Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. We’re here to talk about the daily happenings in the NBA!
C.J. Dame. You know what they do for Portland.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Soobum Im/USA Today.)
Well, the Portland TrailBlazers evened their record up after C.J. McCollum went clutch on the Houston Rockets’ season debut. Take a look.
𝐀 𝐁𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐓@CJMcCollum | #RipCity pic.twitter.com/a1CvGtvRr5
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 27, 2020
McCollum also tied James Harden in scoring as they both scored 44 points each. C.J. had a career-best 9 threes while Harden, who was coming off quarantine, tied his best with 17 assists.
I do want to talk about the Portland TrailBlazers, though. They’ve been a perennial playoff team for nearly a decade. However, they don’t get deep in the playoffs for the most part, only going to the West Finals in 2019. And it feels like their roster should be capable of that.
The problem is that their offense and defense never seemed to align. They have a 7-year playoff streak, going back to Damian Lillard‘s sophomore campaign. In those 7 years, their defense was actually in the top 10 in defensive rating twice. The problem was that they ran into bad match-ups those years. In 2015, they faced a TOUGHER defensive team in Memphis and, in 2018, Lillard got locked up by Jrue Holiday and the New Orleans Pelicans. They pretty much had to be elite offensively to get to the Western Conference Finals.
Now the Blazers are always going to have a shot at a game as long as they have Damian Lillard. Lillard might even be capable of carrying a series but the point is that the Blazers are going to need their entire team to get farther in the playoffs. Robert Covington was acquired to boost their perimeter defense. Derrick Jones and his length was also signed for help in that. And Gary Trent, Jr. has come on in that department in the last year. So they have the potential to be pretty good on that end. And if Jusuf Nurkic can be that plug in the middle again, that would be great for Portland.
Of course, Lillard, McCollum, and Carmelo Anthony have to be on the floor a lot, too, and they’re not the greatest defensive players on the court. They also took Enes Kanter back and we all know his reputation. So yeah, it’s a bit hard to get a read on this Portland team.
Chances are they’ll make the playoffs again but seeing that defense has been unsatisfactory more often than not during Lillard’s tenure, I just don’t see them making it far. But if Portland’s defense locks up like it did in 2018 (so far, it hasn’t) and it matches up with their offense that can potentially be a bucket festival, then yes, we can put Portland amongst the upper tier.
Bullet Passes
For what it’s worth, Harden currently has a great big man partner in Christian Wood, who finished with 31 points and 13 boards. How could the Pistons let him go? Actually, given the Pistons’ recent history, we EXACTLY know why they let him go.
We had a battle of the point studs between Trae Young and Ja Morant. Trae won both the individual (36 points, 9 assists) and team (Hawks won by 10) team games. But Ja didn’t do so bad himself (28 points, 7 assists).
Russell Westbrook finished with another triple-double (15-15-12) but the Wizards are now 0-2 after falling to the Magic.
Look at them Sacramento Kings start off at 2-0!
That must have been a rollercoaster of emotions for Cavs fans. Forever bad free throw shooter Andre Drummond made 5 of 6 foul shots to tie the game and send it to OT. Then the Pistons led by 9 with two minutes left in the first overtime. The Cavs then were able to tie it and send the game to a second overtime.
Then the Cavs put it away by scoring the first 10 points of that period. They went on a 19-0 overall run in those OT periods. Sheesh.
How does this even happen? Reggie Bullock‘s jersey had TWO DIFFERENT NUMBERS. 25 on the front and 23 on the back.
Lol, Reggie Bullock had number 25 on the front of his jersey, number 23 on the back. pic.twitter.com/SQ3reNk3Uw
— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) December 27, 2020
Incredible.
NBA Scoreboard
Dec. 26, 2020
Watch This Play
I would make an If I Ever Fall In Love reference here but we don’t pronounce his name like that. So Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will just Shai it loud with this game-winner.
Game on the line. #ThunderUp | @shaiglalex pic.twitter.com/v8gtOghMeJ
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 27, 2020
The Thunder win their first game of the season.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.