Blazers score a win in Dame's electric homecoming
The Blazers and Chauncey Billups secured their first signature win of the post-Dame era on emotional night in Rip City.
To say that tonight was emotional would somehow undersell the moment. Even for homecomings I’ve been to, the emotions of this one took things to a new level. While thinking back on Wesley Matthews first game back with Dallas or CJ McCollum’s return with New Orleans, it was fitting that the emotion, noise and game ops production for Dame’s return with the Bucks blew all of those out of the water.
Dame told reporters that CJ called him unprompted on Wednesday, evidence that their telepathic connection remains strong even on different teams, knowing that Dame needed to hear from him. He told Dame it would probably be crazier for him than it was for his return just last year with the Pelicans. It’s safe to say CJ knew.
From pregame to the final buzzer, the fans showered Dame with the love and passion he showed them for 11 years. He said he didn’t cry, but those of us who have seen him pregame for the last 11 years don’t usually see him “wipe sweat from his eye," which he said he was doing, during the national anthem. His Bucks teammates and coaches did everything they could to support him. Running early plays for him, reaching out to him and dapping him up after multiple emotional tribute videos. But there was nothing they could do.
Tonight was about Dame and Portland. And while the Blazers look very different now, the energy in the building on Wednesday night was straight out of a Dame Era Playoff game.
To me, the energy was reminiscent of the 2014 First Round against Houston, with the arena serving as a pressure cooker of pent up emotions built up over time. In this case, instead of 14 years of playoff failures, it was the last 10 months since Dame played his final game as a Blazer, finally reaching a high pitched release. And unlike the spring of 2014, Dame wasn’t picking up the mic in jubilation, but the young Blazers jumping for joy like they had just punched their ticket to the next round of the playoffs.
And much like a playoff game, the crowd definitely got the Blazers going. Scoot Henderson fed off the energy in a big way, leading to arguably the best half of basketball he’s played during his rookie season. Ant Simons was the closer, making big shot after big shot. Chauncey Billups made inspired calls late, like having Jerami Grant and Simons both attack Lillard down the stretch, as well as making sure ANYBODY but Dame was going to take a shot to tie the game with the Blazers holding a 3-point lead. Billups also rode with the hot hand of Toumani Camara, who had his best game in months after getting demoted from the starting lineup, supplying stifling defense and even a rare hook shot that he banked in to keep the Blazers ahead in the 4th quarter.
But just like Dame’s return is a bittersweet reminder of the promises that weren’t kept to franchise’s leading scorer, tonight’s phenomenal game with increased energy and a national TV audience was bittersweet because it’s going to be a while before the building feels like that again for a Blazer game. Dame’s first game back in Portland only happens once. And to get that feeling back again, the Blazers have to make A LOT of progress.
The crowd took things up to a level we haven’t seen all season. Sure, they’ve been loud at times. But tonight was a different loud. They were counting down Giannis’ free-throw clock like they were holding homecourt in the NBA Finals. They booed Doc Rivers like he had just kept CJ out of the game again because of a line-up card mistake.
But the encouraging part is, the Blazers have been playing better for the better part of three weeks since the road trip from hell. Moving Henderson to the bench has led to a more impactful bench unit, which tonight outscored Milwaukee’s bench 35-17. Keeping Malcolm Brogdon in the starting lineup has steadied the ship. And starting Jabari Walker over Camara has not only led to better starts to games, but also seems to have lit a fire under Camara, with his impactful play forcing Billups to roll with him down the stretch.
The cameras will follow Dame, Doc and the Bucks out of Portland. Tonight was a glimpse into what the future of this team could be. But there’s so much work to be done before we know what they really are. But now that Lillard’s homecoming has come and gone, perhaps the conversations of past can finally give way to considering the present. Now it’s just on the Blazers of the present to play well enough to force the cameras to come back in the future.
Notes
After it was all said and done, Dame was drained by all of the emotions of the last 48 hours. Doc Rivers said he was surprised Dame was able to play as well as he did with all of the directions he’s been pulled in over the last couple of days. Lillard, clearly happy to be home and see familiar faces, wasn’t exactly excited to move past all of the emotions of a special night. But he was worn down by the spectacle of it all. “It was a fun game,” he said. “These types of games where there’s a lot of meaning and lot of emotion, these are always fun. These games have a little bit more juice in them. That’s what tonight was. It was an entertaining game, it was excitement, the fans were into the game for a lot of reasons. That’s the way the NBA is. I thought to start the game it was back and forth and if you let any team in this league start to believe and see the ball go in, especially on their home court, it’s going to be a back-and-forth game. More than anything it was just kind of draining. Everything around it, and what it was. I’m not going to say I’m happy that it’s over but just dealing with everything that came with it. Being asked a million times “What’s it like being back in Portland?” “How do you feel?” and all of this stuff. I really enjoyed being back but the whole spectacle of it was a little bit draining.”
While Brook Lopez’s missed 3-pointer got most of the post-game attention from fans online, the Bucks were more concerned with their start to the 4th quarter. The Bucks kicked off the fourth with six straight turnovers, with many of them created by Portland’s defense, which was led during that stretch by Camara. After the game, Scoot Henderson was as excited as I’ve ever seen him in describing Camara’s contributions. “The pressure on the ball was huge. Tou, man. Tou. We put our faith in Tou to get us a stop. He’s a one man defense. When you have guys like him and ‘Tisse, it’s easy to have confidence.”
In my last newsletter, I shared the stat that the Blazers have been in the top-10 in passes per game over the last three weeks. That remains true, as they are averaging nearly 20 passes more per game, which in a 100 possession game averages out to an extra pass every five offensive possessions. Who doesn’t love an extra pass? Scoot talked about the importance of moving the ball after the game as a key to their improved play and I also asked Chauncey Billups about what is behind that increase in passing. “There has been a change in that. Obviously our offense has struggled a ton when we’ve been towards the bottom of the league, so you start to really dig in on how can we be better. I just know on the other side of the ball it’s always hard to play a team that passes the ball and moves a lot. It’s just hard. No matter who is there, just playing against that is hard. It was just a change we had to make and start passing the ball a lot more. We also have to start driving. It’s hard to guard teams that put pressure on the rim and drive so we did. We studied it, we started to make that change a little while ago and the team has been playing much better because of that. We’re moving the ball. I always felt that no matter what level of basketball you play, you if you feel like you’re going to touch the ball you will play harder on the other end. That’s never changed since being a kid, it just is what it is. I give the guys a lot of credit, they’re trying their best to do it and they’ve been doing a really good job of it to be honest with you.” Simple truths, but ones the Blazers went complicated routes to learn. But hey, at least they’ve learned it. Hopefully they can keep building on the ball movement.
It also has to be said that the Blazers crowd delivered the loudest boos for Billups I’ve heard yet when the public address announcer introduced him pregame. The team is playing better, which made it odd timing that tonight was the night for that. But like it’s been stated many times, Wednesday night was VERY emotional for everyone.
Expectations in the NBA are a double-edged sword. While having players who are experienced enough to win a championship is a major plus to a guy like Dame who hasn’t had that many of those teams around him, there are fewer young players for Lillard to share his knowledge with. The Bucks have a couple of young players, who coincidentally haven’t seen the floor since Doc Rivers took over. But when I asked whether it was refreshing to be surrounded by so many vets, Dame reaffirmed how much he likes pouring into his younger teammates. “I wouldn’t say it’s been refreshing. More than anything it’s encouraging for what I want for myself and my career right now. These guys have won. These guys want to win again. They’re close in age with me. These guys got kids. They not coming and putting in all this time into this to not experience the highest level of success. So I think that’s really encouraging for me. But I can’t say it’s refreshing because I’ve always enjoyed pouring into young players. That does something for me as a player when I know that I’m invested in someone outside of myself when I’m able to see it grow and know that I’ve been impactful for younger players. Because I know how hard it is in this league. Your family, they don’t understand. They haven’t walked this walk. The expectations that you have coming in, the pressure, coming into these organizations, they’ll show you love when they bring you in, but at the end of the day it’s a job. It’s the highest level of the job and if you not getting it done it’s gonna come down on you. ‘You need to lose weight.’ ‘You need to get better as a shooter.’ ‘You need to work on this, you need to work on that.’ And the people around you, they don’t know what that’s like coming in every day trying to continue that and mold yourself to be able to stick in this league. I know how important that is for young players, not only to push you in the right direction but be there to support them through it. I’ve always enjoyed that part of this job.” So, while everyone is an rush to know how this team will develop, it’s important to remember that this part should be the fun part. The pressure will be here before you know it.
In a roundabout way, Dame gave the younger Blazers a lesson in his homecoming. While Simons has long been his young padawan, it seemed like many of the younger Blazers, Scoot in particular, were inspired by the type of reception Dame got. In this lesson, he showed the young Blazers what pouring everything you’ve got into this city, and this fanbase, can be.