Blazers pick Pelicans in season route

The Portland Trail Blazers showed up in New Orleans tonight to play the Pelicans like the kids from South Park showing up to Sesame Street. You’re cute, Elmo, but Cartman needs to eat your lunch and give you some Snuffleupagus sandwiches. That’s just what the Blazers did. In a rare blowout in their favor, the Blazers took a 75-42 halftime lead and cruised to a 119-100 victory.

A tale of two defences

Although this game statistically looks like a scoring fest, defense was the root of success tonight.

The Trail Blazers played their usual switch defense, taken to the extreme. They switched everything, a luxury afforded by Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara in the starting line-up. The Pelicans didn’t get open shots. They couldn’t penetrate effectively and rarely caught the ball at the arc without a man shadowing. The only approach that worked well for them was one-on-one isolation pull-ups from the midrange. Several of these came into the hands of midrange specialist CJ McCollum. He headhunted Deandre Ayton away from the aforementioned contacts and then grilled him repeatedly. But that scoring production wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Portland’s.

The New Orleans defense was almost unmentionable. It wasn’t a question of whether it would break down, but how. The Blazers aren’t the most intimidating screening team in the world, but the Pelicans couldn’t handle even simple screen action. Portland drivers were so free from screen action that they were practically looking back over their shoulders to find the defense. (And no doubt to check if they got Punk’d or something. Seriously, it’s too easy. Where are the hidden cameras?)

When the Pelicans moved extra men to help, the Blazers executed smart passes. Honestly, they only had to make one. New Orleans didn’t rotate at all after the first punt. Their passing lane defense was non-existent. Three-pointers were ridiculously open for Portland, and the Blazers cashed in.

Oh, and just in case the CJ-vs-Ayton action on the other end hurt, the Blazers returned the favor by going hard on McCollum. CJ couldn’t keep anyone in front of him and ended up giving back everything he took.

How bad was it? Up until the 3:00 mark in the third, when the Blazers went bench heavy up 30, Portland shot 70% from the field. 7 out of every 10 shots. Wow.

Pull Ups

The Blazers guards had their way at the rim and the arc, but they also made good use of an underrated aspect of the game: pull-up jumpers. Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson both have that move in their arsenal. An 8-10 foot shot is almost as good as a layup when they get separation. Both took advantage of those opportunities. It’s a trait they should dust off more.

Size

The Blazers are one of the tallest teams in the league. It was visible tonight. They had a size advantage at every position. It showed in rebounding, defense and the separation on shots we just talked about. It almost seemed like New Orleans belonged in a different league. Much of it was effort; the Pelicans gave none. But Portland’s height advantage contributed.

Turnover

As if scoring wasn’t easy enough, the Blazers converted 15 points out of 19 New Orleans turnovers. Normally, Portland approaches 20 turnovers per game. game. It was nice to see the other team do it for a change.

Sharp scoring

Speaking of scoring, Shaedon Sharpe sure made it look easy, converting 13 shots for 21 total points. Every once in a while you get a glimpse of what makes him special. The relenting New Orleans defense lifted the curtain on his potential.

The only guy who outplayed Shaedon was Deni Avdija, who celebrated with layups and threes and scored 26 on 15 shots.

Paint points

The Blazers beat New Orleans 62-44 in the paint. Smashy Smashy.

Always one thing

The Blazers were up the entire second half and New Orleans barely threatened, but their starters came back for the shift in the fourth quarter and stayed pretty late considering they had another game tomorrow night. It’s an odd choice in an otherwise fantastic night. Learn to take yes for an answer.

Next

Box score

The blazers get Dallas Mavericks tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m., Pacific start.