Just one night after the Portland Trail Blazers were beaten down by the Philadelphia 76ers, the team bounced back and cruised to an easy 114-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. This was one of the rare instances of the Blazers opening up an early lead and holding onto a fairly-substantial victory. Here are a few notes from the evening.
Players of Note
An alley-oop from Deni Avdija to Donovan Clingan early in the first quarter set the tone for what would be a dominant night for the Portland center. Clingan had a double-double
just 17 minutes into the game. He finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
With a vocal contingent of “Team Turbo” fans in the building, Avdija put his stamp all over this contest, collapsing the defense with slashing drives and displaying brilliant court vision. It wasn’t his most efficient night, though. Avdija finished with 18 points on 4 of 13 shooting.
Stat of the Night
This was not a crisply-played game. A night after the 76ers converted 19 Blazers turnovers into 24 points, the Nets scored 20 points off those same 19 Blazer turnovers.
Fortunately, led once again by Clingan, the Blazers scored 58 points in the paint to Brooklyn’s 48. That made up for it and then some.
What We Noticed
Portland looked to push the pace early, scoring the game’s first ten points. Playing on the Brooklyn Nets’ grayscale court with Portland legend Juwan Howard looking on from the opposing team’s bench, the Blazers led by as many as 31 and never trailed.
Four Nets rookies led the Brooklyn attack. They demonstrated poise if not proficient scoring, cutting the Blazers’ lead to 15 with four minutes to play and forcing Tiago Splitter to keep his starters on the floor late into the fourth quarter.
During what the team is marketing as a postseason push, Portland has now improved to 6-7 since the All-Star break. The team is 9-5 when playing the second game of a back-to-back.
The Blazers currently hold the 10th-best record in the West and would make the play-in tournament if the season ended today.
Up Next
The Blazers get a night off before facing the Indiana Pacers at 4:30 PM, Pacific on Wednesday.
