The Portland Trail Blazers introduced owner Norman Powell and welcomed Jusuf Nurkic on a night when Damian Lillard rested his injured body and won 112-105 against what could be the worst NBA team.
Orlando, who switched their top three players (Nikola Vucuvic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier) before Thursday’s negotiating deadline, fought excitedly, but the Blazers found a way to win.
Robert Covington scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth period and McCollum added seven of his 22 in the final period to lead the team in the final stretch.
But the story of the game was Powell, who set a franchise record in a debut with 22 on 7 out of 13 shots by making 5 out of 7 trios.
“That’s what I hope for,” said Portland coach Terry Stotts. “He knows how to play. He plays the way we play. He moves well without the ball. He shoots three. He’s in shape. I wouldn’t say that he will score 22, but I had a good feeling that he would play well for us ”.
Powell said he was nervous before the game, but he felt good about his debut.
“I was thinking to myself to let the game come to me and try to fool the other guys and ask as many questions as I can,” said Powell.
Stotts said Lillard would “hopefully” return on Sunday against Toronto, the team that left Powell for the Blazers for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood. The plan, Stotts said, is to go with a lineup of three guards with Lillard, McCollum and Powell for big blocks of games. However, Stotts has yet to commit to naming Powell as the starter.
“We will see many things,” said Stotts.
Nurkic also returned after losing 32 games with a broken wrist and a stretched leg. He had a minute restriction and finished with eight points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes.
“Pretty much what I expected,” said Stotts. “He looked a little rusty. But he made a good effort and I think removing some of the rust will be good. “
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (27-18) are tied for fifth place in the Western Conference with Denver (27-18). The Nuggets won 113 to 108 in New Orleans on Friday night.
ENDED WHEN
Miraculously, the Blazers led by just 80-77 in the fourth period against the exhausted Magic (15-30). Portland built a 94-88 lead after Robert Covington hit a three, but Magic came back and tied the game in 94-94 with 6:31 remaining.
Portland Trail Blazers guards CJ McCollum, center, kicks as he passes between the center of the Orlando Magic Mo Bamba, on the left, and point guard Michael Carter-Williams, on the right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday , March 26, 2021, in Orlando, Florida (AP Photo / John Raoux)
That was when the Blazers started a 7-0 race. McCollum hit a three after recovering a mistake from Carmelo Anthony. Covington made a bullet pass to the center of Enes Kanter, who was running towards the basket, resulting in a tray. Then Powell released the ball from a Magic player, McCollum took the ball and ran to the right side of the court to kick three indisputable mistakes. But Covington was there for the dunk with one hand, which gave the Blazers a 101-94 lead with 4:49 left.
Magic hovered over the rest of the path, but the Blazers routinely made a key basket to keep Orlando from having the ball in possession the rest of the way.
With less than a minute on the clock, McCollum’s determined push for the basket against Chuma Okeke resulted in losing him with a spinning motion on the track and then hitting a float to give the Blazers a 110-103 lead with 39.9 seconds remaining.
SHOWN AND SHOWN
Covington hit 4 of 6 shots with 3 of 5 threes to reach 15 points, in addition to eight rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
Anfernee Simons came off the bench to play 25 minutes and hit 5 of 7 shots (all three) to finish with 15 points.
Kanter returned to his reserve role behind Nurkic and stepped off the bench to score 15 points and catch 15 rebounds in 29 minutes. He hit 7 out of 10 shots.
SHOWN AND FIZZLED
McCollum scored 22 points, but made just 8 of 26 field shots and 2 of 11 triples.
Nassir Little played 18 minutes off the bench and missed all four attempts to finish with zero points.
NEXT (Blazers Calendar)
Portland’s four-game trip continues on Sunday against Toronto (18-17) in Tampa, where the Blazers face Trent and. Hooded. The Raptors lost 104-100 to Phoenix (30-14) on Friday. Trent started on his Toronto debut and scored eight points out of 4 out of 11 shots, missing all five attempts at three points. Hood got off the bench to score two points in 18 minutes.
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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