The Portland Trail Blazers looked lifeless once again Tuesday night, as Carmelo Anthony’s début failed to inspire them vs the Pelicans.
A starting 5 featuring Anfernee Simons, Hassan Whiteside and Carmelo Anthony was not something I would’ve predicted a few months ago for the Portland Trail Blazers, but here we are. Carmelo Anthony’s debut got plenty of social media hype, but turned out to be a dull affair, as the Blazers slumped to a 104-115 loss the the New Orleans Pelicans.
Despite shooting 55 percent from three, the Blazers seemed to be simply outworked by the Pelicans, and it became a difficult watch. Injuries are one thing, and needing time to gel a new team together is another, but half of the players don’t even look bothered! The fact that Nassir Little, a rookie who has started a total of two NBA games, seemed to care the most, is a huge problem for Portland.
CJ McCollum led the Blazers in scoring with 22, with five other players also hitting double figures. Nassir Little was once again bright, as the rookie recorded his first career double double, adding 11 rebounds to his 12 points.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Melo can be useful
First off, I’m not diving into Melo’s plus-minus, or Portland’s numbers with or without him on the floor, or anything ‘Analytics Twitter’ get their retweets off. The guy is 35, and hasn’t played in over a year. He’s going to be rusty.
Secondly, I also don’t think Melo will return as a changed man, and throw it back three years to his All-Star days. Unless you’re Lebron James, life doesn’t work out this way. However, this is not to say Anthony won’t have a role to play on this team, and I did see glimpses tonight, of what that role will look like.
With Damian Lillard out tonight (back spasms), we didn’t see the normal Blazers offense in motion; when Dame returns, Melo will get a lot more looks than vs the Pelicans. Now, the forward had 10 points tonight, shooting an ugly 4-14 from the floor, but what did catch my eye was the three-point percentage. A small sample size admittedly, but Melo was 2-3 from deep, and his shot still looked as smooth as ever.
80% of the time, this is all Melo needs to be. If he can hit shots from outside, his presence alone will improve this team (offensively) when Dame and CJ are on the floor. Don’t look into his five turnovers too much, three of these came from illegal screens, and one brilliant pass inside was dropped by Whiteside.
Melo has a role, we just may need to wait for the Blazers big guns to return (or arrive by trade) to see his best.
Outworked, again
On Monday night, the Blazers got dominated on the glass by a hungry Houston Rockets team, and tonight, it was no different. Portland were once again out-rebounded (54-48), and the Pelicans also pulled down an astonishing 15 offensive rebounds. This is simply unacceptable, and mostly down to effort.
I’ll take this moment to remove Nassir Little from the conversation, as No. 25 pick continued to do the little things superbly tonight, and embarrassed the rest of the Blazers with his work rate. Portland does have a lack of size right now, but this excuse can only get so far. Hassan Whiteside had 14 rebounds, but was outworked, and dominated once again. His inconsistent effort and care is downright inexcusable at this point, and something that needs to be addressed.
Aside from the rebounding, the Blazers just look lifeless at the moment. Forget the injuries, and chemistry, and underperforming, they don’t seem to want it right now. In a conference as deep as this, the Blazers need to sort something out quickly, otherwise they could be out of the playoff picture when Jusuf Nurkic returns.
Nassir Little
He just excites me more and more each time I watch him play. Nassir Little’s energy is simply infectious, and has been the shining light from Portland’s dull beginning to the year. But the rookie showed this evening that he isn’t all hustle and strength, and that he’s a serious player in the making.
With 12 points and 11 boards, Little recorded his first ever double double, and it was throughly deserved. I wrote about his lack of a jump shot on Monday, but Little seems to be making improvements already, as he went 2-2 this evening. Alongside this, Little is a smart basketball player; he cuts effectively, and seems to have a knack for tracking down his teammates misses.
Little led the team in +-, and looks to working his way into a key role for the Blazers. Potential trades to bring another star to Portland have been flying around since the season started, but if Little keeps this up, it’ll prove very difficult for the Blazers to contemplate using him as a trade chip.
Next on the schedule
Portland’s road-trip doesn’t get any easier, as they travel to Milwaukee on Thursday, for a showdown with reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and his high-flying Bucks.