Blazers lose track of the details
And the Blazers defense is starting to irritate Chauncey Billups...could defensive help be on the way?
Although the Blazers are starting to see their late-game luck go the other direction, Thursday night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets was not simply the result of a game featuring incredible shot-making from both teams. The Blazers lost one of the classic games of the young NBA season, featuring nearly 3 straight minutes of amazing play after amazing play from Dame, Murray, Jokic, and Nurkic. Dame was especially great, looking as comfortable as he has all season. One of the many reasons why this loss hurt the Blazers and a raucous crowd so much.
After the game, Blazers showed more emotion tonight than after any game this season. They let this one go. And they let it go due to something they’ve been struggling to do as of late: do the little things on defense and stop giving the other team free points. Gang rebounding was missing. Just when turnovers on offense improved, the defense started to slip, and the 82-game wack-a-mole is suddenly unsolvable. It always is, until you solve it. And for a night, the Nuggets see the future clearly, while the Blazers were left replaying the last few minutes of the game to assess where things went wrong.
While the Nuggets saw Jamal Murray hit a game-winner after missing 18 months of basketball, the Blazers had nothing but the comfort of being home in the winter to help them get over wasting one of Lillard’s best games of the season. In the sense that both Lillard and Billups carry a calm demeanor, neither will back down from calling out mistakes. After the game, Billups laid into the Blazers late game execution harder than he has after any loss this season.
“It wasn’t handled well at all,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “We’re up two. The last shot you can live with is a 3. A two don’t beat us, we go into overtime, no big deal. We gave up a 3-point shot. It was terrible.”
When asked for an immediate follow-up by The Oregonian’s Aaron Fentress, Billups doubled down.
“Terrible.”
Yes, the Blazers have won their share of close games. But tonight wasn’t exactly luck coming back to spurn the Blazers. They lost this game in the details. They blew it. A lack of recognition from Jerami Grant – a rare misstep in a great season – to allow Murray a step-back with a foul to give was a backbreaker. A lack of recognition from Nurkic (who would have fouled out, so I get why he didn’t foul) and Justise Winslow for not fouling Jokic before he was able to get the ball to Murray, also let the Blazers down in the final 8 seconds. That’s three people messing up in 8 seconds. Just like the Blazers’ success, this season has been because of a group effort, and so was tonight’s tough loss.
Oh yeah, and that’s without mentioning that Anfernee Simons had six freaking points, something that might never happen again in his career.
So yes, Murray’s shot is the takeaway. And the general feeling of the game, a raucous back-and-forth event featuring 20 lead changes, makes it even harder to leave such a scene holding the L.
But the Blazers have been slacking on defense for a few weeks now. It was a problem tonight again before the final 8 seconds, particularly on the defensive glass where they had been so good, giving up 16 offensive boards. Again, a group effort in letting the Blazers down on a night when Portland outscored Denver 15-6 in fastbreak points. For those of you who want the new school metrics, the Blazers’ transition scoring rate on Thursday would rank in the 66th percentile compared to the 42nd percentile for Denver, according to CleaningTheGlass. Either way, the Blazers blew a game in which they had far too many advantages to excuse.
Perhaps they’re getting caught up in looking down the bench, waiting for Gary Payton II to return to save their defense. But whether Payton returns this weekend against the Timberwolves or not, the lesson the Blazers should take from Murray’s last shot is the one that led Murray toward a great fourth quarter.
“It’s what my Dad always taught me: ‘If you’re not playing well, defend yourself into the game,'" Murray said.
The Blazers have all of the offense they need. But against Minnesota, their goal should be getting back to a team where defense is a priority. And it can’t be conditional on GPII’s status, as much as it seems like he’s close to coming back.
Notes
BG is home. Chauncey Billups opened his pre-game comments with a statement praising the WNBA and describing his emotions upon hearing the news this morning that WNBA star Brittney Griner would be coming home after nearly a year incarcerated as a political prisoner in Russia. “Today is obviously a very good day in the NBA. I woke up with a big smile on my face today with the news that Brittney Griner is being freed. A lot of people put in a lot of contributions to make that happen. We’re all very thankful about that. I mainly want to give a big shout-out to the WNBA, to be honest with you. They’ve been very loud every single day. They didn’t let one day go by without screaming, standing on top of the tables, and saying ‘Free BG.’ And they finally got it done. My prayers are with her that she comes back and hopefully, she’s able to heal physically, mentally, emotionally. We’re all with her. I just wanted to start off by saying that. I’m very thankful about that.”
I’ve never seen the Blazers locker room in a more somber mood this season. The Royce O’Neal tip-in wasn’t nearly as upsetting as losing this game. In addition to all of the Blazers history against the Nuggets, former Nugget Jerami Grant also had to leave with his former team getting a walk-off win.
The Timberwolves are talented, but the Blazers can lock in and get two wins at home before a pre-Christmas road trip. Anthony Edwards is an explosive scorer and D’Angelo Russell’s stepback can deliver, but the Blazers have enough offensive firepower to take care of the Wolves if the team shows up to defense anywhere near the level they did in the first few weeks of the season.