavericks Friday, 107-93. The victory at American Airlines Center in Dallas was not without its challenges; the Trail Blazers got off to a pretty sluggish start, for one thing.

But with big contributions from Damian Lillard (29 points) and Ed Davis (15 points, 13 rebounds), the Trail Blazers ultimately put away the struggling Mavs. And the victory put an end to what was a four-game road losing streak for the Trail Blazers.

Trail Blazers Superlatives

The always-reliable Davis has been playing with some serious fire lately. And he was a whirlwind of activity in Dallas.

In addition to his points and rebounds, Davis played 28 minutes, blocked three shots, clogged up the paint with his big body, and generally caused chaos for the Mavs near the basket.

Witness his block of high-flying rookie Dennis Smith Jr.’s dunk attempt.

Get that nonsense outta there!

Davis also made 6-of-7 field goals and all three of his free throws. And four of his rebounds were on the offensive glass.

He also posterized aging future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki.

Team Effort

Just as they did Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Trail Blazers got solid production from up and down the roster.

Al-Farouq Aminu only scored seven points, but he snared 12 rebounds and played his typically tough defense.

CJ McCollum scored 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

Upwardly mobile rookie Zach Collins played 15 minutes (just two less than starting center Jusuf Nurkic), scored nine points and was 2-of-2 from the three-point line.

Nurkic scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. But more and more often, his minutes are being gobbled up by Davis and Collins. Seventeen times this season, Nurkic has played less than 25 minutes; eight of those games have been in January.

Superlatives Galore!

The Trail Blazers started the week with a loss at Denver. But they’ve still won five of their last six games. They’re 9-5 so far in January. And at 27-22 (seventh in the Western Conference), the Trail Blazers are five games above .500 for the first time since Nov. 27, when they were 13-8.

The Trail Blazers have also found their offense this month. According to Mike Richman of The Oregonian/OregonLive, Portland has the NBA’s fourth-best offensive rating in January. (And Evan Turner is making threes!)

Yeah, the defense has struggled a bit at the same time. But let’s not be buzzkills.

What else?

Dame’s an All-Star. Paul Allen’s in the loop. And the Trail Blazers have a few days off before their next game, which is Tuesday in Los Angeles against the Clippers (24-24; ninth in the Western Conference).

Next: Can the Portland Trail Blazers trade for Courtney Lee?

Oh! And Terry Stotts notched his 250th win as Trail Blazers head coach. We love Stotts here at the RCP. We (ok, I) think he’s a championship-caliber coach. And the players love him.

What Stotts has been able to do with this roster is as impressive a coaching job as he’s done since arriving in Portland in 2012.

All hail Stotts!

And go Blazers.