After three plus years of not playing as one cohesive team, the Portland Trail Blazers finally understand the importance of chemistry and an established offense. Their first three quarters against the Sacramento Kings on Monday surprised a lot of fans, and their beat down on the defending champs Golden State Warriors caught everyone off guard. People can pull the excuse, “Oh, it’s just preseason”, but the first half was played as a normal game would, and the Blazers jumped out to a 15-point lead by then.
The first quarter started off entirely as an offensive battle. The first 12 minutes concluded with a score of 38-32, advantage to Portland. Summer acquisition Al-Farouq Aminu scored six of the first ten Blazer points, his first game with the team after missing Monday's game due to the birth of his daughter.
Yesterday, Terry Stotts organized an unusual practice the day before a game, where the team focused solely on defense. They only allowed 101 points to the league leading offense, but were destroyed behind the arc for most of the first half by the Splash Brothers. Stephen Curry started off the game finding Andrew Bogut for two easy buckets in the paint, and from there on out, Blazers defenders were hesitant to close down beyond the arc.
While it is still preseason, the 21-point blown lead on Monday versus the Kings illustrated the possible weakness of Portland’s bench against other reserve squads. Tonight, however, the Blazer bench dominated the third and fourth quarter, making up for below average production from starters like Damian Lillard and Meyers Leonard.
The star of the bench was Portland returnee Allen Crabbe. He came in the game lights out, knocking down his first five shots of the game. He finished with 25 points on five threes and 75 percent shooting. Another impact player was rookie Pat Connaughton. He saw just 15 minutes of floor time, but made the most of it by scoring 10 points and going two for three from beyond the arc.
Allen Crabbe justified his reason to be in the thought process of Coach Stotts when he next forms the starting lineup, but did D-League MVP Tim Frazier do the same? Stotts announced pre game that Frazier would run backup point against the Warriors, while Phil Pressey did the same in the next matchup against Sacramento. The two youngsters are fighting over the reserve guard spot for the second time in their career, the same ordeal occurring last year in Boston with Pressey edging Frazier to remain on the team.
Frazier scored four points on just two shots, but totaled six assists, three rebounds and two steals in his 19 minutes. The highlight of his night was pickpocketing Steph Curry, a rare sight, and finding Crabbe on the wing for an easy transition score. Unfortunately, he racked up three turnovers as well; turnovers existing as a major problem for Portland in the two pre-season games. The lack of chemistry boosted turnover numbers, and for an underdog team like Portland, they’ll need to cut down on mistakes to win over elite, experienced teams.
One of the overhanging questions about the new-look Blazers team was the potential negative effect of low chemistry. Only three of the six or seven primary rotational players wore the same jersey last year. Following a Mason Plumlee steal, the ball was outletted to Noah Vonleh in a half alley-oop sort of manner, where Vonleh tapped the ball back to Plumlee over a Golden State defender to complete the Globetrotter-esque transition bucket. While they lack the cohesiveness of experienced teams like the Spurs, over time players will become more familiar with one another, and the offense will exponentially develop.
While not so prevalent in the loss to the Kings on Monday, the Blazers corrected their most nagging issue that has plagued the offense for the last several years, dribble penetration.
In the first half, Curry got lazy on D several times and didn’t jump the screen by Plumlee or Leonard, creating a two-on-one situation for the Blazers. Lillard drove and either found the big man streaking to the hoop for an easy bucket, or drove it himself and earned a trip to the line. Lillard only made three shots tonight, but scored 22 points because of his 17 attempted free throws.
Despite being ranked number one in free-throw percentage last season, Portland came in third to last in free-throw attempts per night with 19.5. Tonight, they took 36 and made 28, nearly 80 percent. The pick-and-roll offense ran by Lillard and either Leonard or Plumlee worked like magic. It nearly doubled their free-throw attempts, and helped open easier opportunities for easy buckets by non-shooters like Plumlee and Ed Davis.