of portland trailblazers We barely made it out of Utah with a win over the Jazz on Saturday night. His 116-111 victory over Salt Lake City stopped a three-game skid and hopefully will be his turning point for a Blazers team that has lost eight in the last 10 games heading into this game. I’m here.
The Blazers took an early lead with a 9-point lead after the first quarter. They held that lead constant until halftime, but the Jazz came to life in the second half and gave the Blazers a challenge later in this game. is leading
of utah jazz Jordan Clarkson, who finished with 24 points, took the lead, with four other players scoring at least 15 points in team efforts.
Click here for a quarterly breakdown of tonight’s games instant summaryThese are some of the main takeaways from tonight’s win.
Anphanie Simmons
As I’ve mentioned before, I can’t stress enough how great Anfanie Simmons was tonight. He scored 23 points in his first quarter, his career-high points score. He scored a Blazers franchise-record 33 points in the first half on the way to his career-high 45 points. Simmons made seven of his 3s and was perfect on his throwing attempts on eight frees, posting his 60% shooting percentage across the field in explosive performances.
a tale of two halves
The Blazers looked invincible in the first half, at least offensively. They scored at will and took care of the ball while doing so.They turned the ball over only three times in the first half, although he made several mistakes for the Jazz. He then took a 15-point lead.
However, the Jazz quickly turned the tide by scoring seven points in the first minute and a half of the second half, cutting the Blazers’ early advantage. The Blazers were able to hold on and win despite sloppy play late in the game. The Blazers turned the ball a whopping 10 times in the second half and the Jazz were able to capitalize on his 14-point adjustment from game turnovers.
When will reinforcements come?
The Blazers Big 3 of Anfanie Simmons, Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic scored a combined 93 points in the game. Nurkic and Grant also recorded his 28 rebounds, including eight offensive boards between the two. The rest of the Blazers scored just 23 points. With two starters retained and key backups from this game in Damien Lillard, Josh Hart and Drew Eubanks, the Blazers did what they had and won. However, if either Simmons, Grant, or Nurkic were even slightly less efficient, it would be easy to lose this game.
The Blazers hope this is the beginning of the end of the recent skids and aim to remove some of those names from upcoming injury reports. There are a lot of them, but it’s easy for an offense to stagnate for a stretch without a high-profile scorer. Grant and Simmons are both playing at or near All-Star level, and with Lillard back, the Blazers should do well.
restrict the movement of the ball
The Blazers held the Jazz to just 20 assists tonight. This is a great performance that limits the jazz team to relying on scoring by committee. By stopping the ball from flying around the court, the Blazers were able to limit the amount of open looks the Jazz got from threes and around the rim. and shot better from 3. There were several times in this game where the Jazz were forced to take low percentage shots late in the shot clock due to unproductive offensive possessions.
The Blazers, on the other hand, had just 19 assists. But considering how much players like Anphanie Simmons and Jerami Grant create their own shots rather than getting catch-and-shoot chances, that number doesn’t matter much. Overall, that number is probably too low to have consistent success. But when ISO players are shooting like tonight, you don’t have to worry too much.
Three point threat mitigation
The Jazz as a team shot 36% from 3 on 36 attempts. Many of their players scored high percentages, but Jordan Clarkson and Malik Beasley (usually he shoots over 36% from 3) combined and from the deep he shot 2/15. They forced bad shots over and over again throughout the game and the Blazers were able to capitalize on their missed shots. Overall, the two scored 27 points on 35 shots and both scored first guards It turned out to be a very inefficient night for us, plus/minus both negatives.
critical defense
Allowing 90 points in three-quarters doesn’t exactly mean a great defensive performance, but the Blazers are determined to sit back and play grit towards the end of the game. is ready. Conceding just 21 points in the fourth quarter, he was able to string together some excellent defensive possessions in the closing stages of the game. The Blazers allowed just one field goal in the final two and a half minutes of the game, culminating in a Simmons block in a game that could tie Jordan Clarkson’s three-point attempt. The Blazers grind-it-out with just two free throws in the fourth quarter and he was able to win the game for a team that has lacked a defensive identity for years. , is a promising sign moving forward.
next
The Blazers (12-11) went home and Indiana Pacers Back to back to start the 4 game homestand. The game will tip off at 6:00 pm PT at the Moda Center.
