The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets faced each other in the correct uniforms on Friday night. Those jerseys were about the only things familiar about the two squads. Denver played without MVP center Nikola Jokic. That alone was enough to render their offense nearly unrecognizable. The Blazers, on the other hand, started the game without super-scorer Anfernee Simons, veteran starter Jerami Grant, and every center who’s played meaningful minutes in the rotation this season.
Shattered lineups left the teams feeling each other out, equal parts chess match and circus. Scoring went high as defenses struggled to coordinate. But as the game progressed, Portland’s youth and exuberance started to tell. The Blazers kept throwing out fairly athletic, fairly unscathed players from their reserves while the Nuggets depended on the same four guys you’d expect out of an eight-man rotation. The third and fourth periods became Portland strong points for just this reason, and the Blazers exited the arena with their 32nd win of the year, 128-109.
Here are some of the factors that determined the outcome.
Deni Dominates
Deni Avdija shot an amazing 12-16 from the field, 4-6 from the arc, and 8-9 from the foul line on his way to a season-high 36 points. He added 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Them there are Nikola Jokic Numbers.
Interior Defense
Starting small forwards at center is going to impact your interior defense. No doubt about that. But it stuck out like a sore thumb tonight how much the Blazers depend on Donovan Clingan to clean up their messes in the paint. It wasn’t just Aaron Gordon posting up. He did that infrequently. Denver went bonkers with guard/wing penetration. Russell Westbrook, Michael Porter, Jr., and anyone who got on the run ended up cutting through Portland defenders like a chef’s knife through watery soup. You could see Blazers defenders looking over their shoulders for help as they shadowed drivers in the lane. For most of the first half, it didn’t come.
Despite that, Denver scored just 42 in the paint against 64 for the Blazers. The cause...or causes...are mentioned at the end of this piece, a few Portland players who stepped into the gap on either end.
Threes
Portland’s solution to the lack of big-man play was simple, at least in the first period: toss it up from deep. The Blazers attempted 15 shots beyond the arc in the opening frame alone. Fortunately they regained sanity and finished with just 35 attempts for the game. On the good side, they hit 14, a 40% success rate. When you’re smashing the opponent in the paint and shooting more accurately on threes, you’re doing pretty well.
Offensive Rebounding
Another ingredient in the recipe for Portland’s secret sauce got leaked a little bit tonight. Absent all of their centers, fielding almost nobody above 6’8, Portland still generated 15 offensive rebounds for 26 second chance points. Their energy beneath their own hoop was frenetic. Denver just wasn’t prepared for the leaping, diving, bumping, and banging.
That energy expenditure took its toll, though. As the game wore on, Portland’s dominance on the glass ebbed and flowed. At the low points Denver started to look more dominant, quickening the tempo of their offense effectively and outscoring the Blazers. But the Blazers always came surging back, a nest of wasps with the Nuggets as screaming kindergartners running away and screaming, “Help me! The bees!!!”
When you’re smashing the opponent in the paint and shooting more accurately on threes and absolutely drubbing them on the boards, you’re doing pretty well.
Turnovers
More to form, and equally welcome, the Blazers forced the Nuggets into 21 turnovers. Missing Jokic created a fair bit of uncertainty in Denver’s offense. On multiple possessions, they got caught overdribbling and staring at each other in confusion. Portland took full advantage. The Blazers look at turnovers nowadays like my dogs look at a cat-covered meatloaf. They scored 25 after Denver miscues.
When you’re smashing the opponent in the paint and shooting more accurately on threes and absolutely drubbing them on the boards and getting them to throw away the ball into your arms regularly, you’re doing pretty well.
Surgically Sharpe
Shaedon Sharpe started out the game in pedestrian fashion, caught up in the three-point fest that typified Portland’s early offense. He’s only average, sometimes worse, in that style. (1-10 shooting from the arc would suggest worse.) But it didn’t take him long to figure out that he could get his first dribble past Denver’s mostly-smaller perimeter defenders. Once Sharpe started rolling downhill towards the bucket, his offense came alive. He ended up scoring 23 points on 10-22 shooting. Put another way, he hit 9 of the 12 shots he took from two-point range. Denver just couldn’t handle it.
Banton Too
The other tall-for-his-position offensive player who made hay against Denver defenders tonight was Dalano Banton. Banton attacked the rim, going 6-10 from the field for 19 points. You can try to contain DB Hooper, but you just cannot stop him.
Christmas Reath
The Blazers got an unexpected, though not entirely un-foreshadowed, gift in this game. Duop Reath stepped in as Portland’s only standing center. He didn’t start, but he played 32 minutes. His contributions started with scoring. He’d finish the game with 12 points on 6-8 shooting. But as the evening wore on Reath became more comfortable in Portland’s defensive wall, his teammates more comfortable with him in return. That’s when the shot alterations started. Reath did a credible job on the inside defensively, something we’ve not seen much this season. That helped save the game for a defense that was ailing without him. Add in 4 offensive rebounds and 4 assists? Chef’s kiss.
Another Win
Given the outcome, one can forgive the Nuggets for linking arms and shuffling out of the Moda Center tunnels, looking around nervously and chanting, “Duop and Dalano and Deni, Oh My!” Hopefully they’ll get to the Emerald City and rediscover their courage. And brains. And, frankly, heart. Until then, Portland will happily take another confidence boost in a late season full of them.
Up Next
Boxscore
The Blazers welcome the Boston Celtics on Sunday with a 3:00 PM, Pacific start time.