The Portland Trail Blazers came into their Tuesday night game versus the Phoenix Suns in need of a win. As anyone with a failed promposal story can tell you, needing something and getting it are two different
things. The Blazers also learned that tough lesson, getting skewered on the defensive end all night on their way to a 127-110 loss. The game was Portland’s first to be televised on NBC in decades. Except in this case, “NBC” stood for “No Bloody Chance”.
Aside from a couple impressive scoring performances, the word of the night for the Blazers was “ineffective”. The Suns outshot them, outran them, and generally outclassed them. It was as weak of a game as Portland has demonstrated since they lost to a Los Angeles Lakers squad without LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves earlier in the season. The Blazers have the excuse of injuries to several key rotation players, but that’s not going to change soon. If this is the kind of game that results…woof.
Here are some key factors determining the outcome.
Interior Defense
I suspect the league has caught up to Portland’s lack of interior defense, which we discussed a couple days ago. At the outset of the game their shot chart looked like someone spilled an inkwell under the rim. They exploited Donovan Clingan’s lack of lateral mobility, looping shots over his outstretched arms. Portland corrected by sending help into the paint, but that created its own set of difficulties.
Phoenix would finish with 58 points in the paint on the evening, the exact same as the Blazers. The difference is, Portland is the 6th best interior scoring team in the league, Phoenix the 27th. There’s no way it should have been close.
Mark Williams played extremely well, punishing the Blazers with 15 points on 7-9 shooting.
Threes
As soon as the Blazers sank back in the lane, Phoenix started lofting open threes. Royce O’Neal hit a couple, but after that the well went dryer than an Arizona summer. The Suns shot 14-40, 35.0% beyond the arc for the game. This could have been an opening for the Blazers had Portland not fired 10-41, 24.4%.
Sharpe Response
Just when it looked like the Suns might run away with the game early, Shaedon Sharpe came to the rescue in the second quarter. He scored 16 in the frame on his way to 29 points on 12-24 shooting for the game. Supposedly the Suns have the all-world guard in Devin Booker. For a while, at least, Sharpe gave him a run for his money.
Love The One You’re With?
Caleb Love has been much maligned for his propensity to shoot (and a disturbingly large number of misses). But boy did he have a first quarter, scoring a career-high 11 points in that period alone. He finished with 17 points on 7-14 shooting.
Defensive Experimentation
Without any discernible point guard and with Jerami Grant ill, the Blazers started Kris Murray and a bevy of players between 6’7 and Cling Kong sized. You’d have thought that would lead to magnificent defense. Not so much. Quickly, certainly by the time the second unit came aboard, the Blazers switched to a zone defense. The Suns carved that up mercilessly. It was near-embarrassing for Portland.
The Blazers’ problem isn’t eagerness and athleticism. It’s not even initial recognition. They’re not bad on their first reads and they get to spots well. The big question for them on defense is, “What now?” Once they’ve made an initial move, they have to read the floor. Once they’ve gone to help, they have to communicate in order to cover. They’re not great at either. The more you make Portland think and talk, the worse they defend.
Tonight Phoenix scored 100 points by the end of the third quarter. The Blazers have gotten away with that a couple times this year simply because they, too, were scoring big. Tonight it wasn’t even close. Portland was down 20 by that point and that pretty much typifies the game.
Steals
Speaking of lacking point guards, the Blazers had trouble taking care of the ball tonight. The Suns were The Grinch and that orange round thing might as well have been Cindy-Lou Who’s Christmas Ornament. Phoenix generated 19 steals out of 20 overall turnovers. The Blazers need the advantage in that category badly. That’s really hard when you’re losing more steals (19) that total turnovers forced from the opponent (18).
Fast Broken
In the wake of those turnovers, the Suns destroyed the Blazers in fast break points 29-9 That’s supposed to be one of Portland’s advantages. The severe gap the other way tells you everything you need to know about this outing.
Up Next
The Blazers get no rest. They face the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night at the Moda Center at 7:00 PM, Pacific. Hopefully their memory is short and their stamina long.
