After dropping a critical game to the Golden State Warriors 127-118, the Portland Trail Blazers have some serious adjustments to make.
In a turn of events nobody expected, the Portland Trail Blazers dropped a supposed “gimme” game against the Golden State Warriors — undermanned and missing all five of their regular starters.
This marks the Blazers’ third loss in their last four games, and may serve as a sign indicative to larger scale problems lying underneath the surface. Big changes will probably be made, but not all in one day.
For now, here are their individual player grades from Monday night’s action.
I’m not entirely sure Damian Lillard is ever going to have a bad game. Seriously. Even in games when his shots aren’t falling, he’s always looking to set his teammates up and create better shot opportunities for to help propel the Trail Blazers to victory.
Last night was not one of those nights. Lillard drilled 15-of-26 shot attempts and even knocked down five triples. He was a one man show on offense and probably would have ended up with a double-double if not for his teammates’ inability to hit their shots. Lillard has been stellar this season and Portland’s early struggles are through no fault of his own.
Is the real CJ McCollum? Am I to believe Dame didn’t possibly bring back a Monstar from the set of Space Jam 2 that drained all of CJ’s talent when no one was looking? McCollum has earned his place in the league by being a knockdown shooter with one of the best mid-range games in the NBA. So far, he’s not been able to consistently do either. When his defense and playmaking are both also very subpar, he leaves a lot to be desired. Let’s hope CJ shows a marked improvement in the coming days, instead of plodding around the court like a man who just got paid $100 million.
This was the version of Hassan Whiteside the Trail Blazers are going to need if they want to become a legitimate title contender. Unfortunately the other pieces wouldn’t come together Monday night, but Whiteside’s individual performance left a strong impression. Whiteside was a force in the paint, collecting boards and swatting shots left and right. He posted an efficient 10-for-14 from the field, and prevented Willie Cauley-Stein from having a noticeable impact on the game. Let’s hope we see more of this in the future.
Is Glenn Robinson III an All-NBA defender now, or am I missing something. As a matter of fact, let’s get Kent Bazemore in here too. Both Rodney Hood and Bazemore deserve a D grade for their performances last night. The two combined for 11 points on 4-for-18 shooting from the field. These two are meant to be the guys that provide extra hustle and help uplift the Blazers when Dame and CJ’s efforts aren’t enough. Instead, the two made bad decisions all night, repeatedly dribbled out the clock, and committed more fouls than shots made. Rough night.
There were moments where Anfernee Simons genuinely looked like the second best player on the court on Monday. He exhibited a bit of his natural shot creation ability, and provided a spark for the Trail Blazers off the bench. He scored 19 points on just 10 shots and pocketed a pair of steals. Unfortunately, those moments were few and far between due to his minutes management. Simons can no longer be restricted to 19 minutes in games where Portland is losing to inferior teams and McCollum is underperforming. If that means he has to be the one to close out games, so be it.
In fairness, Anthony Tolliver was never brought to Portland to be a starter. He was meant to fill a role as a sharpshooter off the bench that can provide some spacing when needed. Thanks to incessant injuries, we’re in this position nonetheless. Tolliver is the weak link in the Trail Blazers’ starting five, and looks to be one of the worst starting players on any playoff contending team period.
Eric Paschall has been one of the more uplifting stories in the NBA this year after being drafted in the late second round, but it’s Tolliver’s job as a veteran in the league to not allow an unproven rookie from upstaging him. Paschall exploded for 34 points and 13 rebounds while Tolliver struggled on defense and shot 1-for-5 from the field. I think we’ve seen enough of the Tolliver experiment.
Let’s hope the Portland Trail Blazers manage to bounce back in their next matchup against the LA Clippers.