Frontcourt, Bench Shine as Blazers Down Raptors

The 2023-24Portland Trail Blazers一直围绕着一个核心的年轻保安,拥抱e names expected to assume places in All-Star, and perhaps All-NBA circles before their careers are over. Despite fielding lottery picks Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, plus young phenom Anfernee Simons before his injury, Portland started off the season without a victory to their name.

Until tonight, that is.

Portland walked into Toronto and vanquished a veteran Raptors team 99-91. The Blazers shot just 44.7% from the field and 31.4% from the three-point arc. Henderson went 4-12 and committed 4 turnovers before fouling out in 34 minutes. Sharpe shot 4-10 for 14 and had 4 turnovers himself.

But Portland survived, then thrived, because of the play of their frontcourt players, largely absent and unappreciated in the early part of the season. Jerami Grant led his team with 22 points on 8-18 shooting, hitting a key three in the fourth. Deandre Ayton helped plug a porous Blazers lane defense and reversed a tidal wave of offensive rebounds for the Raptors in the second half, finishing the game with 23 boards himself. Jabari Walker and Toumari Camara came up with key defensive plays in the closing minutes of the game. Portland’s big men played big brother, stepping in when the Raptors were pummeling the guards, helping the team to their very first win of the season.

If you missed the action, you can find aquarter-by-quarter recap here. Once you’ve got the gist, here are some analysis points from the game.

Interior Defense Under Construction

One of the developing stories of the young season is that, despite the massive changeover in personnel and a huge upgrade in athleticism, the Blazers have almost no interior defense. Deandre Ayton is not a shot blocker. Even if he were. few teams are running action directly through their centers without some kind of switch-inducing screen. If anybody but Ayton ends up on an opposing big man, the opponent has a huge height advantage. If Deandre stays home, dribblers simply break down Portland’s perimeter defenders, force Ayton to shift to their side of the floor, then pass to the other side.

That’s in the halfcourt. Don’t even ask how many times the Raptors got turnovers for break-aways against single defenders in the first half of this game.

Also don’t ask about Portland’s defensive rebounding. They’re good on the offensive glass—a point of emphasis this year—but they were near-incompetent on the other end until the closing minutes of the contest.

Losing containment in the halfcourt, on the break, and on the boards gives the Blazers a 7-7-7 jackpot on the Slot Machine of Suckiness for paint defense. Toronto scored 60 of their 91 points in the lane tonight, another 11 from the foul line, mostly off of drives.

That said, when Portland needed stout “D”, Jabari Walker and Deandre Ayton stepped up. They provided anchor points in the lane, allowing teammates to collapse and help rather than collapsing and fouling. The points saved on interior stops in the final 6:00 saved the game. Had the Blazers defended the final six like they did the first six, they never would have been able to score enough to compensate.

Running Even

The Blazers gave up 22 fast break points tonight, many off of turnovers. That ain’t good. The difference between this and previous outings is that Portland also scored 22 themselves, making the category a wash.

The points-after-turnovers category stayed even at 19 too. That sure helped.

Basically, Portland pushed in two of the categories that had plagued them in prior games, allowing other factors to make the difference. They didn’t have to begoodin these areas, just not suck more than the opponent.

Three-Pointers

Portland constructed a confidence-building lead in the first half on the back of three-pointers. Three players—Sharpe, Malcolm Brogdon and Matisse Thybulle—shot 40% or better from the arc in the game. The Blazers ended up only 11-35, 31.4%, from distance due to shoddy fourth-quarter shooting, but that didn’t matter much because...

...finally, the Blazers defended the arc well! Toronto got few stand-still looks at threes. They were harried or covered, even when Portland defenders had to close out to get the job done. This is the first time all season that the Blazers have mounted any kind of three-point defense. They didn’t exactly keep the lid on the paint while they did so, but at least we know defending the arc is possible now. Toronto shot 4-29, a miserable 13.8%, from distance tonight.

Ayton的篮板

When it comes right down to it, one man saved this game for Portland: center Deandre Ayton. So far this season, Ayton has experienced foul trouble, a lack of shots, and short minutes in games. He still didn’t get a ton of attempts (9), but he stayed on the court for 32 minutes, committing just a single personal foul against Toronto’s center lineup. He also got a pair of blocked shots.

Ayton’s 23 rebounds win the grand prize, though. Toronto was getting shot after shot in the critical fourth period until Ayton put an end to it all by himself. During that same period, Portland was missing their own attempts just when they needed to widen the lead and put away the game. Ayton’s offensive rebounds in crunch time gave them extra possessions. They didn’t always score off of them, but they ate enough clock to put an end to Toronto’s attempt to streak ahead at the end of the game.

Ayton was the man tonight. Nobody else came close.

Lanes and Triples

Both Grant and Henderson tried to slash and burn their way through the Toronto defense from the outset. They started the game bulling into the lane. As the action unfolded, they switched to long-range jumpers.

Grant scored 22 on 8-18 shooting, 2-8 from distance. That doesn’t sound impressive in aggregate, but he was at the heart as the Blazers built their second-half credibility.

Henderson scored 11 on 4-12 shooting but he added 7 assists. He found a way to get into open space for the first time all year. He managed to thread passes out of it that made sense at least two-thirds of the time.

The night wasn’t perfect for either, but the relentless energy with which Portland’s main players approached the game made a difference. It stood in contrast to Toronto’s more laid-back approach, which ended up biting them in the end.

Bench Play

Once again the Blazers got bonus play out of their bench.

Malcolm Brogdon scored 21. Even if it did take 21 shots to do it, even if he did miss a couple late, his knowledge of when, where, and how to attack stands out among his young teammates.

The bench game of the night might have belonged to Jabari Walker, though. He got fourth-quarter minutes, made a critical block down the stretch, rebounded a little, and helped his team run. His bench buddy, Toumari Camara, provided similar energy while adding 7 rebounds in 23 minutes. Coach Billups also trusted him with crunch-time minutes after Henderson fouled out.

Matisse Thybulle is a starter, technically, but he’s so firmly ensconced in a supporting role that he might as well be listed among the mid-rotation players. He played a fairly sterling 19 minutes, hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers to spread the floor, dishing a couple assists, and helping with the aforementioned perimeter defense.

No Fatigue Evident

Being young has been a disadvantage for the Blazers so far this year, but tonight they just may have seen a benefit. On the second night of a back-to-back, Portland looked stronger in the fourth quarter than their opponents. They showed no tangible signs of fatigue, getting big minutes from 5 of their top 6 players.

Just Win

Let’s get real. This game wasn’t a Rembrandt. Head Coach Chauncey Billups will take it home and hang it on his fridge anyway because his kids made it. For the first time all year, the Blazers strung together enough stops, blocks, and rebounds to compensate for their fouls, turnovers, and inconsistent shooting. Like we said above, at least they know it’s possible now. Even though they’re going to start losing again soon, hopefully this will be a mark to shoot for as the season unfolds.

Up Next

Boxscore

The Blazers now travel to Detroit to face a young Pistons squad on Wednesday night at 4:00 PM, Pacific. And they’ll do it with the possibility of creating a winning streak.