The Portland Trail Blazers are now 6-7 on the season after a deflating 138-133 overtime road loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Don't let the high-scoring nature of the game deceive you: the Blazers lost this one because of their lackluster offense.
It was the first game of the season Portland played without veteran Jrue Holiday, who was out due to calf soreness. While Holiday had made his Hall of Fame case with a reputation for being one of the league's best perimeter defenders, he's arguably been more impactful for Portland on the offensive end this season.
The Blazers offense needs Jrue Holiday's unselfishness
The Blazers still managed to put up 133 points without Holiday initiating the offense, but that was primarily because these were two teams ranked in the top five in pace of play colliding.
Portland has established its identity as a team that gets its advantage by winning the possession battle. That was the case in this contest as well, as they attempted 113 field goals compared to Dallas' 95. Part of the reason behind that field goal disparity was that the Blazers had 22 offensive rebounds and surprisingly won the turnover battle, even without Holiday, coughing the ball up just 12 times.
However, we must look deeper into these stats and wonder why that was the case. The Blazers had plenty of offensive rebounding opportunities because they shot just 41% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc. Additionally, they didn't turn the ball over because oftentimes it was Deni Avdija, Jerami Grant, and Shaedon Sharpe taking turns playing isolation ball.
It was a brutal formula to watch, as Portland's offense was entirely too stagnant. It gave us flashbacks to how the Blazers played last season, which should serve as a reminder of the value of having Holiday's veteran presence and unselfish mindset on this roster.
Some of the criticism surrounding the Holiday trade was that he would be cutting into Sharpe's touches in the backcourt, potentially hindering his development. But more shot attempts don't necessarily translate to linear player growth; at a certain point, it's diminishing returns if a player is forcing the issue too much. That's exactly what happened here with Sharpe recording a game-high 36 points, but at the expense of 12-of-32 shooting from the field.
Portland's youth got all the touches they wanted, but the offense turned into hero ball. It wasn't just Sharpe either. Avdija thought he was Damian Lillard with an egregious and unnecessarily difficult step-back three with the Blazers tied at the end of regulation. In that case, it actually was a "bad shot."
Holiday has been off to a strong start in Portland, which already justifies their Anfernee Simons swap with the Boston Celtics. But this game just showed that the Blazers need Holiday for the bigger picture of changing the entire culture with less hero ball and more winning basketball.