The stagnancy shows how the Blazers (8-12) have remained competitive and not completely bottomed out as they’ve dealt with injuries and close losses. It also shows how bad the bottom-third of the league has been this year. That’s further emphasized by the Blazers still sitting at No. 10 in the Western Conference despite losing nine of their last 12.
This week, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann kept the Blazers at No. 20 after they posted a 1-2 record. Portland began the week with a decisive 115-103 win over the Giannis-less Milwaukee Bucks on Monday. Then the Blazers faded away in the fourth quarters of competitive losses against the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.
In one of his three takeaways about Portland, Schuhmann noted a stark contrast between the team’s shot quality and effective field goal percentage that may explain some of these losses. If you feel like the Blazers have been missing a lot of open shots, consider this your validation:
Per tracking data, the Blazers rank fourth in shot quality, behind only the Thunder, Warriors and Hawks. But Portland ranks 26th in effective field goal percentage, with only the Pacers having underachieved more regarding the quality of shots they’ve gotten. Donovan Clingan and Toumani Camara are both in the bottom six in field goal percentage above (below) expected among 136 qualified players.
Schuhmann used another takeaway to highlight the recent brilliance of Portland forward Deni Avdija and note that forward Jerami Grant has also gotten in on the foul-drawing party.
Avdija recorded his fourth career triple-double on Sunday, and all four have come with him scoring at least 30 points. He had 31 against the champs, with his 23 free throw attempts being the most the Thunder have allowed to a single player in the last three seasons. Avdija (53.6 per 100) and Jerami Grant (53.8 per 100) are two of the eight players with at least 200 field goal attempts and a free-throw rate better than 50 attempts per 100 shots from the field.
After two games at home this past week, the Blazers are back on the road for a five-game trip that starts against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. The rest of the trip includes matchups with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans.