What’s been more important to the Blazers win streak: offense or defense?
By Nate Mann
Damian Lillard playing like an MVP along with the team’s depth has Portland consistently winning games for the first time all season.
Two aspects of Blazers basketball contributed most to the league-leading eleven-game win streak: Damian Lillard and the bench.
Lillard provides the boost in offense with 31.7 points per game since the All-Star break. The Ed Davis-Zach Collins pairing, on the other hand, leads the bench and provides solid defense for the Blazers.
Though certain players highlight the win streak, the whole team helped Portland build up breathing room at the third seed. Therefore, to properly look at what’s making the post-All-Star break success possible, team stats must be analyzed, not player stats.
Offense during win streak
In the last eleven games, the Blazers are recording an offensive rating of 110.9, 10th in the league. This is 4.8 points better than the offensive rating across all 68 games.
Damian Lillard’s five-point increase per contest certainly benefits Portland’s offense. At the same time, Zach Collins, Ed Davis, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Evan Turner are all averaging more in March compared to their season-long scoring tallies.
Interestingly, the Blazers still rank last in assists during the eleven-game win streak. Joining Portland at the bottom of the nightly assist numbers are Houston, Oklahoma City and Indiana, all top-four teams in their respective conferences. Successful teams bottoming out assists numbers suggests little correlation between the stat and winning games. Eleven straight wins with minimal assists for Portland supports the conclusion as well.
Shooting percentages across the board changed little with the jump in offensive rating – likely why assists numbers are low despite the streak of victories.
- Field goal percentage: 45.2% (season), 44.8% (win streak).
- Three-point percentage: 38.0% (season), 38.3% (win streak).
- Free throw percentage: 80.1% (season), 80.1% (win streak).
Defense during win streak
Portland’s defense has faded since its top-five ranking at the start of the 2017-2018 season. Nonetheless, the team currently ranks eighth in the league for defensive rating at 104.1, tied with the Houston Rockets.
In the eleven consecutive victories, the Blazers jump to second best defensive rating in the league (99.9). Utah leads the way by a significant margin, though, touting a rating of 91.3.
On the year, Portland allows 103.1 points per game, fifth best in the NBA. Through the win streak, the defense allows 100.2 points per game, trailing just the Jazz and Pacers.
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High steal and block tallies don’t contribute to the Blazers improved defense. No increase in either category across the last 11 games suggests different factors strengthening the already elite defense.
Two defensive stats demonstrate this noteworthy progress: opponent’s three-point percentage and opponent offensive rebounds.
The Blazers hold opposing teams to 36.1% shooting from beyond the arc, 13th in the league. Over the last 11 matchups, opponents convert on 32.1% of their outside attempts, third worst in the Association.
Capitalizing on the missed shots, Portland gives up a league-low 7.3 offensive rebounds per contest. This is a two-rebound improvement on the season’s average. Helping this cause, the team grabs 36.5 defensive rebounds each game, only behind the Jazz, Pelicans and Lakers.
Offense or defense more important?
After specializing in either offense or defense through the first half of the year, the Blazers are finally finding rhythm in both simultaneously.
The offense and defense benefit one another. Therefore, one side of the ball can’t be labelled as the reason why Portland leads the league with an 11-game win streak.
Next: Blazers win 11th straight, beat Cavaliers 113-105
That being said, the eighth ranked defense separates the Blazers from the past two seasons of moderate success. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum don’t need to outgun opponents anymore. The team’s depth also helps by compensating for off-games by the elite backcourt.
All in all, consistent offensive production combined with reliable defense has Portland winners of 11 straight. It’s certainly helpful to have Dame playing like an MVP at the same time as well.