The absence of Wesley Matthews for the struggling Portland Trail Blazers offense is finally beginning to hit. In the last three games, all of which they lost, LaMarcus Aldridge has been the top scorer. For teams like Memphis, whom they face tonight, keeping Aldridge under control shouldn’t prove to be too difficult. Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol are both great defenders, and are mobile enough to stay out with Aldridge when he’s not in the paint.
With Portland’s offense being so one-dimensional, winning games against above .500 teams is a tough task. Earlier in the year they beat numerous top ranked teams like Cleveland and San Antonio. However, in recent games they’ve lost to Miami, Memphis and Washington. These aren’t even the Blazers’ worst losses from the past few weeks. Yesterday the Orlando Magic scored 111 points in a seven-point victory, and two weeks ago Minnesota scored 121 in an eight-point victory.
The loss of Matthews appears to be having a larger impact on their defense rather than the offense. He averaged just one steal a game, but always hustled for every loose ball and was always ready to double team. Portland lacks this effort on the defensive end now and it’s taking its toll.
Even though Portland is scoring close to or over 100 points consistently, their opponents are in the 110’s and 120’s, a ridiculous number for the Blazers to compete against each night. The defense needs to make an adjustment because the offense is also taking a hit because of the lack defensive stops.
Memphis, on the other hand, is cruising right through the regular season. Although they are 7.5 games behind Golden State, the second place spot in the West looks to be locked up. The rest of their season does have a few tough opponents like Cleveland and Golden State (twice), but the gap between them and Houston/Portland is widening.
In order to beat the Blazers, all Memphis will have to do is play good defense. Portland’s woes on the defensive end will allow the Grizzlies to score most likely in the triple digits, so holding the Blazers to 80 or 90 is enough. To do so, as mentioned earlier, Randolph and Gasol primarily will need to limit Aldridge.
With Memphis’ defensive game plan probably looking similar to this, other members of the Portland team must be able to score if Aldridge can’t carry them. The offense runs through him, but tonight it may have to go through someone else. If the Blazers want to win, Nicolas Batum and Damian Lillard have to play lights out, unlike the past couple games.