Sports Hey PDX December 29, 2024 0 Comments

Blazers Hold On for Offense-Fueled Victory over Mavericks

The Portland Trail Blazers took on a depleted Dallas Mavericks squad on Saturday night, hoping to take advantage of an injury to Luka Doncic and a couple suspensions to key players as well. Not all well-laid plans have worked out for Portland this year, but this one did. Portland’s guards finally clicked together on the exact night center Deandre Ayton played like a true #1 pick. All of that was too much for the shorthanded Mavericks to handle. Portland won in a barn-burner, 126-122.

Four Blazers scored 20 or more points in this effort: Deandre Ayton, Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, and Deni Avdija. Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 46.

Here are some of the trends that mattered in the game.

The Deandre Hustle

Deandre Ayton has had an up and down year, an up and down career, really. When he’s on, though, you can see why people love him. He put on a clinic in the first period, shutting down the middle of the floor like a real, defensive-minded center. He gained two blocked shots on Dallas drivers while keeping Daniel Gafford, his opposing pivot, contained. His coverage extended to the sides of the floor, once even to a time-line trap forcing a turnover. Ayton’s activity allowed Portland’s perimeter defenders to get more aggressive, trusting the man who had their back. This contributed to opponent mistakes and missed threes.

On offense, Ayton set authoritative, quick screens on a plurality of Portland’s plays. He rolled with intention, often receiving the ball in the middle of the floor where he converted short jumpers with devastating results.

The Blazers had their best first quarter of the season, outscoring the Mavericks 36-25. Ayton deserves a large part of the credit for that. It set the tone for the night.

Ayton was fairly quiet in the middle quarters but came alive again in the fourth, dunking twice and stealing the ball way out on the sideline during the game-defining defensive possession with 20 seconds remaining. Deandre finished with 21 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals in one of his best, and most energetic, games as a Blazer.

Deni Clutch

With the game in the balance in the fourth quarter, the Blazers ran multiple possessions through Deni Avdija, turning him from secondary ball-handler to true point guard. After getting stymied a couple of times on the drive, he found his rhythm and some magic. It started with a pair of alley-oops to Ayton, bringing Deandre back alive after a quiet stretch. Then Avdija connected on his own layup attempt. Finally, with two minutes remaining and Dallas having pared the lead to just six points, Avidja cut across the lane, drew the defense, then found Anfernee Simons for a beautiful three-pointer that pretty much sealed the Mavericks’ fate.

Avdija had 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists for the night.

Driving Guards

Portland has often relied on the three-pointer to bail them out of tough matchups. Against Dallas they decided to invert that. The Blazers guards took the ball to the rack hard. Sometimes they got layups, but the real devastation happened when they drew the defense and dished. The game got far easier for the bigs and wings when they caught the ball defender-free. They either got chip shots or were able to make the continuation pass to wide-open three-point shooters. This is about the only situation in which Portland’s backcourt becomes truly intimidating, when they wake up to their own athletic potential and actually make something of it. Both Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson made the Mavs pay this way.

The aforementioned Ayton outbursts were aided, in part, by Gafford having to keep an eye on Portland’s penetration, leaving Deandre relatively open in the midrange. The attack didn’t just produce points for the guards, but for everyone. Anfernee Simons would finish with 22 points in part because the Mavs couldn’t send extra defenders against him on the perimeter because Simons’ teammates were carving them up inside.

Sharpe Play

No player was more aggressive on his way to the hoop than Shaedon Sharpe. He punished the Mavericks with an array of drives in the halfcourt, salting in a couple of fast break conversions as well. Whether the Mavs tried to guard him with a shorter backcourt player or a tall forward on the switch, he made them pay, driving and elevating like he owned every bit of airspace in the building.

Sharpe poured in 23 to lead the Blazers.

Scoot

Playing alongside Sharpe, Scoot Henderson showed a nice combination of aggression and patience against Dallas. The aggression came in the same way Sharpe’s did: taking advantage of every first-step opportunity to get to the bucket. Henderson left plenty of footprints in the lane, causing havoc for Dallas’ defense. He seldom forced the action, though. When he didn’t have the look, he passed the ball and then worked into open space to get it back. Those secondary shots included a beautiful baseline drive and a swished sideline three, and that was just in the second period. It was as mature and precise of an offensive outing as we’ve seen from Scoot. It was pretty point-guard-ish, really. He had 19 points on 8-15 shooting with 6 assists and only a single turnover in 29 minutes of play.

Oh, and Henderson had 5 steals as well. His defense wasn’t perfect, but it sure was opportunistic, and ultimately disruptive.

Kyrie

Speaking of point guards, though, Kyrie Irving tonight played the part of himself and the missing Doncic. The Blazers did a pretty good job of containing everybody else, but they couldn’t do much with Irving, at least not for long. The Blazers had the game in hand—way in hand—entering the fourth quarter. Irving’s scoring alone was enough to put the fear of God into everyone watching and probably half of Portland’s players. He’s the kind of game-breaking talent NBA teams wish for. As maligned as he’s been over the years, the man can play.

Transition and Paint Points

If you were to describe Portland’s offense this season, you’d find as much source material in the Pepto Bismol jingle as basketball-reference.com. Tonight the Blazers solved that problem by getting easy buckets galore. They outhustled and out-passed the Mavericks, plain and simple. The Blazers ended up with a 58-38 advantage in the paint and a 24-12 edge in transition. Kyrie or no, Dallas had no hope of overcoming those kind of deficits. It won’t happen every night, but boy was it fun to see.