PBT First-Round Playoff Previews: Portland Trail Blazers vs. Memphis Grizzlies

By Sean HighkinApr 17, 2015, 12:28 PM EDT
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SEASON RECORDS
Blazers: 51-31 (fourth place in Western Conference)
Grizzlies: 55-27 (fifth place in Western Conference)
KEY INJURIES
Blazers: It would be easier to list who’s healthy. LaMarcus Aldridge’s thumb is probably fine but he missed two of the last three games with a left foot sprain. Nicolas Batum has a bruised knee and missed the season finale. C.J. McCollum has a left ankle sprain. Arron Afflalo will miss at least the first game with a right shoulder strain. And that’s before you get to the season-ending injuries to Dorell Wright and Wesley Matthews.
Grizzlies: Marc Gasol (ankle) and Mike Conley (foot) are banged up. Courtney Lee is playing through a torn hand ligament. All should be available for the series opener but they’re worth keeping an eye on.
OFFENSE/DEFENSE RANKINGS
Blazers: 105.5 points scored per 100 possessions (8th in NBA); 101.4 points allowed per 100 possessions (10th in NBA).
Grizzlies: 103.1 points scored per 100 possessions (13th in NBA); 99.9 points allowed per 100 possessions (4th in NBA).

THREE KEYS TO THE SERIES

1) Will the Blazers find wing production? The loss of Matthews effectively killed Portland’s hopes of contending. The injuries to Wright and Afflalo don’t help. Beyond Batum and McCollum (who are dealing with minor injuries of their own), the Blazers are counting on a lot of production from the likes of Allen Crabbe, Alonzo Gee and Tim Frazier, which isn’t ideal to say the least. That’s all the more pressure on Damian Lillard to have another heroic series like last year’s first-round matchup with Houston.

2) Can the Grizzlies get anything on the perimeter? We say this every year, and you’d think they would have done something about it by now, but there’s no reliable outside shooting anywhere on Memphis’ roster. Jeff Green has shot 36 percent from three since being traded to the Grizzlies, and their two best three-point threats, Conley and Lee, are playing through injuries. The Grizzlies will have to do all of their damage in the paint, which, luckily for them, they’re perfectly equipped to do.

3) How far can Aldridge and Lillard carry the Blazers? With Matthews gone, the Blazers’ two superstars are going to have more defensive attention on them than ever. Memphis can put Tony Allen on Lillard and Zach Randolph on Aldridge. With Aldridge’s thumb injury, a matchup with Randolph can’t be something he’s looking forward to, but unless one of the unknown role players steps up, it’s going to be a two-man job.

PREDICTION

This is going to be a hard-fought series with terrific home crowds in both cities. But between Memphis’ home-court advantage and the Blazers’ litany of injuries, I have to think the Grizzlies will prevail. I’m picking Grizzlies in 6 but I don’t feel great about it.

It’s not Showtime 2, but Lakers fast break surprising, running past teams

By Kurt HelinDec 10, 2019, 1:00 PM EST
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LOS ANGELES — Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers ran past the Timberwolves.

Literally.

The Lakers got their first bucket when Anthony Davis got a rebound, pushed the ball up the court himself, and went coast-to-coast for an and-1 lay-up. Soon after LeBron James was throwing look-aheads to a sprinting Davis.

Los Angeles had 17 fast-break points in the first quarter, on their way to 32 for the game. The Lakers kept getting easy buckets in transition, which kept a feisty Timberwolves team in the rear-view mirror.

That happens a lot. Talk to opposing the coaches about the Lakers and you hear about their length defensively, the activity of their big men, and how the LeBron/Davis pick-and-roll leaves defenders with impossible choices.

The fast break points sneak up on teams. These Lakers are not the second coming of Showtime, but the break has become a vital weapon for them.

“The transition game over the past couple of weeks has really picked up,” Lakers’ coach Frank Vogel said.

Los Angeles averages 18.4 fast break points per game, third most in the NBA, but that number doesn’t tell the entire story. The Lakers add as many points per game on transition plays as any team in the league, looking at the advanced stats at Cleaning the Glass (which filters out garbage time in its numbers). The Lakers start 16 percent of possessions in transition, eight highest percentage in the league, and they have a ridiculous 130.8 offensive rating when they do get out and run, third best in the NBA.

Maybe more importantly, the players love it. They want to run. Vogel praised Davis’ “old school, smash mouth” 50 points against Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves, but he did that in part by rim-running hard in transition and getting some easy dunks early.

“For me, I like to get out and run, get some easy buckets first, especially on the break get a lob or a lay-up, see the ball go through the basket and go from there,” Davis said of those early transition buckets Sunday.

Transition points have to start with a stop and a rebound, which has been the focal point of Vogel and the coaching staff. Once the break starts it’s much more straightforward —get LeBron the rock and just run.

“Prior to the Denver game (Dec. 3), we had not been rebounding the basketball very well,” Vogel said. “With a strong message delivered that we’re not going to reach our potential if we continue to be poor on the glass and rely on our athleticism to rebound rather than really committing to hitting people — and if we secure the rebound and hold people to one shot — then we’re dealing with live rebounds and we’re able to run.

“We always encourage our guys to run their patterns. LeBron James, he’s just unbelievable with his throw aheads. He’s putting the ball on target in narrow spaces and getting guys easy lay-ups.

“So I think it starts on the defensive end with the defensive glass and then LeBron running the action.”

Those easy transition buckets make it much harder to beat the Lakers and are a key reason they are a West-leading 21-3. Los Angeles is difficult to score against with all its length, and it has the sixth best defense in the NBA. Against teams like that, giving up easy transition buckets almost guarantees a loss. Teams can’t make up the ground.

Which sounds a lot like the Showtime Lakers.

This year’s Lakers’ edition may not be Magic to Worthy for the tomahawk dunk, but it’s closer to it than the Lakers have been in a long time. Even if it’s not what people notice first.

Keep the pace up and these Lakers may be able to run their way to some of the success — and the rings — of those Showtime Lakers.

Derrick Rose in on-court interview after game-winner: ‘Excuse my English, but I’m born to do this s—’ (video)

By Dan FeldmanDec 10, 2019, 12:12 PM EST
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Yesterday was a big night for hitting game-winners then cursing in walk-off interviews.

Nemanja Bjelica made the game-winning 3-pointer for the Kings against the Rockets then said, “F— it, we deserved this win, man.”

Derrick Rose also made a game-winning jumper for the Pistons against the Pelicans then said on Fox Sports Detroit:

Excuse my English, but I’m born to do this s—. Dead serious. This is what I do.

Rose spent a large portion of his life as an elite basketball player. Then, he had multiple lost years with the Bulls, slipped with the Knicks and was downright awful with the Cavaliers. It seemed he could fall out of the NBA entirely.

He’s clearly darned proud of persevering.

He also doesn’t always explain that in the most polite language.

Based on the Marc Gasol precedent of saying “f—” in an on-court interview, Bjelica will probably get fined. Is “s—” OK, though? What a fascinating question for the league office.

Nemanja Bjelica in on-court interview after game-winner: ‘F— it, we deserved this win’ (video)

By Dan FeldmanDec 10, 2019, 10:50 AM EST
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Teams down two points with one second left almost always lose.

The Kings beat the odds when Nemanja Bjelica hit the game-winning 3-pointer against the Rockets last night.

Run that last possession 100 times, and Sacramento would mostly lose. But credit the Kings for taking Houston, a good team, the distance on the road. Even having that final opportunity reflects well on Sacramento.

That was Bjelica’s message after the game – a point he felt quite strongly about.

Bjelica closed his on-court interview on NBC Sports California with:

F— it, we deserved this win, man.

I love it. This was genuine emotion of a big moment for him.

The NBA might not be as fond. Marc Gasol got fined $15,000 for closing an on-court interview a couple years ago with, “Overall, we won. F— it.”

Three Things to Know: Derrick Rose is (almost) back, drains game-winner vs. Pelicans

Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images
By Kurt HelinDec 10, 2019, 9:17 AM EST
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Every day in the NBA there is a lot to unpack, so every weekday morning throughout the season we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.

1) Derrick Rose is (almost) back, drains game-winner to beat New Orleans. The saga of Derrick Rose is one of the biggest NBA stories of the past decade — we thought he might be the Player of the Decade when it started. Young Rose was an unstoppable force, throwing his body around and absorbing contact while making plays for the Bulls. Rose was the 2011 NBA MVP and his future seemed limitless.

Then in 2012 he tore his ACL. It was the first of a string of knee injuries that changed his career. Instead of owning the decade, Rose spent much of it in recovery from multiple surgeries that robbed him of his explosiveness, and he struggled without it. Rose had to put in the work to find and grow the craft in his game.

In 2019, Derrick Rose is back.

Almost. We’re never going to see 23-year-old Rose again, but the 31-year-old version is a different kind of force for the Pistons, a crafty player averaging 16.1 points and 5.8 assists a game who is one of the early contenders for Sixth Man of the Year. He is an integral part of what is happening in Detroit.

How integral? With the game tied 103-103 in New Orleans last night and time for one last shot, Detroit coach Dwane Casey drew up an isolation play for Rose. Blake Griffin wasn’t going to touch the ball, it was all Rose — with a good defender in Jrue Holiday in front of him. Rose got the bucket anyway.

In the locker room later, a reporter asked Holiday if Rose pushed off, and the veteran wouldn’t take the bait and instead praised the former MVP.

“He has everything,” Holiday said, via the Associated Press. “I think it was a good play on his part. I’m not going to take anything from him. He’s a great player and the shot that he made was a tough shot. There was nothing I could do about it.”

Rose was 7-of-8 for 17 points in the fourth quarter, including hitting a spinning layup with 38.7 seconds left to tie the game at 103-103.

Thanks to Rose, the Pistons got the win (their fourth in five games). It was Rose’s second strong fourth quarter in a row.

Rose is back. At least enough to become a player you want to stop and watch again.

And that story arc makes him one of the best stories of the last decade.

2) Nemanja Bjelica drains game-winner in Houston to give Kings impressive back-to-back wins in Texas. Maybe, after an ugly start to the season, Luke Walton’s Kings are finding their way. Maybe it was too early to write them off as a playoff team (it was, nobody in the West ran away with the 7/8 eight seed, leaving the door open).

Sunday night the Kings took down Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. On Monday night, it was the Rockets turn.

It was the best finish to a game all night (with apologies to Derrick Rose). Sacramento’s Buddy Hield had tied the game at 116-116 with a leaning three-pointer with eight seconds left.

Houston called a timeout, then Mike D’Antoni made a smart decision having the Rockets bring the ball up the length of the court rather than advance it — it allowed Russell Westbrook to pick up a head of steam. Sacramento sold out to keep the ball out of James’ Harden’s hands, and that left a lane for Westbrook to blow by Heild and get all the way to the rim for a far too easy lay-up. Houston was up 118-116 with one second left on the clock, and Westbrook was yelling “game over.”

Nemanja Bjelica then had his say.

Kings Twitter smacked the Rockets with the best trash talk of the night

Sacramento just swept a very difficult Texas two-step on a back-to-back. The wins improve the Kings to 10-13 on the season, just a game back of slumping Phoenix for the final playoff slot in the West. And this week the Kings will get Marvin Bagley III back (De’Aaron Fox is still a couple of weeks away).

Luke Walton seems to have the Kings headed in the right direction.

3) Gordon Hayward returns, Celtics ease him back in against Cavaliers’ “defense.” Gordon Hayward looked like he never left.

After a month on the sidelines recovering from surgery to his fractured hand, Hayward beat the timeline by two weeks and was back on the court Monday. The Celtics eased him back by bringing him in against the Cavaliers, a team that wasn’t going to make him work too hard to score.

Hayward had 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting and generally looked comfortable in his return.

It’s good to see Hayward back, a guy having his own bounce-back year from a major surgery a couple of years ago. He has started to look like his vintage self. Boston could use that Hayward and shot creation in their next three games, which will be a little tougher: At Indiana, hosting Philadelphia, at Dallas.