Post-game analysis: Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz

The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Utah Jazz 126-118 in their penultimate preseason game Wednesday. Here are the key points and takeaways.

With just over a week to go until their season curtain opener, the Portland Trail Blazers excelled offensively and struggled defensively against the Utah Jazz. In a game that featured two of the top teams in the West, both sides came out strong, and went back and forth for most of the game.

Portland’s backcourt tandem of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum showed out, combining for 53 points, whilst Donovan Mitchell was also hot, leading the Jazz with 27 points of his own.

First Quarter

The Blazers started the strongest, racing out to a 14 point lead in no time. Dame and Zach Collins ran the show early on, Collins was perfect from the floor, hitting a couple of sweet looking jumpers on his way to 9 first quarter points. Lillard was also hot, and seemed to hit his stride for the first time this preseason, which was a welcome sight for all Blazers fans. He kicked things off with 13 points in 10 minutes (3-4 from downtown), including this vintage three-ball.

Second Quarter

But despite Portland’s hot start, the Jazz weren’t going anywhere. Although the Blazers shot the ball superbly tonight, my main takeaway was the defensive vulnerabilities, and these really became obvious as the night went on. Portland failed to guard the perimeter, and were out-done by Utah’s ball movement on numerous occasions. Joe Ingles and Mike Conley joined Mitchell by feasting on the poor defensive effort, and Utah went into the break trailing by just two points.

CJ McCollum got going in the second, however, and started to work his deadly mid-range game. The longer I watch McCollum, the more I wonder if there really is any sort of weakness in his offensive game. Tonight he hit threes, he drove the lane, and of the mid-range was smooth as ever. I’m predicting CJ to improve on his points average this year, and also make a serious challenge for an All-Star spot. If he continues to hit shots like below, he certainly has a shot.

Second Half

As preseason games usually do, the last quarters gelled into a fairly laid back and boring encounter. Dame and CJ continued to hit shots, and the Blazers started to edge away. One thing that did impress me was the field-goal percentage tonight — out of the main 10-man rotation, only three Blazers shot below 50 percent from the field. Two of these players were Rodney Hood and Kent Bazemore, who had equally solid games. Even Mario Hezonja went 2-for-4 from three-point land; the new Blazer forwards seem to already be giving Dame and CJ a lot more offensive help.

Portland eventually ran into a 20+ point lead and benched the starters for the majority of the fourth. The only slight concern came from Hassan Whiteside, who seemed to roll his ankle midway through the third quarter. However, he walked off and I’d expect he’ll be fine to start the season. The final quarter became a lot closer than it should have been, with the end of the bench guys making a meal of garbage time, but ended up closing it out by a comfortable margin.

This game proved a few key things to me.

1. Whiteside and Collins look like a lethal defensive partnership. They combined for 3 blocks in the first quarter, and with Collins seemingly making a leap this year, Portland will be able to count on them to lock up the paint.

2. The West will be even more of a fight for home-court advantage, but Dame and CJ look as ready as ever to lead Portland.

3. The second unit needs to work out their defensive issues, and the Blazers need Jusuf Nurkic back. Regardless of Portland failing to guard the perimeter all night, I think Skal Labissiere was the bigger issue. Most of the defensive concerns can be worked out, but with Skal, he just looked lost defensively out there. If he is going to be leading this second unit from the center position, then the Blazers could be in trouble. The sooner Nurk is back, the better.

Catch tonight’s final preseason game as the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Denver Nuggets at 6:00 p.m. PT!