Blazers burn bulls in energetic outing

The Portland Trail Blazers entered their Sunday contest against the Chicago Bulls on the losing end of five straight looking like a team headed nowhere. The tour took a detour in this game. After a first quarter of all-too-familiar futility, Portland’s bench unit provided a spark in the second quarter that ignited into a full-on flame. When the smoke cleared, Portland ran away from Chicago with a 113-102 victory.

Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 27 points. Five Blazers scored 15 or more points led by Scoot Henderson with 25 and Shaedon Sharpe with 23.

Lightning McQueen

As the star of the Pixar Cars franchise will tell you, there’s no substitute for speed. The Blazers remain committed to playing fast on offense tonight as they have been for the past few weeks. Two characteristics characterize their approach. Their guards and wings run down the floor, no walking and little jogs. They also shoot without hesitation. On most plays, they work their way into screen action and some form of penetration pretty quickly. The energy is lovely to see.

However, there is a difference between energetic and efficient, at least in Portland’s case. Few of the shots are debatable. They just don’t drop enough. The Blazers commit too many turnovers going to the rim and miss too many shots when they get blunted and kick out. The cumulative effect is, “Nice…but too bad about the result,” That could also describe a lot of their games lately.

But not tonight. The Bulls don’t play defense much better than the Blazers do. Portland’s tenacity led to 47.2% field goal shooting, 14 offensive rebounds for 24 second-chance points, and a massive 62 points in the paint. The fierce, energetic work was more than enough to secure the victory. At the heart of it, they controlled the tempo and moved quickly while the Bulls bogged down. Add all those blue collar stats with a 17-6 transition advantage? Bingo. Win.

First quarter defense

Portland’s offense might hurt opponents more if their defense wasn’t so bad. In the first period, Chicago obliterated the perimeter defenders for the Blazers. Zach LaVine started by hitting a three-pointer right in the face of Deni Avdija. That forced Portland to stay tight on him outside, which was like giving him a full-court subway pass whenever he wanted. He took every defender the Blazers threw at him and blew past them like they were turnstiles. We could criticize Deandre Ayton for not closing out harder at the rim for blocks and stops, but he barely had time. LaVine put on a clinic. His teammates noticed and started driving themselves. The result was a 34-point stretch that the Blazers had no hope of matching.

Second quarter defense

Portland fielded a more switch-worthy lineup against Chicago’s second unit, including Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson and Jabari Walker at various times. With little variation in height and speed, the Blazers were able to stay in front of their Chicago counterparts, cutting off penetration without sacrificing their ability to close on three-point attempts. Portland’s middle players slowed the Bulls’ offense to a simmer early in the second.

As the quarter ended, the Blazers had a great defensive lineup with Avdija, Camara, Henderson and Jerami Grant. That quartet was good, leaving so little space uncovered that Deandre Ayton’s height in the middle began to pay off, closing off a phone booth-sized area of ​​the field. Now Chicago was confused, missing almost everything, and seemed unable to distinguish good shots from bad.

By the time the second period ended, Chicago had just 19 points and the Blazers had pulled right back on the scoreboard after being blown out in the opening frame. The difference between the first two quarters was significant. There is no doubt which should be the model for future endeavours.

Scoot shines again

Scoot Henderson was one of the stars of Portland’s turn-around. His offense came alive with three-pointers and drives, but even more impressively, he was active and hostile on defense. When Scoot is locked in and playing the game instead of thinking about it, he looks really good.

Another evolving aspect of Henderson’s game: his ability to make mistakes on the drive. He absorbs contact like a cement mixer. Tonight he made 8 free throws. His non-scoring stats weren’t bad either: 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, just 4 turnovers. Hey hey.

Toumani key

We talk about switching defenses, focus and activity, often highlighting players like Ayton and Henderson who don’t always defend well but seem to flourish with the right teammates. We must never forget that Toumani Camara is always the right teammate in defence. He’s ridiculously sick, getting his hands in the dribble zone of point guards, facing the opposing center and everything in between. Tonight, Camara covered every opponent on the floor and found reasonable success against everyone except LaVine…even a sick puppy on offense. Portland’s defense as it is doesn’t exist without Camara.

Tonight, Camara scored zero points on just three shot attempts and still helped turn this game around. All hail our new defensive overlord.

Denied Misdemeanor

Deni Avdija continues to look comfortable with the ball in his hands in attack. His performance in the third quarter was impressive as he drove the break, hit threes and passed to teammates on and off the court. The beauty of Deni is that he can do pretty much anything on any given possession: charge forward, pass sideways, shoot, even alley-oop. It may not be enough to strike fear into the hearts of opponents, but it is enough to keep them guessing. Avdija finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

Sharpe from the bench

Shaedon Sharpe was benched tonight, a publicly admitted criticism of his defense by head coach Chauncey Billips. Sharpe looked to get low and stay active defensively when he was on. He doesn’t have Avdija’s instincts or Camara’s dogged commitment. It’s understandable that the coach with Sharpe’s athleticism and length might want more. But Sharpe isn’t the worst defender on the roster. Hopefully the effort will lead to a little more precision and get him back on track. Anyway, it was good to see Sharpe play hard and not hang his head.

Next

Box score

The Blazers will go coast to coast now, facing the Miami Heat on Tuesday with a 4:30 PM, Pacific start.