Series stats tell story we see on TV – NOP defense too much for POR
By Nate Mann
The statistics and live TV coverage show a major drop off in Portland’s regular season play compared to this playoff letdown.
For those who didn’t watch the three Blazers playoffs games, stats tell the same story. New Orleans is working harder and its defense won’t give Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum breathing room to run the offense.
Let’s take a look at the numbers telling this sad, sad story.
Damian Lillard
The Pelicans developed its whole defensive scheme around crowding Lillard on the pick-and-roll. Safe to say the plan worked.
So far in the playoffs, Dame’s averaging 18.3 points, 4.3 assists and 5 turnovers while shooting 32.7% from the field. For reference, he averaged 26.9 points, 6.6 assists, 2.8 turnovers and 43.9% shooting on the season.
His assist-to-turnover rate is already poor – 0.87. Even worse: the first game he recorded 7 assists and 0 turnovers. So in Game 2 and 3, he’s lost the ball 15 times for 6 total assists, an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.4.
Additionally, Lillard only attempted 2 free throws in the first two games. He got to the line for over 7 free throws per game in the regular season, but couldn’t break down New Orleans’ guards or draw fouls on the big men.
Related Story: Lillard, McCollum outworked by Rondo, Holiday
Jusuf Nurkic
This playoff series marks Jusuf Nurkic‘s first of his career. He played once against the Warriors last postseason and never before then.
While other playoff-debuts have gone well – Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum – Nurkic struggles versus New Orleans. Anthony Davis clogs the paint, forcing Nurk to shoot from further away, a generally low-percentage shot. Also, the Pelicans won’t allow Lillard to run pick-and-rolls, stopping the usual pass to Nurkic on a cut to the hoop.
He’s averaging 9.7 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block on 38.5% shooting. Like with Dame, his numbers are down across the board, especially field goal percentage.
Terry Stotts noticed Nurk’s shortcomings in the series, therefore limiting his court time. Compared to the 26.4 minutes he played in the regular season, he’s seen 25, 15 and 20 minutes through the three games, respectively.
Blazers offense
In the first three matchups of the series, Portland recorded an offensive rating of 98.8. This is 13th out of the 16 playoff teams and 8 lower than the regular season (106.1).
Besides Al-Farouq Aminu, every Blazers player is struggling from the field, contributing to the lower points per game.
Watching the three games live, New Orleans’ coverage of Portland’s pick-and-rolls causes this offensive deficiency. On Twitter, Jackson Frank of The Charity Stripe broke down what’s happening on these PnR’s.
Pelicans defense
Alvin Gentry prepared the Pelicans well for this matchup. He exploited Rajon Rondo and Jrue Holiday‘s defensive skills to lead the team to a top five playoff defensive rating (98.8). In addition, having Anthony Davis down low helps scare Lillard or McCollum away on drives.
Next: Blazers on brink of elimination
No NBA team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit to win the series. While basketball history has been made once this year (shoutout UMBC), Portland’s performances provide little hope. As the stats and TV show, the Blazers are simply being outplayed by the Pelicans.