So far the Portland Trail Blazers are 13-4 and off to a decent start. They’re tied for third best record in the league and still going strong. Things look better than last year and the team is deeper. But in order to win a championship, they need to fix a few things.
First of all, other teams are scoring more in the paint. The Trail Blazers are suspect to opponents getting to the rim with not really any resistance. The team that exposed this was Memphis when they were going to the rim over and over again. Marc Gasol had 9 assists by passing the ball to players cutting to the basket with no one really stopping them. Play after play, Gasol would bring the defense (Robin Lopez or Chris Kaman) to him and no one else would protect the rim. If anybody else would help out Portland would’ve stood a chance in winning this game. Another team that proved this was Minnesota. Even though they lost the game 93-107 they were able to score quite a bit in the paint. Shabazz Muhammad scored 28 points with most of them dunks. His teammates were not able to hit jump shots in the end compared to Portland and they wound up losing the game.
Teams are also figuring out how to defend Portland’s 3 point shot being that Portland relies heavily on the 3 point shot. Wesley Mathews has been the most consistent especially against Minnesota by sinking 6 threes. However, Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum were a combined 2 of 15 from beyond the arc. Batum especially has not found his rhythm yet offensively. He plays great defense and passes the ball well, but needs to hit his shot or Portland will have a harder time with elite teams.
Chris Kaman, Steve Blake, and Joel Freeland are productive off the bench. Allen Crabbe is ok. But the rest is still lacking. The rest of the bench don’t play much because when they do go in; they don’t do much. That is why Kaman and Blake were added on the team being that Portland had the worst bench in the NBA last year. Steve Blake is averaging over 4 points and 4 assists a game while Chris Kaman is averaging 10.7 points and 6.8 rebounds with a 50% field goal percentage. If Portland had one more player off the bench putting out stats like this, they would be solid. The problem is that there really isn’t much beyond Kaman and Blake.
The brightest spot on the team is LaMarcus Aldridge, who is averaging 22.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists with a 46% field goal percentage. He is having a breakout year with teams trying to figure out a way to stop him. Most teams have been double teaming him when he posts up or trying to take away his jump shot. Heaven forbid if he was to get hurt because if that was to happen, Portland would be a different team. Who can forget when he was hurt for a while last year and all the games Portland lost in his absence. Damian Lillard is the other bright spot on this team with averages of 19.7 points, 6.7 assists and a 46% field goal percentage. Everybody knows that finding a true point guard is hard to find. Lillard is rated one of the top 5 point guards in the league because ever since he came to the Blazers the team started to come together. He is another one I hope never gets hurt. Lillard is the key to Portland winning a championship.
The season is going pretty good so far by only being outclassed by one team which is Memphis. All other games went well even though they lost 3 other close ones. The team chemistry is the best we’ve seen in years with the players gelling together. The coaching is outstanding with substitutions made at the right times and making sure everyone gets along with each other. All we can do is hope everything keeps going like it is.
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