Live from the Moda Center as the Portland Trail Blazers host the Philadelphia 76ers.
All I wanted for Christmas was for the Blazers to survive their toughest road trip of the season, and goodness did Santa Dame deliver. Going 3-1 against the Spurs, Pelicans, Rockets, and Thunder is one thing, but capping things off with an allusion to Game Six is a damn Christmas miracle. Lillard’s list of clutch performances is getting ridiculous. Y’all know what time it is.
Between his heroics in the triple overtime thriller in San Antonio and The Shot redux, Lillard had himself a road trip. Dude is an unending stream of fire emojis. No lead is safe with him on the court.
The Blazers are riding high, feeling good, and enjoying that Christmas break as the second-best team in the entire league. Now they're back home and will try to keep that momentum rolling against...the tanking 76ers? Really? Way to suck the fun out of the holidays, Philly. Christmas is barely over and you’ve already ditched the tree on the sidewalk. Nothing like a visit from the league’s worst team to really get those post-holiday blues jump-started.
PRE-GAME:
Okay, the 76ers actually aren’t that bad—they're not the Knicks. I mean, they have a plan in place and are building towards something, and their defense has crept up to top ten status this season. Still, they’ve only won four games on the year, and the Blazers are going to have to have a serious holiday hangover to hand them victory number five.
Too bad the NBA fans of the world decided to give Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge lumps of coal for Christmas. It was announced on Christmas morning that Aldridge was sixth among frontcourt players and Dame was eighth among backcourt players for the 2015 All-Star voting. Dame’s spot is especially egregious, coming in behind Rajon Rondo. But hey, anytime you can vote for a past his prime PG shooting 33% from the free throw line...
Both Chris Kaman and LaMarcus Aldridge are going to miss tonight's contest. Kaman's wife went into labor today and he's off for the birth of their son. Aldridge is still battling that upper respiratory illness that held him out of the Houston game, though tonight's absence feels more like a Christmas present from coach Terry Stotts. If you're going to miss a game for rest, might as well do it against the worst team in the league. Even with the thin big man rotation, the Blazers should still be favored in this one by fifteen points.
So Portland will be down two rotation players, but the good news is Nicolas Batum will be back at it after missing the last game against the Thunder. He's been dealing will all sorts of ailments, but specifically a bum wrist on his shooting arm. I take back what I said earlier—all I really wanted for Christmas this year was for Batum to rediscover his outside shot. Please, Santa, make it so.
FIRST QUARTER:
11:32 - Lillard (who else?!) with the first bucket of the game. He blew by Michael Carter-Williams, and the 76ers had no help defense whatsoever. 2-0 Blazers.
10:14 - Nerlens Noel is active here early scoring the last four Philly points, including a nice steal and coast to coast lay in. Oh, and his flat top game is on point. 6-4 Philly.
9:10 - Batum for three! Santa listened. Good, now I don't have to meet that old man in Temecula. 10-9 Philly.
7:27 - Joel Freeland with his second early foul. Normally not a huge deal for the foul happy Brit, but the only big body the Blazers have left on the bench is Meyers Leonard. Oof. 12-12 Tie.
6:48 - Off of a turnover, Batum caught Philly sleeping and was able to leak out for an easy basket and-one. So much for that improved defense, eh? 15-12 Blazers.
4:43 - We have our first KJ McDaniels block of the night. He's one of the best guards in the league at blocking shots, and made Dame look silly by rejecting his layup attempt and knocking him to the ground in the process. 17-12 Blazers.
3:41 - Meyers Leonard and Henry Sims out here exchanging vicious dunks, just like everyone predicted. 19-14 Blazers.
3:02 - You think the Blazers miss their bigs? All sixteen of Philly's points have come in the paint. 19-16 Blazers.
1:58 - The Blazers are running Steve Blake, Allen Crabbe, Nicolas Batum, Dorell Wright, and Meyers Leonard together. No wonder the offense has stalled—that is one hell of a lineup, and one that couldn't have played a single minute together this minute. 22-20 Blazers.
0:00 - The quarter ended with a questionable out of bounds call that required a video review, and the Serial theme song started playing over the loudspeaker as the refs looked into it. Kudos, Blazers. Kudos. 27-24 Blazers.
SECOND QUARTER:
11:43 - Wesley Matthews has a new three-point celebration, pulling out an imaginary arrow and firing it towards the sky. A thousand times yes. 30-24 Blazers.
11:22 - Shoot them arrows! Matthews for three! 33-26 Blazers.
9:06 - Hey there, Victor Claver. (....aaaaand I'll see myself out now.) 36-30 Blazers.
7:17 - CJ for three! I think I'm just going to rhyme every update from here on out, cool? 41-33 Blazers.
5:02 - Victor Claver is putting in some work right now. He sunk a three, grabbed a board in traffic, and had a nice cut to the basket for an easy lay in. 50-37 Blazers.
4:33 - Dame with the highlight dunk, driving past his man and slamming in home in traffic. Portland is pulling away with this one. 52-37 Blazers.
2:47 - This new arrow celebration is just the best. Keep 'em coming, Wesley. 55-39 Blazers.
1:14 - Meyers tried to contest a Luc Mbah a Moute shot at the rim and ended up taking an elbow right to the face for his trouble. Oh, and the foul was called on Meyers. He had to be subbed out to head back to the locker room to clean up the blood in his mouth. 57-49 Blazers.
0:00 - You know who's getting the ball for the Blazers with the shot clock turned off. (Hint: Duh, it's Dame.) Michael Carter-Williams had to guard him close to contest a possible three, and Dame was able to drive and dish to a wide open Dorell Wright in the corner for the easy three. Money. 61-51 Blazers.
THIRD QUARTER:
11:43 - Only took Joel Freeland seventeen seconds to pick up his third foul, and the Blazers started the quarter with the ball. Yep, sounds about right. 61-52 Blazers.
10:05 - Who does Matthews think he is, Dame? Wesley pulled up from thirty feet (deep for anyone not named Damian or Stephen), and rattled it home. He's 6-10 from distance on the night, and Philly needs time. 67-52 Blazers.
6:52 - Matthews had a three barely rattle out, so instead on launching from deep on his next touch he took it down the post. His step-back hardly even touched net. Dude is dialed in. 73-59 Blazers.
5:14 - Tony Wroten is playing some grabby defense on Lillard. He's making Dame mad. You won't like Dame when he's mad. Lillard nailed a pullup three on the last possession, then sunk another triple (plus the foul!) on his next. That's a quick 7-0 Lillard run. 80-64 Blazers.
4:22 - Dame has Portland's last eleven points. As you were. 84-68 Blazers.
0:00 - Those last four minutes went, uh, quick. This one devolved into a terrible pickup game real quick. The only highlights were Steve Blake hitting the side of the backboard on a three-pointer and Wesley Matthews banking home a half court shot after the quarter had expired. 88-74 Blazers.
FOURTH QUARTER:
11:41 - Okay, this quarter is starting better than the last one ended. Blake found a cutting Wright who threw an over the head pass to CJ in the corner for three. 91-74 Blazers.
10:04 - Nerlens Noel, my goodness. He met CJ at the rim on a one-handed dunk attempt and swatted it away for a highlight block, then jammed it over Joel Freeland on the other end for the poster dunk. What a sequence. 93-78 Blazers.
9:10 - Joel Freeland has fifteen rebounds. Not, like, for his career. Just for tonight. When in the heck did that happen? 96-80 Blazers.
7:39 - Anybody who falls for a Dorell Wright pump fake should be sent down to the D-League. 98-82 Blazers.
7:06 - Freeland checks out with seventeen rebounds, obviously a career-high. Here's to hoping he makes it back into this game to get to twenty. 98-84 Blazers.
5:50 - Wesley Matthews, from District Twelve! 101-86 Blazers.
5:27 - Wow, fans are already heading for the exits. I know the 76ers are bad, but there's still over five minutes left in this one. 103-86 Blazers.
4:49 - Dame with the step-back three. Okay, now y'all can leave. 106-86 Blazers.
3:31 - Thomas Robinson with two huge blocks here late, and that will do it for the starters. 106-86 Blazers.
3:03 - You're not going to Furkan believe this, but Furkan Aldemir is in for the 76ers and just picked up a foul. 106-88 Blazers.
0:50 - Back to back dunks for Thomas Robinson. It may be garbage time, but he's letting everyone know it's his garbage time. 114-91 Blazers.
FINAL: 114-93 Blazers. Yep, about what you'd expect from the worst team in the league. Remember, this was without Aldridge, Kaman, and of course Robin Lopez. The offense was on point, the defense did enough to slow Philly, and this one was never close. Freeland set a career-high with seventeen rebounds and Matthews chipped in with seven threes. Portland will be back at it on Sunday against the second-worst team in the league, the New York Knicks.
