Trail Blazers: Takeaways from home rout of Oklahoma

The Portland Trail Blazers won two straight for the first time in over a month, as they comfortably put away OKC at home.

All of a sudden, things are looking up for the Portland Trail Blazers. The 136-119 destruction of the Thunder makes it two blowouts in a row, and the Blazers are looking like a serious team again.

A 42-point first quarter seemingly put the game to bed after 12 minutes; the Blazers started off 9-9 from the field, and were moving the ball with terrific intensity.

Damian Lillard led the team in scoring with 27 points but once again, the love was shared around, as Portland had 6 players in double figures with scoring. Carmelo Anthony had himself another night in his home début, and checked out to ‘Melo’ chants with 9 minutes remaining, after scoring 19 points.

Melo chants fill Moda

And for good reason! Carmelo Anthony is back from the dead, and ready to drop 20 on every person who doubted him in the past year.

The veteran had 19 points on 9-11 shooting, and is looking like the scorer from 5 years ago. Melo has settled into Portland’s offense perfectly, and is opening so many doors.

It is extremely easy to buy into all this Melo hype (I for one have already ordered my jersey), but no doubt about it, we are seeing a different Melo than the one from his Thunder/Rockets days. He’s not stagnating the offense, he’s moving the ball, he’s not a liability on defense. No one can deny that Carmelo Anthony has come in, and made the Portland Trail Blazers better.

Even off the court, his presence seems to have added a feel-good factor, and the team is performing off of it. The acquisition has given everyone a clear boost, and tonight proved how much Melo can genuinely lift this team.

He’s still got his vintage moves, but he’s returned with a new mindset, and he’s ready to play a big role this year.

Starting 5

With 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the score stood at 116-83. Of these 116 points the Blazers scored, the starting 5 combined for 95 of them. Lillard and McCollum both scored 20 plus, and the other three (Hood, Anthony, Whiteside) all shot over 60 percent from the field.

This starting five can do some serious damage, as it can constantly provide open looks on the offensive end. Tonight, Hassan Whiteside benefited, as the center had 19 points and 12 rebounds at the half.

Damian Lillard is always good for 25+, but the Blazers are best when he gets to distribute first, and this lineup allows him to do that. With Anthony and Hood in the corners, teams cannot afford to double Lillard, or anyone, for that matter. There are four guys who can shoot from outside, finish at the rim and create their own shot, that’s a problem to guard. Add in a big who can (when interested) finish above the rim with ease, and the Blazers have a offensive lineup that can compete with the very best in the league.

This line-up, and more significantly Carmelo, opens up so many doors for the Blazers. Obviously they’re in a purple patch right now, but the offense from the last two games is definitely sustainable, a healthy Nurkic and some smart front office decisions catapults this team into serious contention.

Time to turn the season around

With 12 of their next 15 games at home, and only 3 of these games coming against teams above .500 (Lakers 2x, Timberwolves), the time to move is NOW.

The Blazers are only 2 games back from the playoffs, but as a team that started this season with championship aspirations, sneaking into the postseason is certainly not the goal. But with a generous schedule coming up, now is the time to string together a win streak, as the league starts to divide up into serious teams and the rest.

With the starters playing this well, I’m confident Portland can begin to make huge strides up the West rankings, and have themselves in a decent position for Jusuf Nurkic’s return. Because the current roster, if we’re counting in trade assets, has tremendous upside, an upside that includes Nurkic.

However, in a conference as deep as the West, time is running out to mount a comeback, and the time to start moving won’t be there for too much longer. Get back to .500 in this home-stand, get Nurkic back, and the Blazers turn into a huge dark-horse for the 2020 playoffs.

The Blazers are back on Friday evening, as they meet the struggling Chicago Bulls once again.