It’s hard to draw many insights or conclusions from the Portland Trail Blazers’ 119-66 walloping of the London Lions at the Moda Center on Monday afternoon.
Centers Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen looked dominant finishing baskets around the rim, but they were the beneficiaries of an unfair height advantage. Ja Morant, Scoot Henderson and the guard corps hounded ball-handlers and forced turnovers on defense, but even token pressure discombobulated the Lions’ offense. On one highlight, Jrue Holiday
dropped a defender to the floor with a nasty in-and-out move before finding Clingan for the alley oop. But a few minutes later, even Blazers reserve big man Micah Potter put a Lions defender on his butt with a simple blow-by on his way to a two-hand flush.
The Blazers, as expected, thoroughly outclassed their visitors from the UK’s Super League Basketball in front of a sparse and leisurely crowd during the middle of the work day. They played hard and played well, but the massive gap in competition stamped a fat asterisk on the game amidst the already asterisk-laden environment of the NBA preseason.
“Not a whole, whole lot,” Blazers head coach Micah Nori said about what he took away from this game. “I did like the approach. … I thought everybody had the right mindset, the right approach and played the right way.”
Regardless of the competition level, Monday’s matinee gave Morant another live-speed run to settle into his new team and shake off the rust that comes from not playing games since January. It also gave him another chance to display some razzle-dazzle for the home crowd.
Morant spiced up the first-half action with three highlight passes, showcasing the flair that comes so naturally to his game. On two of those plays, Morant, spinning as he released the ball, whipped left-handed, no-look dimes to teammates for easy dunks. On the third highlight, the wiry guard darted into the lane and appeared like he was going to kick the ball out to the perimeter, before swiveling in an instant to toss a perfect lob to Clingan for the slam.
“Not just the crowd, everybody, for us too,” Morant said when asked if was trying to wake up the fans with the flashy play. “We’re used to practicing [at this time], not preparing for a game, so that obviously was different. We had to lock in mentally and be ready for that. But that’s what I just try to bring around here: joy and energy.”
Another highlight toward the end of the first half encapsulated that joy and energy in one bite-sized, shareable clip. Morant pressured a Lions guard on the perimeter, before alertly switching off his man to intercept a pass for an easy breakaway. Morant took his time on the break, reveling in the freedom of the open floor, then cocked the ball back for a powerful two-hand dunk. A smile beamed across Morant’s face through the whole sequence — as he checked the rearview mirror, as he hung on the rim and as he jogged back to the defensive end.
Following a sometimes frustrating preseason debut for Morant last Wednesday that was heavy on rust and turnovers, the two-time All-Star seemed to be enjoying himself much more on Monday. While his at-rim finishing still wasn’t quite there (1-4 from inside the paint), Morant still had a much smoother outing, registering five assists and one turnover in 14 minutes.
“I did pretty good,” Morant said about how he did finding the balance between trying to score and set up teammates. “I was listening [to the coaches].”
Nori believes Morant’s results will continue to trend upward as the team gets deeper into the preseason and beyond.
“I think he’s gonna continue to get better and better and better as he learns his teammates [and gets] back to playing basketball,” Nori said. “And the one thing that we have challenged him to do … is continue to attack the paint. And then with him going to the paint and getting back to ‘old Ja,’ if you will, like he was three, four years ago, and then as he gets in there … those decisions are going to become a little bit clearer. Those pictures when he sees them are going to become a little bit clearer. But I think he’s going to get better and better and better as he does that. I think that Ja is going to be very, very good for us this year, I really do.”
Scoooooot
Perhaps, the other most notable element of Monday’s win was the 3-point shot of Scoot Henderson. The fourth-year guard started off hot against London, shooting 3-3 from beyond the arc in the first quarter and hitting his first four 3-point attempts, before finishing 4-5 from deep for 12 points in 16 minutes.
The shot looked smooth, with two of the makes coming off hard step-back dribbles and two coming off the catch.
With Damian Lillard resting against the Lions, Morant and Holiday started the game for Portland. However, Nori revealed pregame that he plans to start Scoot and Lillard when the team faces Sacramento on the road on Tuesday night.
That combination will make for some intriguing Trail Blazers preseason TV.
