7 Observations from a Weird Trail Blazers Loss

ThePortland Trail Blazers下降了93-96到了俄克拉荷马城雷霆在Friday night. The game had all the charm of opening up a pizza delivery box and finding a walrus inside. Nobody really wants it, and darned if anyone knows what to do with it either.

The Blazers shot 39.6% from the field in the ugly affair. The Thunder actually shot worse, but 101 shots for Portland versus just 87 for OKC kept Portland right in it. 6-33 shooting from the arc doomed the home club, though. 18.2% on threes when threes are literally the only thing your offense does well? That’s going to hurt.

If you missed the action, you lucky son-of-a-gun, you! Also you can find ourquarter-by-quarter recap here. After you’re caught up, here’s the rest of the story.

讨厌

价格预期在交易40％的起始阵容之后，波特兰的连续性是今晚的一部分骨折。CJ Elleby和Tony Snell开始了。Snell自己毫无疑问（5-10次拍摄，13分），但球运动和机翼切割整夜都会摇摇晃晃。从Jusuf Nukic-Plus的内部播放超过一些进攻篮板 - 帮助稳定它们。他们的套装最终看起来非常好看。只有击败游戏的再次崩溃。

It’s pretty safe to say that we should expect to see a different brand of Blazers basketball from this point forward.

Small Ball

It didn’t seem possible, but the Blazers are actually smaller after today’s trade than they were prior. Or at least they have more 6’6 and under players. Until Larry Nance, Jr. gets back, opponents are going to tower over Portland’s new lineup. Raise your hand if you think somebody’s going to take advantage of that.

Veterans

当艰难的时候，波特兰有大量候选人接管游戏，阵容变空。

CJ McCollum had the first crack at it. He had a fairly quiet, 9-24 shooting night, though he did convert a couple of key layups late to almost save his team.

Jusuf Nurkic was next in line. His hustle was impressive. He grabbed 16 rebounds, dominating with 7 offensive boards. But he shot 6-19 from the field, mostly on inside attempts.

Anfernee Simons had the right to make a bid too. He shot better than his veteran counterparts, hitting 7-15 from the field for 19 points. That was the same total as McCollum, produced far more efficiently. But down the stretch, Simons contributed turnovers and misses instead of points.

我有话要说，西装外套仍在看。

雷霆转向离合器的Luguentz Dort，但他带领了防守结束，而不仅仅是在罪行中。他们也像一个团队一样播放，而不是等待领导人拯救他们。虽然胜利谦虚，但结果是正确的方法。

Greg Brown III

格雷格•布朗(Greg Brown III是每个我们获得信心ek. He was energized, attacking, equally unafraid to shoot deep or attack inside. His development could be one of the interesting stories for the remainder of the season. Brown scored 7 in 16 minutes tonight.

Inside Game

The Blazers shot UGLY to start this game. To their credit, they didn’t keep heaving. Instead they set screens, penetrated, and converted inside shots. Only when they were able to score in the paint did the lid come off the basket. The caveat is, bigger teams with better defenders will not offer Portland the same kind of scoring options the Thunder did. But it was nice to see them adjust so concisely and effectively after such an odd start. They finished with 58 points in the paint.

Offensive Rebounds

Portland’s offensive rebounds became a great eraser, taking away the consequences of multiple mistakes and sub-40% shooting. Nurkic set the tone, banging hard in the lane, his eyes open for scoring opportunities off of put-backs. His team picked up on the energy and followed suit. The Blazers finished with 18 offensive boards.

快速游戏

The two teams combined for just 31 free throw attempts tonight. The majority of them came in the last third of the game. The first half went super-quick because of the extreme lack of whistles. It was almost like the refs agreed that this game didn’t matter enough to risk missing room service at the hotel. Let’s see if that becomes a pattern.

Up Next

BoxScore.

The Blazers welcome theMilwaukee Buckstomorrow night at 7:00 PM.