CJ McCollum HAS SKILLS WE DON'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT. True.Break up McLillard. Or not. Certainly it is one of the great debates swirling around the Blazers. Trades for CJ are posted all over Blazersedge. But it is not all about disrespect to Portland's Robin to Dame's Batman. It is intriguing to wonder what a team led by CJ would look like. Could he score more? Absolutely. Could a team thrive with McCollum as the lead point guard? That remains the question, as we see CJ operate as a shoot-first option for this franchise.

It is sometimes thrown out that LeBron would love to have Lillard join the Lakers. In some ways, I thinks CJ would be a more natural fit as a point guard on a championship-contending LA squad. Hopefully we will never find out.

在过去的几个赛季,波特兰的表现adequately when its All-NBA has to sit. Tonight was another opportunity. Then Turner and Stauskas both aggravated injuries and even more pressure fell on CJ. And he was ready from the very start. 12 1st quarter points. He was grabbing rebounds and dishing dimes. After a slow 2nd quarter, he performed well in all phases in the 2nd half. After several Blazers missed chances for his 10th assist, CJ finally found Mo late in the shot clock for his triple double. If you had bet that 2 different Blazers would get triple doubles and neither would be Lillard you would be a rich man.

CJ had a handful of possessions where he over-dribbled. But when he got the ball rolling the offense operated at full throttle (although against a weak defense). Portland needed CJ to be great tonight. He was. He also brought a lot of teammates with him in avoiding a damaging loss.

ATLANTA IS JUST ANOTHER TANKING BOTTOM FEEDER, LIKE PHOENIX. False.Fans always assume that the draft will automatically make every team go through "the process" and emerge on the other side. That is often not the case. Orlando, NY, Phoenix and (until this year) Sacramento have piled up lottery picks and retained bleak futures year after year. Atlanta actually won the East not that long ago. They have been mired in the muck ever since. Even worse, they will now always be remembered as the team that traded away the runaway ROY in Doncic.

But we got a look at a team that has adopted a point of view and is filling in players to go there. Trae Young is a polarizing player. But if he turns out to be the player Atlanta believes he is, then the Hawks may have won that trade. And Young was sensational tonight. Yes he is a defensive sieve. But he was composed, efficient and brilliant on offense in this contest: 30 points on 11-15 shooting with 8 assists. John Collins is a player that NBA scouts had a hard time believing in. Believe it now. He scores inside and out (21 on 8-12 shooting) and rebounds. Huerter has had a good rookie season, although his shooting was off tonight (1-8).

The Hawks are young, athletic and exciting. They make mistakes on defense, but they also force turnovers. Portland had 18 turnovers tonight. Atlanta looks very much like the Kings from last season. Don't be surprised at all if they are a play-off team by next year.

Were Jeremy Lin and Prince auditioning for a possible trade. Lin was terrific on offense. Prince was more erratic, but he showed that he's got game.

最终成绩:波特兰了铅和almost the game with a stretch of atrocious defense from late in the first through the 2nd quarter. Combine that with careless turnovers and this appeared to be an uh-oh moment. Fortunately the players who could play all produced in the game. Seth Curry has a chance to be Portland's Crawford/Lou Williams. He is re-gaining his form and promises to be a huge factor going forward. All 5 starters had at least 15 points. Nurk vacillated in this game. When he flexed his muscles he was dominant. But he also had times where he was swarmed by smaller defenders and disappeared. Chief only missed 1 shot on his way to 17 points. Meyers shrugs off only getting 9 minutes and pours in 9 points without missing a shot. Wade Baldwin played some nice defense when Portland needed a body, any body, to try and stay in front of Young. He had difficulty running the offense. Fortunately the Blazers get some days off at home and only have a single game all of next week. Portland has been generally very healthy, buy Lillard, ET and Nik all need some time to heal. This was far from smooth, but CJ was great and the team came together on offense to get a needed win. B