The late 1970’s saw the birth of a musical genre called Speed Metal. An offshoot of Heavy Metal, the basic idea was to forget melodic lyricism and traditional skill in favor of technique pointed in a single
direction: playing fast.
No analogy could be more apt for the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat, the Kings of Speed in the 2025-26 version of the NBA. Dueling much of the season for the lead in pace, Portland and Miami faced each other on Saturday evening. The result was a frantic shot-fest in which the teams combined for 204 attempts while shooting only 28.2% from the arc. The final result was a 136-131 victory for Miami, more as a result of outlasting the opponent than outplaying them.
Here are observations from this fast, mostly-fun game.
Transition and Turnovers
It’d be inaccurate to say the Blazers depend on forcing turnovers and getting out in transition solely to win games. That’d be like saying Tom Cruise’s career was defined solely by the Mission Impossible franchise. That’s not true. But those movies didn’t exactly hurt him, right? That’s the same way turnovers and fast break points work for the Blazers.
Tonight Portland forced 14 turnovers while committing 20 themselves. 17 of those were Miami steals. If Gordon Lightfoot were still with us, he’d probably be writing a sad ballad about that ratio as we speak.
Fortunately, the Heat scored 24 on the break against 26 for the Blazers. Anecdotally, the number of times Miami got a player right down the middle in transition against pairs of Blazers defenders–receiving a pass and dunking as Portland flagged and/or flailed–was somewhat distressing. But since the Blazers gave it right back, it didn’t matter. This was more a case of Portland giving up a potential advantage than committing a fatal flaw.
Threes vs. Paint Points
There’s no doubt that three-pointers saved the Blazers in their Wednesday night victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Arc shots allowed Portland to break a turnover/transition stalemate with the World Champs.
Portland tried to lean on that pillar again in this one, attempting 51 threes and making only 14. Their problem wasn’t Miami’s deep shots in return. Instead, Miami scored 74 in the paint. The easy points ended up trumping the long ball. It was an issue for the Blazers all night long, one they had trouble overcoming.
Mid-to-Deep Bench
Given the Blazers’ injuries–to Scoot Henderson, Matisse Thybulle, Blake Wesley, among others–the Blazers are thin in their mid-bench. At this kind of pace, with this style of play, they don’t have the luxury of playing starters 40 minutes and calling it good. They have to get productive minutes from their low-rotation players.
Here’s what the numbers looked like tonight:
Duop Reath–6 points and 3 rebounds in 12 minutes with two triples hit.
Kris Murray–6 points and 3 rebounds in 22 minutes.
Sidy Cissoko–3 points and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes.
Robert Williams III–0 points, 3 rebounds in 7 minutes.
Considering these players were not expected to impact games at all at the start of the year, that production isn’t horrible. But if the Blazers need numbers and aggression in these slots, it’s probably not enough.
Holiday Road
Admittedly, nobody doesn’t like Jrue Holiday, the defense and distribution he’s brought to this team. But Holiday has appeared to slow down and become mortal over the last few games after a hot start to the season. Tonight he shot 6-19, 3-10 from distance and appeared slightly slow getting back on the break at various times.
On the other hand, when you need a critical shot, pass, or stop, nobody on the team is better than Jrue. He had 13 (count them…thir-TEEN) assists.
It feels like this season is going to be a matter of him picking his spots and the Blazers finding out how to not over-use him.
Rebounds
Extra shots are a staple of the Trail Blazers offense. Tonight they got them via offensive rebounds. Portland had 22, dominating the (poor-rebounding) Heat in classic style. Some nights that’s more important than others. With the Heat playing fast, Portland’s ability to play big paid dividends, keeping them in the game when the shooting went cold.
Free Throws
The Blazers have a couple of weaknesses this season. One of them is definitely ending up on the wrong end of whistles. That’s partially a byproduct of their style of play. Tonight they gave Miami 36 free throw attempts while taking only 23 themselves. Portland ended up -9 in free-throw-point margin. Deni Avdija had 5 fouls; Jerami Grant fouled out in 22 minutes of play.
Deni’s All Nighter
Deni Avdija is playing as confidently as an individual as we’ve ever seen him. He scored 33 tonight, shooting 12-21 from the floor, 3-9 from distance. He had 11 rebounds and 8 assists. When the Blazers need a shot or tempo up the floor, Deni is their man right now.
Sit Your Stars
A couple games ago the Blazers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers without LeBron James, Luka Doncic, or Austin Reaves in uniform. Tonight Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro both sat, leaving Norman Powell as the only Miami player with significant name recognition. Apparently the key to beating Portland is fielding an obscure lineup?
Up Next
The Blazers get a travel day before facing the Orlando Magic at 4:00 PM, Pacific on Monday.
