It’s safe to say we’re happy to be back playing basketball in Portland. Getting swept by the state of Florida and Texas (sans playing the Spurs) is not what you want to see. The loss to Houston isn’t surprising, as they’re an excellent team, but the way in which we lost was frustrating. Yes, the Rockets are an offensive explosion, but when you need to limit the deficit and score some late-game points, you need to figure out how to do that. It didn’t help that we lost Jrue and Jerami during this trip, adding to Matisse and Blake’s injuries. Hopefully, we can get these guys healthy and back on the court sooner rather than later, because the offense is lacking because of it. Plus, our top-10 defensive rating is absolutely toast. We out-turnovered our opponents in four of our last six games. This is not the team we built over the previous two seasons. We need to get back to our defense-first mindset and worry about the offense later, because it will come.
Game #10 - 11/10 @ Orlando (112-115 L)
You absolutely hate to see it. But I guess that’s why you go out and trade a bunch of draft picks for Desmond Bane, right? An awkward buzzer-beater ruins a hard-fought night for Portland. Apparently, it’s the first time two teams from the same state have had buzzer-beaters on the same night. That isn’t making Trail Blazers fans feel better, but it’s something of note. Shaedon finally showed up on the offensive front. This was his first time scoring over 30 points all season. This is the kind of production we’ve been waiting for. 12/18 from the floor and 3/5 from deep are both efficient, and it shows his decision-making is improving when to take shots. Yes, more of them fell. So you could say that he’s finding his shot, but I think it’s more of the case that he’s shooting better shots. It definitely helps him to have a few guys out of the lineup, meaning he’ll have to produce more on the offensive side, but this was the step we’ve been waiting for in his game this season. Overall, this was a game we should’ve won, especially when we won the turnover battle. We have to get more production from Clingan and our bigs. If our identity is defense, it needs to come through in everyone.
Game #11 - 11/12 @ New Orleans (125-117 W)
A “get right” game that, honestly, was closer than it should’ve been. It definitely doesn’t help when Jerami Grant, the team’s best bench player, gets ejected midway through the second quarter, but a win is a win at this point. We never truly took control of the game. Derrick Queen played a significant role in that, scoring 26 points on 12/18 shooting, bullying guys in the post, and really taking advantage of some second-chance points. Saddiq Bey and Trey Murphy also scored 25 and 22, respectively, to keep things close. But it wasn’t enough for Shaedon to finally come alive in back-to-back games. Maybe it was the shots he took from Jerami’s absence. Maybe it was the Pelicans. Either way, there seemed to be an elevated confidence in his game. He was making those mid-range shots I was talking about. He made some great passing decisions that led to points. He even had a dunk that made Jose Alvarado make a business decision — a smart one, at that. This is the play the team and fans have been waiting for all season. He’s finally converting on his shots — taking 17 shots a game, and the last two he made 12 and 13. If he’s turned a corner, then we’re going to get some serious offensive help, and once we’re healthy, we’re going to be ferocious on both ends of the court.
Game #12 - 11/14 @ Houston (116-140 L) NBA Cup Game
The final two minutes of the first half could summarize this game. Getting the score to within one, then playing the sloppiest basketball I’ve seen in a while. This game was the definition of “yuck”. We committed 20 turnovers and allowed 16 steals. This was the single worst game we’ve played all season by a long shot. Deni looked horrible, committing seven turnovers while being in a haze all game. We got out-defended by a team that’s a medium defensive team. The Rockets’ identity is their offense, but this game showed they can succeed on defense, too. Sadly, the Trail Blazers’ offense is middle of the pack in the NBA, so if they can’t get it going, then they aren’t going to win many, if any, games. Once the third quarter started, it felt like nothing had changed during halftime, with Houston opening on an 8-0 run. It’s hard to say what Tiago told the team, but it wasn’t motivating enough to make this game competitive. We had a late burst in Q3, but it was all for naught because of the turnovers. The only positive to come from this game was that we are still in the hunt for the NBA Cup playoffs. All five teams are tied at 1-1. It would’ve helped more if we outscored the Rockets after the benches were cleared, with the tiebreaker being point differential, but if we can beat both of the Warriors and Spurs, it’s not over for us.
Game #13 - 11/16 @ Dallas (133-138 OT L)
A depleted Dallas team should not have beaten this Portland team. It didn’t help that Jrue got hurt during the Rockets game and was unable to play, which, in my opinion, was a significant factor in the outcome of this game. We were able to clean up the turnovers, but committed 32 fouls. That’s an obscene amount of fouls. You cannot win games when you’re giving your opponent 40 free throws. Yes, it helped that they missed 13 of them, but you can’t let a team back into a close game with free points. Shaedon, Deni, and Jerami all stepped up in Jrue’s absence, but we need more from our bench. We can’t score 133 points and only have 15 of them come from the bench. A team that was already assumed to struggle offensively needs contributions from every player. Guys like Caleb Love and Kris Murray should love these kinds of opportunities to score some points. Caleb thrived in both UNC and Arizona’s offense as a primary scorer. When the going gets tough, these guys and the Blazers need to think “score first, pass second”. Another game on this 1-4 road trip we’d want back in retrospect, with the Orlando game being included too. A lot to learn from this game and from games against most of the Southeast teams.
Pinwheel of the Week
The offense we were promised from Sheadon Sharpe has arrived. He averaged 30.25pts/gm on 44/84 shooting, and it’s hard to believe it isn’t going to continue moving forward. With the injuries to Jrue and Jerami, and even Blake Wesley, he’s going to be the primary scorer with Deni until noted otherwise. This was the year he had to make a jump, and he is. He’s young and hungry, and hopefully, this is what we’ll see the rest of the season.
Record: 1-3 (6-7)
Week 5 Games: Tue 11/18 vs Phoenix, Wed 11/19 vs Chicago, Fri 11/21 @ Golden State, Sun 11/23 @ Oklahoma City