Since the All-Star break, the Blazers are 4-2 and are currently on a four-game winning streak. Last night, they managed to snap a seven-game road losing streak against the Clippers in an overtime nail biter. With less than a day of rest after the exhilarating comeback, Portland came home to play the struggling Dallas Mavericks.

Since the addition of Rondo during December, their overall stats, especially offensive ones, have been slowly decreasing. Having Ellis play shooting guard a majority of the time isn’t quite right for the Dallas offense. Plus, Rondo and Coach Carlisle got in a scuffle that sidelined Rondo briefly following a loss.

With Chandler Parsons still out with an ankle injury, their chances against the rolling Blazers didn’t look too good. However, Tyson Chandler did return after missing the last three games. Right away he made a big impact down low against Portland’s big men.

After holding DeAndre Jordan to a somewhat below average scoring night, the Blazers did a poor job defending Chandler, who has a similar play style to DeAndre. In the first half alone he had four points and 10 rebounds on just three shots. The Mavericks scored 18 points in the paint throughout the first two quarters, more than what Portland has been allowing during their win streak.

The main reason behind the small Blazers lead at the half, however, was turnovers and poor shot choice. Although Lillard was 0 for 2 and didn’t take his first shot until midway through the second, they inflicted damage on themselves with bad decisions. Portland had 10 turnovers, luckily only leading to four fast break points. They ended with 15, a significant reduction from the first half.

The Blazers did pull away in the second half. They built up a run at the end of the second quarter, and it carried over halftime. Both benches played a lot of time in the second half, and the Mavericks bench couldn’t get their usual offense running against the strong Portland defense. Dallas is fourth in the league in points per game at an average of 105, but they were held to 75 tonight.

The story of the game isn’t the Blazers’ strong second half performance. Early on in the third, Wesley Matthews went down with an apparent leg injury and did not return after being helped off the floor by trainers. After the game, it was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports that Matthews has suffered a torn Achilles' tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.

Matthews’ absence opened up a lot of space for the new additions from Denver to play. Afflalo ended with 29 minutes but shot a poor 2 of 9. He posted up several times against smaller Dallas guards but couldn’t get the job done on his fade ways. It will be interesting to see how he plays with Wes out. 

Alonzo Gee also saw his first solid chunk of action since being traded. He shot 3 of 3 and scored six points in nine minutes. All of his field goals were high percentage attempts from within the paint. It’s crucial he doesn’t get into the habit of taking bad shots from outside the key like a lot of Portland players do.

One last thing to take from this victory over the Mavs is Damian Lillard. Following his 1 of 13 shooting performance last night versus the Clippers, he started the first half 0 for 2, and it looked to be an encore. In the second half, he flipped the switch and made consecutive attempts from beyond the arc to give Portland the lead they maintained for the rest of the game. Lillard finished 4 of 10 from the field with 14 points, a major step forward after yesterday’s game.

  Blazers Mavericks
Points Aldridge 17 2 tied with 12
Rebounds 2 tied with 12 Chandler 14
Assists Batum 6 Rondo 9
Steals 2 tied with 2 Ellis 3
Blocks Lopez 3 3 tied with 1
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About the author
Newtons Fourth Law
Portland Trail Blazers writer.