The Clippers punch the Portland Trail Blazers in the mouth
By Andy Quach
The Portland Trail Blazers defense reared its ugly head
The Blazers defense will be a popular topic of discussion this season, as most people know that their offense is of championship caliber. If they have a defense to match, they can make some serious noise in the playoffs.
Last game against the Phoenix Suns, Portland showed that they have the capability to play elite defense with great help coming from the weakside, strong perimeter stoppage, and impeccable rotations.
As I noted in my takeaways from that game, though, the Blazers new defensive scheme leaves little margin for error. If an attacker is able to get past his man, Portland’s quick reaction to send help — sometimes from multiple areas at the same time — leaves them susceptible to kick-out threes, lobs, and dump-offs.
In the first half, the Clippers took full advantage of Portland’s suddenly sluggish defense. Luke Kennard was able to find 17 first-half points, including 4-5 from beyond the arc.
With how much the backline of the defense has to watch the ball, to remain alert in case they need to send help towards the driver, Portland can get lost on off-ball screens pretty easily. Clippers Head Coach Ty Lue took full advantage of this fact, sending Kennard through myriad picks for quick trigger triples.
This is still the scheme that the Blazers need to run with their personnel, as the multiple defensive holes in their roster leave little other options, but Portland showed their backsides tonight down two of their better perimeter stoppers in Powell and Tony Snell.
Dame and CJ were able to do a good job containing Phoenix’s elite backcourt in Chris Paul and Devin Booker, but showed their limits tonight against a bigger, more athletic tandem of ball-handlers in Paul George and Reggie Jackson.
If Portland can’t guard the point of attack, their defense will continue to be exposed.