With the help of their defense, Portland has been able to dominate opponents so far this year. However, they also have a very potent offense that can really put points on the board when it’s clicking. With 3 Trail Blazers takingaways from Wednesday night’s dominating blowout victory over Phoenix Suns, let’s see what we learned about them in tonight’s game..
The “portland nba” is the Trail Blazers victory over the Phoenix Suns. The game was a blowout victory, and there were three takeaways from it.
PORTLAND, Ore. On Saturday night, the Portland Trail Blazers blew away the Phoenix Suns 134-105 at Moda Center, earning their first victory of the regular season and the Chauncey Billups era. Here are four key lessons from Portland’s rout of the Western Conference champs, a game that was just as lopsided as the final score indicated.
Ceiling Scratching
In every sense of the word, this game was a blowout. The Blazers outscored the Suns by 36 points from outside the arc, virtually tripling their attempts with 50 triples—a mark Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and the rest of the team only achieved four times last season. In comparison to Phoenix’s 15, Billups’ squad had just nine turnovers. The Suns only scored six fast-break points, while Portland raced out to a 21-point lead in transition after scoring just two in the first half.
With his team unable to stop the hemorrhage, Monty Williams raised the white flag at the 9:42 mark of the fourth quarter, sending his starters to the bench for the last time as Phoenix trailed 116-83. With 6:25 remaining in the game, Billups brought in Greg Brown III and Ben McLemore to give the Blazers’ deep backups a chance to play in lengthy garbage time.
C.J. Elleby, who had taken over for McCollum 90 seconds earlier, had just completed a lob from Nassir Little with two-handed power, bringing the Moda Center to its feet once again.
@Dennis1SmithJr | @EllebyCj AIR ELLEBY pic.twitter.com/3MPA5gztGh
October 24, 2021 — Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers)
After the game, Billups didn’t mince words. After drying off in a rainy, noisy post-game locker room after celebrating his first professional victory, the rookie coach affirmed what seemed obvious: Portland had hit its peak.
“To be honest, we played as well as we could,” Billups remarked. We took pictures. We performed a fantastic job on defense. The basketball was taken care of by us. We were laser-focused on every aspect of our coverage. And…man, that was stunning. It was a sight to see. And it was inspiring not just for myself, but also for the boys to see what we can do when we put our minds to it.”
The Suns were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, so the second game of the season isn’t the time to plan long-term. The Blazers won’t hit 21 threes every night, and Phoenix will almost certainly shoot better than 32.1 percent from outside the arc the next time these teams meet—shooters like Cam Johnson, Landry Shamet, and Jae Crowder all had several solid opportunities, primarily early—
However, as Billups said, Portland will never play better than it did on Saturday. Now that the Blazers have set their ceiling, the next step is to scrape it on a regular basis.
Is it possible to lose Norm? Getting a Small-Ball Advantage
McCollum was Portland’s leading scorer against Phoenix, scoring 28 points on a seemingly unending string of mid-range and three-point pull-up jumpers. In fact, none of his baskets made it inside the paint, much less the restricted area. McCollum, on the other hand, may have played Robin to Norman Powell’s Batman if the latter hadn’t injured his left knee halfway through the second quarter, putting a stop to a hot streak that seemed set to continue.
Powell scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in just over 12 minutes of action, taking advantage of his height and athleticism to outscore Chris Paul and Landry Shamet. Powell’s injury occurred just after he had scored eight points in a row, increasing the Blazers’ advantage to 19. He limped off the court and into the locker room, with the Blazers ultimately declaring after halftime that he wouldn’t be back for the rest of the game.
After the game, Billups gave no update on Powell’s condition, just saying that he’d previously had an MRI. Powell’s absence for a lengthy time would obviously be difficult for the Blazers. However, his absence prompted Billups to use small-ball lineups for the first time, with Larry Nance Jr. at center, which sparked Portland’s transition attack—and once again praised the bench.
“I like our depth, I truly do,” Billups said of the Blazers’ slimmed-down lines to ClutchPoints. “Obviously, Larry plays a majority of his minutes at the four right now because we have two pretty talented centers in [Jusuf Nurkic] and [Cody Zeller].” In a pinch, though, playing Larry at the small-ball five will be a weapon for us all season. And, even if we have to move [Nassir Little] to the 4, I’m OK with it. So I believe it’s just a luxury to have depth on our squad, as well as players who can play numerous roles. For us, it’s a weapon.”
Powell is someone to keep your fingers crossed for. Let’s hope Saturday’s episode was nothing more than a scare, demonstrating the effectiveness of different incarnations of small-ball that the Blazers didn’t have last season.
Simons and Little Reunite
Before he died, Powell was preparing a meal. McCollum’s jumper was on autopilot the whole game, and he provided great individual defense on Devin Booker at times. In pick-and-roll action, Lillard persistently attacked downhill, scoring, helping a teammate, or forcing the defensive help that sparked Portland’s much-improved ball and player movement.
However, there’s an argument to be made that Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little were just as excellent as the Blazers’ starting guards against Phoenix—at least for a portion of the game. Both played crucial roles in Portland putting Phoenix away early, based on competent but relatively unspectacular opening-night performances.
Little, who Billups praised for his all-out effort, seemed like the greatest athlete on the court at times, chasing down rebounds with vigor, sprinting in transition, and finishing with grace and power near the rim. On Saturday night, no one played harder or more forcefully than Little.
There was so much going on that we completely forgot to share this!
This image has now been added to the Nassir Little fan page. twitter.com/LPyeOEurxi
October 24, 2021 — Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers)
His seven field goals, with the exception of one, were all made in the restricted area. What about the other? A difficult catch-and-shoot three from the corner between two Suns defenders—the kind of outstanding shot-making that Simons is rapidly growing used to.
Simons’ playing was again highlighted by how relaxed he seemed with the ball in his hands. Before this season, he couldn’t have made a move like this in an NBA game.
Little and Simons aren’t exactly who they were last night. It will take half a season of games at that level for them to accept it as their new normal. Even if that best-case scenario doesn’t pan out, the fact that Little and Simons are capable of tandem efforts like Saturday’s is a huge plus for Portland.
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