After seeing Atlanta fall to the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday
night I was also able to catch the Portland Trail Blazers play San Antonio last
night. It was Portland’s second game in
two nights on the road as they fell to New Orleans on Tuesday. The Blazers prevailed 110-106 in a tough game
despite some late game miscues. Damian
Lillard and C.J. McCollum starred while new addition Jusuf Nurkic also had a good
game. Lillard led the team with 36
points on 12 of 22 shooting (3/8 threes).
McCollum added 26 hitting both three’s he took. I like what I see from Nurkic. He gave them a solid game at center ending
the night with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 steals. Kawhi Leonard had a great game for San
Antonio 34P, 9R, 6A, 3S, 2B) while
LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points. It
wasn’t enough in the end. After erratic
play early, Portland put together a late surge to put them up enough to hold
off the Spurs. Lillard and McCollum were
once again the driving force and won them the game. Great to get to see the Trail Blazers
play. They are usually on TV too late at
night for my old man schedule. Also nice
to see them win as the season has definitely been a disappointment (30-37)
after winning 44 games last year.
Portland is very reliant on their backcourt as scoring from
their forwards has never materialized.
This will have to be addressed at some point. They gave contract to Maurice Harkless and
Al-Farouq Aminu but they aren’t getting much back for the money spent. Nurkic looks really good right now and I am loving
that trade with Denver. I do think if
Portland can get a bit more punch from the front line they can compete with better
teams. Some better defense is also up
there on the list of needs. Evan Turner
($16M) and Allen Crabbe ($18.5M) are really tying up a lot of money and, while
they are very good in their roles, they can’t be paid that much money to give
the team nine and 10 points respectively.
I expect that to change once McCollum’s four year contract extension
kicks in next season. As is, all the
pressure and shots are coming from the back court and every team knows
that. I believe the future is bright for
Portland. They have two dynamic young stars
that if surrounded by a good supporting staff, can take this team far. I still think they can make it to the playoffs
this year as well (currently 2 games out of the playoffs) but as always there
are good teams in the West that they will have to catch up to and overtake. I have hope…
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