The Portland Trail Blazers played a broken version of the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night at the Moda Center. Giannis Antetokounmpo did not play in the game. Five other potential Milwaukee starters sat too. The Bucks started Pete Nance and AJ Green, not exactly Larry Nance and A.C. Green. With the Blazers set up like a fine, Pacific Northwest craft beer and the Bucks like a 24-pack of Milwaukee’s Best Light, this game wasn’t supposed to be close. And it wasn’t. Portland put the opponent down 42-27
in the first period, winning by a final score of 130-99. The victory sent their record to .500 at 37-37 on the season, keeping them within half a game of the Los Angeles Clippers in the struggle for the 8th position in the Western Conference playoffs race.
Here are some observations from the game.
Big Man
With the Bucks starting nobody over 6’10 and everyone in their uniform slight of frame, Blazers center Donovan Clingan might as well have been Paul Bunyon out there. He rebounded like Dennis Rodman, blocked shots like Dikembe Mutumbo, and dunked like…well…Donovan Clingan, but that’s fine. One nice thing about Clingan is that he doesn’t ease up, even against weaker opponents. He wants to hurt you. If you’re still on his hardwood after he makes that clear, that’s on you. The Blazers could use more of that attitude.
Clingan finished the game with 14 points, 15 rebounds (6 offensive), 3 assists, 4 steals excuse me, and 2 blocked shots. That’s like going to an MC Hammer concert and also seeing MC Screwdriver, MC Socket Wrench, and MC Bandsaw for free.
Threes Make It Easy
Portland sometimes shoots the three-pointer well, sometimes defends the arc well. Tonight they did both. The Blazers shot 19-41, 46% from distance, allowing Milwaukee 14-45, 31%. When that happens, nothing else is going to matter.
Right Down the Line
Free throws are one sign of a healthy Trail Blazers attack. Tonight Portland got 33 attempts from the line, 13 more than the Bucks. When you hit more foul shots (27) than the opponent attempts (20), things are going to go well for you.
Can’t Shake It
Despite the impressive showing, a couple of foibles in Portland’s attack continued.
First, their turnovers remained high. Even against a less-than-intimidating opponent, the Blazers committed 21 TO’s, giving up 29 points off of them.
Second, despite forcing Ryan Rollins into five (5) turnovers, the Blazers let him get a career high with 36 points on 13-26 shooting, 6-12 from the arc. I mean, who else was scoring for the Bucks? Their next-leading scorer was Ousmane Dieng with 16. Not being able to stop one guy with a spotlight bright enough to make his sneakers iridescent is not a good sign for any actual postseason hopes. Yeah, Milwaukee was trying to free him consciously, but it shouldn’t work THAT well. Most of those playoffs teams have three Ryan Rollinses at least, so…
Up Next
The Blazers get another winnable game on Friday, facing the Dallas Mavericks in Portland with a 7:00 PM, Pacific start time.
