Rip City Project
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What did we learn about Blazers in Game 1 loss to Pelicans?

By Matt George Moore

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 14: Jusuf Nurkic
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 14: Jusuf Nurkic /
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The New Orleans Pelicans throttled the Portland Trail Blazers Saturday night at the Moda Center in Game 1 of their playoff series. Should Rip City worry?

Good news: The Trail Blazers fought, scratched and clawed their way back into a game against the New Orleans Pelicans on a night in which Portland’s stars couldn’t hit water if they were already underwater. And despite a poor shooting night, Portland only lost by two points, 97-95.

Bad news: That final score makes the game appear closer than it actually was. The Trail Blazers fell behind by 19 points and only got within two points on a meaningless, game’s-already-over, three-point shot by CJ McCollum.

Good news: For a short while at the beginning of the second quarter, a squad made up mostly of Portland’s second-teamers not only kept the Blazers in it, but actually took the lead.

The bad news: Portland’s second unit is good — but not good enough to overcome a 6/23 shooting night from Damian Lillard; or a 7/18 night from McCollum; or a 3/7 night (with just 11 points) from Jusuf Nurkic.

And they’re not good enough to stop Rajon Rondo (who had an absurd 17 assists in Game 1) or Anthony Davis, who crammed the stat sheet and was damn-near unstoppable.

Looking Ahead for the Blazers

We could go on and on, writing a whole bunch of good news/bad news scenarios.

But we’re not going to do that.

Instead, we’re going to suggest that the most important thing we all should learn from the Blazers’ Game 1 performance: Don’t panic.

The glass-half-full outlook:

RCP’s Nate Mann has a good piece on the relative performances of Lillard and McCollum and their Pelicans counterparts in Rondo and Jrue Holiday:

"In four matchups versus NOP, Lillard averaged 26.5 points and 2.5 three-pointers on 42.7% shooting. McCollum averaged 17.5 points and 2.5 three-pointers on 35.1% shooting. Neither hit their marks in the first playoff game; Holiday and Rondo outworked them. While the Pelicans’ guards got the playoff memo for all 48 minutes, the Blazers’ didn’t until the final 12."

This is perhaps the most significant takeaway from Game 1: The Pelicans’ backcourt outworked and outperformed the Blazers’ backcourt.

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It’s hard to imagine Lillard and McCollum losing that particular battle over the course of an entire seven-game series.

So Rip City should look for CJ and Dame to bounce back in Game 2 (Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. PDT at the Moda Center).

It’s easy to go all doom and gloom after a Game 1 loss at home. But if we’ve learned anything about this Blazers team, it’s that they’re capable of beating just about anybody in the league.

But time is precious in the playoffs; there are only so many games left for a team to prove its mettle.

Still, let’s not panic, Rip City.

A victory in Game 2 ties the series at one game apiece.

And things will look very different at that point.

And if Portland loses Game 2? Then feel free to start thinking about panicking. A little.

Next: How far must Blazers go for season to be a success?