Utah Jazz did not face the Portland Trail Blazers last summer in the NBA bubble. But Jazz clearly paid attention to how well Damian Lillard and the Blazers did during last season’s restart in Orlando, Florida.
Jazz demonstrated clear intentions during Wednesday’s opening game of the season for both teams, not to allow the bubble MVP to defeat them with an explosive performance.
This plan worked perfectly. Jazz practically wiped Lillard out of the game and won 120 to 100 at Moda Center. Lillard went goalless in the first half and finished with just nine points out of 4 out of 12 shots. But could he have done more to assert himself offensively?
Lillard, after the game in which he made just 1 of 7 three-point attempts, said he should play more aggressively, regardless of how Utah (1-0) or any team chooses to defend him.
“And that is what I will do going forward,” said Lillard.
Jazz paid Lillard unrelenting attention from the start, limiting him to five shots in the first half. Utah bombed Lillard with double teams and arrested him for taking the ball out of his hands.
“I didn’t expect that,” said Lillard.
Lillard did, which was not normal. Lillard said he would normally seek his shot more aggressively, even if the opposing team was trying to limit his attempts at shooting. But it never happened.
“As soon as I realized they started arresting me, I started to accept it,” said Lillard.
Lillard did not score his first basket until the 10:23 mark of the third quarter.
“Dame is an incredible player, so we have to make sure he doesn’t get anything easy,” Utah pivot Rudy Gobert told reporters. “We try to make you uncomfortable. We try to be physical with him. I think we did a great job as a team trying to make sure he didn’t get on at a good pace. “
Lillard responded by making passes to open mates in the hope that they would make Jazz pay.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Blazers (0-1) were not up to the challenge and the Blazers were left behind quickly. Portland lost 65-44 in the interval. The Blazers never threatened in the second half.
According to Lillard, after Utah built a big lead, responding became increasingly difficult because the Blazers were unable to stop consistently, which limited them mainly to half-court sets.
“It helps when you don’t have everything working and you are getting stops, and then you can push through the transition and they don’t have a chance to set up a defense and are a little out of balance,” said Lillard.
Damian Lillard passes the ball to the wing as the Portland Trail Blazers announces the 2020-21 NBA season against Utah Jazz at Moda Center on Wednesday, October 23, 2020. Sean Meagher / The Oregonian
Jazz certainly never lost its balance in attack. Jazz shot up 48.1% in the three-point range in the first half before cooling off a bit in the second half. Portland hit just 40.2% of the shots, with 21 of their 37 field shots taking place in the second half after the game ended for Utah.
Throughout the game, Portland accepted a lot of mid-range shots, something Lillard said the Blazers hoped to avoid. They prefer to shoot three or reach the basket. To make matters worse, Utah overtook Portland, 59-40.
That loss was certainly not for Lillard.
“I think it was a combination of his good defense and we missed a few shots,” said Portland guard CJ McCollum.
Still, it is unusual to see a player of Lillard’s caliber – who averaged 30 points per game last season and is fully capable of scoring much more – finishing with just nine points while his team is defeated.
“They didn’t do anything we hadn’t seen,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said of Utah’s defense. “But we need Dame to be aggressive and, when the ball comes out, we have to have guys ready to do kicks and kicks. And to some extent, we didn’t end up around the basket as well as we needed to. “
Portland’s defense clearly requires time to freeze. This means that the Blazers’ attack must be explosive or similar destinations await.
Last week, the Blazers were defeated 126-95 and 129-96 during the last two preseason games in Denver. So they scored just 100 on Wednesday. This is a team with an average of 114 last season.
After the game, Lillard said his head was up. He does not descend in these situations.
“Never too high or too low,” he said.
But it is clear that Portland’s attack has little chance of returning to the bubble without Lillard being Lillard and igniting the rest of the team.
“We have some challenges ahead of us,” said Lillard. “And I think it’s showing up on the floor. We just have to find out very soon. “
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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