Chauncey Billups Happy With Blazers Performance Against Jazz

ThePortland Trail Blazersstayed in the fight until the very end against theUtah JazzSaturday night, but ultimately fell on the road 138-133.

Several Blazers stepped up for solid scoring nights in the preseason loss, headlined by Anfernee Simons’ 29 points on 12/15 shooting. Despite starting center Deandre Ayton’s absence in the lineup, the Blazers didn’t let the Jazz take over the glass. Portland tied Utah 38-38 on the boards and won the offensive rebound battle 16-5. That helped Portland take 28 more field goal attempts than Utah, attempting a whopping 102 field goals versus Utah’s 78.

In the end, the efficient (56.8% from the field) and 3-point-striking Jazz proved too much for the young Blazers. Still, It was the type of performance that Portland Head Coach Chauncey Billups felt good about in the post-game press conference.

“I thought it was a good game for us. I really do. That’s a good team. That’s a difficult team to guard with their size and their length, and we wanted to keep them off of the offensive glass. We held them to six [offensive rebounds]. That’s a team that’s probably going to average 10, 12, 14 during the season, so we scrapped really hard, and we ended up getting 15 offensive rebounds, so I was happy about that. I thought we did a pretty good job of taking care of the basketball. Any time you can look at the stat sheet and we shot 102 shots — that’s incredible. Get up and down and play the way that we played, obviously, one or two go down here or there, shoot, it’s a different ball game. I was just proud of the guys. They just fought so hard.”

Along with Simons’ hot shooting, starting forward Jerami Grant added 24 points on an efficient 9/12 shooting, and Shaedon Sharpe smoothly made his way to a cool 20 points off the bench after struggling against thePhoenix Sunstwo nights ago. But the standout performer of the night wasn’t one of the 20-point scorers. That title likely goes to rookie forward Toumani Camara.

The second-round pick who was thrown into the Damian Lillard trade from the Suns stuffed the stat sheet on both ends against Utah. Camara put up 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two impressive chase-down blocks in 25 minutes off the bench. Camara also shot 3/4 on 3-pointers. It was an eyebrow-raising performance that demanded the attention of Blazers fans on social media, along with the attention of Billups.

“There’s so many things to love about [Toumani],” Billups said. “ The thing that stands out to me is his toughness. He don’t quit on no play. [It can] be a breakaway layup, it can be somebody coming downhill at him at a disadvantage. He don’t care. He’s fearless. He’s a competitor. and that’s what I love most about him. ... These are opportunities for guys like him to earn not only the coaches’ trust, but his teammates’. And that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

Portland’s other, much more hyped rookie, No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, put up mixed results in his second outing against true NBA competition. Henderson struggled with his jump shot, shooting 6/17 from the field and 2/7 from beyond the arc, but the 19-year-old still put up a highly respectable 17 points, eight assists and two turnovers. With his attacking and passing abilities, Henderson continued to show that great potential as he adjusts to his new level of competition. Billups said it’s all a part of the process.

“I thought Scoot’s floor game was good. He just does a good job of just seeing guys when they’re open. He’s whipping these passes all over the place. It’s just beautiful to see. He’s gonna grow so much over the next month or two just in his understanding of the NBA game, his understanding of his opponents that he’s playing against and more importantly, his own guys.”

Henderson and the rest of his teammates will have another preseason chance to grow together Monday night. The Blazers play the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix on Monday at 7 p.m.