The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Phoenix Suns 132-119 on Wednesday evening, keeping their road record perfect and making their overall record 6-1. The Blazers withstood the Suns’ best push, shove, and grab in the first quarter, settling into a comfortable lead in the second quarter that they would successfully defend the rest of the game. Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 25 points, Donovan Clingan grabbed 10 rebounds and Deni Avdija had 12 assists. Devin Booker led all scorers with 33 in a losing
effort.
Here are some observations from the win in Phoenix.
Defense for the Win
Portland’s defense wasn’t terrible in the first quarter when the Suns built a five-point lead. Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Jalen Green put up some points, and the Suns were hitting some mighty tough shots in that first frame. The Blazers took their acceptable defense from the first quarter and parlayed that into stifling second-quarter defending. That translated into missed shots for the Suns, turnovers and fast breaks for Portland. The Blazers held the Suns to 25 points in the second quarter while scoring 43 themselves, setting themselves up for a comfortable win.
Vit Krejci
I’ve always loved the idea of Vit Krejci. The three-point shooting he demonstrated when he was with Atlanta would be perfect for this Blazers team. For whatever reason it just hasn’t worked out that way so far in Portland. Nevertheless, I really liked Krejci’s game tonight. Ok, not the 25% shooting from deep on the evening, but he contributed in other ways. I thought he was the best defender the Blazers threw at Booker, and his offensive energy, five points, three rebounds, and two assists made his 12:22 on the court valuable to the team. There have been a few times this season where his first appearance in the game was his last, so it was nice to see a performance that warranted an encore in the second half. Unfortunately, his second appearance was cut short by a lower left leg injury while trying unsuccessfully to draw a charge late in the third quarter.
To make matters worse, Blazers head coach Micah Nori told reporters after the game that Krejci fractured his lower leg on the play.
Jrue Holiday
Holiday is adding starter-quality minutes off of the bench. If Krejci couldn’t deliver timely threes, Holiday could and did. He finished shooting 55.6% from the field as well as from deep, tallying 15 points along with four rebounds. Holiday is making himself a legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidate, and tonight he laid down another marker.
Halftime Adjustment
Things went quite well thank you very much in the second quarter, but there was still one glaring deficiency: rebounding. The Blazers simply didn’t track down as many rebounds as the Suns did in spite of many more misses from the Suns, giving Phoenix a 26-20 advantage at halftime. You love to see a team that comes out at halftime and fixes a problem, and Blazers did just that. They finished with an astounding 62 to 46 advantage for the game, making up the first-half deficit and then some. Good coaching, good extra effort from the players, and a great result.
Matching the Scrap, but Staying in Control
This game teetered on the edge a few times with a lot of pushing, shoving, jawing, hard picks, straight-line drives into the body, and players splayed out on the floor. The Blazers played with the right amount of aggression, not backing down to anyone but never stepping over the line. A memorable moment came when Brooks kicked out following an after-the-whistle shot, connecting with Lillard’s legs. Lillard got in Brooks’ face and let him know what’s what, and spent the next minute of game time re-emphasizing the point, all while playing his position with aplomb. That’s leadership, playing the mind games while never sacrificing your advantage.
Triple Play
Deni Avdija, Damian Lillard, and Donovan Clingan all deserve to be singled out for their play tonight. Avdija scored 21 along with 7 rebounds and a remarkable 12 assists, Lillard led the Blazers with 25 points, and Clingan had 11 rebounds, 24 points while shooting 75% from the field including a three-pointer. Any one of these players could have had an off night and the Blazers probably would have been fine, but having them all contributing at this level is a luxury we haven’t seen in Portland for some time.
Boxscore
Up Next
The four-game road trip concludes with Portland’s first NBA Cup game as they face the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Game time is 7:00 PM Pacific. After that, the Blazers head home, but they will barely have time to unpack as they have to host the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday at 7:00.
