Portland Trail Blazers: 3 things to watch for in Orlando

The Portland Trail Blazers take on the Orlando Magic, hoping to bounce back from their first loss of the season. Here are three things to watch for.

The Portland Trail Blazers will hope to start off their three-game Eastern Conference road trip off right against the Orlando Magic. After three-days rest and a heartbreaking loss to Washington, there’s no reason Rip City shouldn’t have a big bounce back game against one of the league’s most miserable teams of the last few years.

Here are three things to watch for in Blazers vs. Magic:

Higher assist numbers

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Through three games, the Blazers sit at 20th in the league for assists per game (22.3). While this is better than their 30th rank from a year before, they still aren’t reaching the heights they did in this year’s preseason.

Then, they were ninth in the league with 25.4.

During the offseason, GM Neil Olshey and Head Coach Terry Stotts harped on increasing the team’s ball-movement this year. However, the Blazers seem to be falling more into their usual high pick-and-roll actions.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this – the team is performing at a high level. But perhaps against a team like the Magic, they could have more freedom to run these newer sets.

Watch to see if the Blazers commit to setting each other up more from the field for easier buckets.

A bounce back from CJ McCollum

Against the Wizards, CJ McCollum was pretty awful.

He ended the night with 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two turnovers on 5/25 shooting. Definitely, that will be a night for him to forget.

While someone like the Magic’s Jonathon Simmons could give McCollum some trouble, the rest of their guard rotation should allow him to get some good looks at the basket. Terrence Ross, D.J. Augustin, and Jerian Grant will have their hands more than full dealing with Portland’s star-studded backcourt.

Watch for the Blazers to get McCollum going early. I’d like to see him use this game against the Magic as mouthwash, to get the bad taste from his performance against Washington out of his mouth.

Al-Farouq Aminu doing well on both sides

Al-Farouq Aminu was shooting very poorly coming into the game against Washington. But against the Wiz, he was Mr. Reliable, shooting six for eight from the field and nabbing 15 rebounds.

Of course, he wasn’t guarding a legitimate star like he did in Los Angeles with LeBron James or in San Antonio with LaMarcus Aldridge. He certainly had more energy to focus on offense in the last game than he did in the previous two.

Against the Magic, Aminu will need to dig into his assignment, Orlando’s best player Aaron Gordon. This will give him the perfect chance to prove he can contribute on both sides of the ball, even when he is guarding one of the opposition’s best players.

Chief will need to knock down the open looks he finds himself with every game. If he can carry the momentum he grew against Washington, he will be a dangerous role player, able to effect the game on both sides while stretching the floor for the backcourt and Nurkic down low.

The action starts at 4:00 P.S.T. Let’s get that W.