In the biggest game of the season, the Portland Trail Blazers were ready to roll. From the opening tipoff on Tuesday night, it was clear the Blazers were the better team; they looked more prepared, more energized, and more invested in what is definitely the most important game of Tiago Splitter's tenure to this point.
That means something. Splitter now has the Blazers a half-game back of the No. 8 seed in the West, with a chance to sweep the season series in a little over a week. Draft possibilities aside, Tiago Splitter just made his loudest statement as the Blazers' interim head coach. On the first day under new team ownership, may be closer than ever to earning the permanent head coaching gig from the team.
I don't claim to know what Tom Dundon plans on doing with this team's coaching staff next season. I don't claim to know what any billionaire is going to do, ever, and I would rather not know, actually. But it may behoove him, in his first full season, to establish some early continuity and let Splitter have a shot at the full-time position.
Tiago Splitter may have coached his best game on Tuesday
The game strategy was clear from the get-go: beat the Clippers to the punch and crash the boards all night long. Portland out-rebounded Los Angeles 48-30 overall and 18-8 on the offensive glass, spearheaded by the wing duo of Kris Murray and Toumani Camara, who had 4 each. It was a stellar effort from the Blazers on the glass, and every 50-50 ball felt like a 70-30 ball with how energetic Splitter's team was.
Of course, the players deserve a majority of the credit for how they played on Tuesday. Deni Avdija was magnificent, Toumani Camara was a defensive pest per usual, and Jrue Holiday was more aggressive than we've seen in a long time. It's a winning combination — but it's one that feels more cohesive recently, and that credit goes to Splitter.
Early in the season, it felt like the Blazers won a lot of games by accident. It still does feel that way sometimes. But Tuesday was no accident; Portland was the more prepared team, and Tiago Splitter laid out a near-perfect game plan. He's improved leaps and bounds as a coach in just a few months; I don't see what more could have been asked of him this year, no matter how the final few games turn out. Just like rookie players, rookie coaches are often a little unsteady. But Tuesday night was Tiago Splitter's most important audition yet, and he knocked it out of the park.