The Portland Trail Blazers are finally back home long enough to unpack their bags. After eight road games broken up only by a single home game against the Detroit Pistons, the Blazers are at the Moda Center for the next seven games. They’ll kick off the homestand tonight against the third-place team in the East, the New York Knicks. The Blazers are winless in their last four, most recently falling to the Golden State Warriors, 130-120, on Monday. Portland will get the boost of defensive specialist Matisse Thybulle, who will suit up for the first time this season tonight, NBA insider Chris Haynes reported.
The Knicks are in pretty good shape in the East with five more wins than the Bucks as of this writing. An injury to Jalen Brunson and a recent string of three losses in a row has made the ever-fickle fans and press in the Big Apple nervous. This growing discomfort was at least somewhat assuaged by a 133-104 demolition of the Sacramento Kings Monday night. The Knicks trotted out the three-pointer to great effect, something that has pundits talking while giving fans hope of a new wrinkle. We’ll see if they try to light the fuse from deep again when they face the Blazers.
Portland Trail Blazers (28-38) vs New York Knicks (41-23) - Wed. Mar. 12 - 7:00pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
Trail Blazers injuries: Deandre Ayton (out), Jerami Grant (doubtful), Robert Williams III
Knicks injuries: Ariel Hukporti, Jalen Brunson (out)
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Blazer’s Edge Reader Questions
Gazam:
The eye test suggests that with Deni, the team is passing more. Is it true? How many passes per possesions does the team have with/without Deni?
Do we have better quality of shots with Deni on the floor?
I couldn’t find an easy way to tease out the answers to those questions, but I was able to look at the number of passes per game made for the season versus passes made when Deni Avdija was injured and not on the court. It’s not a massive difference, but in all of the stretches when Deni didn’t play, the Blazers had about 4.5 fewer passes per game compared to their average for the whole season. I think that’s enough to lend some credence to your eye test.
I couldn’t find any non-paywalled shot-quality stats, but I had a look at effective field goal percentage. In theory if you are getting better quality shots your eFG% should go up. Keeping in mind that we are dealing with small sample sizes, I’d still say there might be something there. eFG% tended to be lower when Deni didn’t play, especially if you discard the outlier of February 28 against the Brooklyn Nets, a single game in which the Blazers were exceptionally efficient while Deni was sitting.
Otherday:
I’d give Avdija a slight edge in this department. Data doesn’t filter out to just solo breaks easily, but Avdija scores 19.3% of his points on the break, while Hart gets 19.1%. Avdija is better at drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line, shooting 4.8 free throws a game compared to Hart’s 2.9. Importantly, Deni has grown quite a bit this season with the possibility of more growth, while Josh is probably the finished article. One area for improvement for Avdija is that he’s making 2.5 turnovers in 28.8 minutes, while Hart has fewer at 2.1 in a ridiculous 37.8 minutes per game. In terms of the eye test, I love both of them pushing the tempo and looking for break opportunities. I just wish the Blazers in general and Deni specifically would push tempo and look for breaks more often. I think the potential for even more from him is there.
oregoner:
Would the Knicks be interested in trading us Josh Hart for Matisse Thybulle and Kris Murray?
Nope. I’m also not sure I would do it for the Blazers even if it was on the table. Josh is the type of player you bring in when you are trying to fill Josh Hart-shaped holes in a contending lineup. That’s not where the Blazers are right now.
What to Watch For
Three-pointers. There lot’s of talk about three pointers in New York these days. There is some evidence to support the idea that the Knicks haven’t been taking enough of them (see below). That changed somewhat on Monday when New York attempted 40 of them, hitting on 55% of their attempts. With Jalen Brunson out for a while the Knicks will be looking to replace his 26.3 points, and they’ll certainly be thinking about getting them in sets of three after netting 66 points from behind the arc against Sacramento. Recent success is always a motivator, so the Blazers should be prepared for an aerial assault from deep on Wednesday.
What Others Are Saying
Michael Zeno of Posting and Toasting has a nice article on how the Knicks can win without the injured Jalen Brunson.
A full team effort like the one we saw last night is what’s needed nightly while Brunson is on the shelf. With his re-evaluation coming later this month, it’s fair to assume the Knicks will not see their captain until April. Because of that, they’re going to need to learn how to live without him. I was optimistic that the two days off would give them enough time to figure out the roles after they looked lost against the Clippers, and they showed the blueprint for success without Brunson.
When they shoot from deep they are tough to beat, writes Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
The Knicks are now 14-4 when they attempt at least 40 threes in a game this season. They are also 18-4 in games where they make at least 15 threes this year.
Those numbers aren’t surprising when you consider the fleet of marksmen at Tom Thibodeau’s disposal on New York’s roster. The more jarring statistic this season is how infrequently a team capable of lighting it up from three actually makes use of one of its biggest strengths.
Learn about OG Anunoby in this piece by James L. Edwards III in The Athletic (subscription required).
Off the court, the 27-year-old has an elusive aura about him. His interviews are short. He doesn’t appear to enjoy cameras. While his teammates and professional athletes everywhere dress as if they’re auditioning for the runway, Anunoby wears a hoodie, shorts and slides (no socks) — no matter the weather — after games. It’s almost as if Anunoby is playing a character, like a deadpan comedian whose punchlines rest inside the seriousness and simplicity.