Portland Trail Blazers: Player grades from domination of the Thunder

The Trail Blazers dominate the Thunder from start to finish and come away with a 136-119 win in Portland Wednesday night.

The Trail Blazers had a much needed win Wednesday night. A win is a win for this Blazer team at the moment, but that’s not the main reason last night felt so good.

It was simply great to see the whole team come together and have exceptional performances. Everyone was in rhythm and it showed on the scoreboard.

The Blazers have not had a game all year that showcased the level of continuity like last night. It was a great night for Rip City and here are the player grades for the best Blazers:

Lillard was excellent last night against the Thunder as he totaled 27 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in just 30 minutes of game time. Dame shot 7-for-15 from the field and caught fire from beyond the arc connecting on 5 of his 9 attempts. Along with the efficiency shooting the ball, Dame managed to only have a single turnover which is crucial for someone who handles the ball as often Lillard. Overall, Dame was special last night which led to him having the highest plus/minus at a +28 differential.

When McCollum plays up to his standards, it has to excite all Trail Blazer fans. CJ did nothing crazy in this game, but played how he should be playing consistently. He was 8-for-16 from the field and hit on 4 of his 7 three-point attempts which led to 22 points on the game. McCollum has continued to play better as he’s still digging himself out of the slump he was in early on in this season.

The double-double machine does it again. Hassan Whiteside may have played his best game of the year last night. Whiteside totaled 21 points on 8-for-13 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line which is beyond efficient. Another positive for Whiteside was his ability to stay on the court by keeping himself out of foul trouble. Whiteside on top of this had 16 rebounds and just 1 turnover completing the impressive performance from Hassan.

Hood performed about as well the Trail Blazers could ask him to. He shot 5-for-6 from the field while knocking down on all 4 of the 3-pointers he attempted. The high efficiency matched with the fact that Hood didn’t account for a single turnover made this a great outing. It was nice to see everyone perform at a high level making this Trail Blazer team extremely lethal for the night.

Melo is back! This outing from Carmelo Anthony was definitely his best to date as a Trail Blazer. He shot ridiculously efficient shooting 9-for-11 from the field totaling 19 points on the game. Anthony looked comfortable all game long against his former team and the city of Portland was behind him. The arena was rocking for the outpour Melo displayed last night which is nice to see in what has been such a dim start to the season for the Blazers.

Although Bazemore finished the game with 0 points, his impact cannot be understated. Bazemore is a hustle player for the Trail Blazers and he showcased it all last night. KB managed to grab 10 rebounds while dishing 4 assists in just 21 minutes of action. Along with boards and assists he made a living on the defensive end managing to total 2 steals and a block to tie his Dennis Rodman type outing together.

An encouraging win from this team with some strong individual performances bodes well for the month of December.