The Portland Trail Blazers, minus Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and several others, had no business remaining remotely close during Thursday night’s game at Philadelphia, which sports the best record in the Eastern Conference.
But sometimes the randomness of the NBA has a sense of humor, and on this night the Blazers were the court jester, winning 121-105.
The Blazers (12-9) started Gary Trent Jr., Rodney Hood, Robert Covington, Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter, four of whom are usually reserves, then went out and delivered one of this team’s best defensive performances of the season.
Portland coach Terry Stotts said that sometimes when a team is short-handed, the remaining players on the roster find a way to rally together and get the job done. Where this win ranks among his many victories, Stotts said, was difficult to say. But he added that it certainly had significant meaning.
“It will always be a memorable win,” Stotts said.
The key was defense and ball movement. The Blazers (12-9) were disruptive on defense, contesting perimeter shots and being aggressive against anyone who went to the basket. Offensively, the team moved around well, setting screens for one another and finding the open man. There was clearly no ball-dominant figure controlling the game, which forced everyone to be on the move in order to get the offense flowing.
“Everybody played the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” Stotts said. “If they had an opportunity to score, they did. If not, they passed.”
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers should trade Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic tomorrow.
Just kidding.
The victory bumped the Blazers to fifth place in the Western Conference. It also proved that the team could play aggressive and attentive defense for 48 minutes. Now, if only the Blazers could do that more often and when most of their best players are available.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
The Blazers played a spirited first half to push Philadelphia to a 57-57 halftime score.
But certainly, the superior 76ers would come out for the second half and take control, correct?
Nope.
Portland opened the third quarter with a 14-0 run to take a 71-57 lead with 9:19 remaining.
Trent hit two threes during that stretch.
Philadelphia stopped the bleeding for a couple of minutes before the Blazers got rolling again using their defense to force stop after stop until they led by as many as 22 at 88-66.
Portland entered the fourth quarter leading 97-76.
“Third quarters, especially on the road, can really be a swing quarter,” Stotts said. “Obviously, it made the difference.”
ELLEBY RISES TO THE OCCASION
Aside from overcoming great odds to win, the story of the night was the play of the Blazers’ 2020 second-round pick, CJ Elleby out of Washington State.
He entered the game with 19 points and eight rebounds on the season in 44 minutes of action.
In 31 minutes off the bench Thursday, Elleby scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and also had seven rebounds, two blocked shots, an assist and a steal.
Kanter said Elleby’s rebounding, defense and energy were “next level.”
“He did an amazing job,” Kanter said.
SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT
The list is a long one.
Kanter had no real chance to stop Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, but the Blazers center did his job in other areas by producing 17 points and 18 rebounds. He had seven of the team’s 18 offensive rebounds.
“Those extra possessions really helped,” Stotts said.
Trent made just 8 of 23 field-goal attempts but sank 4 of 9 threes to finish with a team-high 24 points. He also added three assists.
Hood, who played point guard, scored in a variety of ways and appeared to be getting closer to being fully back physically from his Achilles injury last season. Hood made 7 of 14 shots for 16 points and had five rebounds and three assists.
“I thought he did an excellent job of running the offense,” Stotts said.
Anthony started and made 8 of 14 shots with three makes on four three-point attempts to finish with 22 points. He also had four assists. After going through a five-game slump, Anthony in his last two games has made 16 of 30 shots (53.3%) while scoring 44 points.
Embiid scored 31 points in the first half and finished with 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting. Portland was content allowing him to shoot midrange jumpers most of the night and he shot them well. But not many of his teammates shot well, so in the end, Embiid’s points proved inconsequential.
SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED
Not a single Blazer. Eight played significant minutes and all excelled. So much so that Keljin Blevins got into the game late for a few minutes.
As for Philadelphia, the team shot 6 of 26 from three-point range. Danny Green started, played 27 minutes and went 1 of 5 from the field (all threes) to finish with three points.
NEXT UP (Blazers schedule)
Portland concludes its six-game trip at 10 a.m. Saturday against the New York Knicks (10-13). The Blazers’ next home game is Tuesday against Orlando (8-14).
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress(Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress(Facebook).
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