The Portland Trail Blazers take on the Phoenix Suns in their second preseason game. Here are 5 things to keep your eye on.
After suffering a defeat to the Toronto Raptors last Saturday, the Portland Trail Blazers set their sights on the Phoenix Suns in their second preseason game. Their debut game gave us insight to a lot of questions that have popped up over the summer and through Media Day. This matchup against the Suns should illuminate even more.
Here are 5 things to keep your eye on as the game develops.
Will the Blazers move the ball as well as they did in the first quarter of their last game?
Ball movement was undoubtedly a point of emphasis at the start of Portland’s game against Toronto. At the end of the first quarter, nine of the Blazers 11 made field goals came off assists. The team moved relentlessly and consistently around the half-court, and all the talk from Head Coach Terry Stotts about increasing their number of assists this year appeared to be coming to fruition.
Let’s see if they come out the gate passing and moving like they did last Saturday. The more I see this, the more I’ll believe they’ll stick to it when the regular season begins.
Does Stotts play all of his guys again, and how much?
While Toronto coach Nick Nurse elected to keep some guys on the bench, every one of Stotts’s 17 players saw at least seven minutes of action.
I’ll bet we see every Blazer player take the floor again against the Suns. Stotts appears willing to test out all of his guys, including the training camp invitees Chinanu Onuaku, Gary Payton II, and Cam Oliver.
However, the interesting part will be how much the distribution of these minutes change. Will we see Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum play more than just the first quarter? Will Gary Trent Jr lead the team in minutes again (20.5)? Does he give guys like Onuaku and Oliver more playing time to see which would be more capable to take up some minutes in a thin frontcourt in dire situations?
I still think Stotts should experiment more with Onuaku – and that’s not just because I’m a sucker for his underhanded free throws. He looks like he could be a mobile big with some defensive and rebounding potential who could sure up some lineups alongside either Zach Collins or Meyers Leonard.
Can Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas come alive?
Neither Seth Curry or Nik Stuaskas had bad debuts. But they certainly didn’t blow anyone away. And they especially didn’t impress in doing what they were brought in to do, which is be knockdown shooters from the outside.
Curry took only two shots in his 12.6 minutes – making one three-pointer and missing one two-pointer. Stauskas played16.2 minutes and shot four three-pointers but only hit one of them.
Watch for the Blazers to target these guys more, especially Curry. I was surprised we didn’t see him take more shots against the Raptors. Against the Phoenix Suns – who ranked dead last in defensive rating last year – there should be plenty more opportunities for him to shake free.
Keep an eye on both guys and see if there are some more plays ran for them.
The Zach Collins-DeAndre Ayton matchup
Although Jusuf Nurkic will see opening minutes against Phoenix’s first overall pick DeAndre Ayton, Zach Collins will likely see a decent chunk of time where he is matched up against him as well.
Collins played well defensively in Summer League. And while Summer League doesn’t translate perfectly when playing against NBA talent, Ayton is only a couple months removed from Summer League himself. He is obviously very talented in the low post, but he does not have the veteran savvy and experience of someone like Greg Monroe, who dominated Collins last time out.
No doubt, Collins will have his work more than cut out for him if he tries to work down low against Ayton himself. But maybe Ayton’s presence will lead us to seeing a Collins that’s more focused on the perimeter when on offense to keep Ayton away from the basket.
My fingers are crossed Collins comes back in a major way against Phoenix’s newest and most intriguing player. And they’re crossed even tighter that we see Collins return to more of a face-up game than one that sees him forcing his way into the block.
Can Meyers Leonard shoot like he did against Toronto?
Meyers Leonard nailed three of his four attempts from deep in his preseason debut – one of which led to a four-point play.
While he looked a bit scared and confused when he first checked in during the first quarter, once he hit his first shot, he looked like he found a groove. If Leonard can come into this game against Phoenix already looking confident and aggressive, I might be on my way to buying back into him – especially if he hits a few three-pointers in a row.
And I’ll be even more ready to love Leonard if he can grab more than zero rebounds – a big blemish on an otherwise fairly impressive stat-line from last Saturday. He needs to look more aggressive on the glass. At times in Saturday’s game, he looked uninterested in fighting for boards, and if the Blazers look to play him with Collins when Nurkic and Al-Faroqu Aminu, he must be a threat on the glass.
Find out what happens tonight at 7:00 P.S.T.