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The Portland Trail Blazers arrive for a Cinco de Mayo matchup with the exhausted Cavaliers, who played 53 minutes against the Suns last night with a seven-man rotation. Exhausted and short-handed, that is, with seven players out. I don't believe the Cavs will be able to mount much of a threat after leaving it all on the court last night. Cedi and Okoro played 45 and 47 minutes. Okoro was cramping in the second half and needed an IV after the game.
The Blazers must be tired, too, as they are playing their sixth game in nine days, all on the road. This is the last game of their road trip so we may catch them looking forward to getting home and maybe not totally focused on this game.
The Blazers are a solid team with a record of 36-29, good for 7th place in the West. They're 20-13 on the road, better than they are at home. They beat the Cavs in Portland two months ago 129-110. Gary Trent, Jr led them with 26 points but he's been traded. Andre Drummond started for the Cavs. Stevens, Dotson, and Windler played 68 minutes combined. A lot has changed in two months.
Sharpshooters Norman Powell and Damian Lillard are listed as game time decisions. Lillard is averaging 28.4 points and 7.6 assists per game. The Blazers feature balanced scoring with Powell averaging 17.0 ppg, Carmelo Anthony 13.6, Enos Kanter 11.4, and Nurkic 10.7. Carmelo scored 23 off the bench against the Cavs in February as he continues to climb the all-time scoring list. He's in 10th place, fewer than 100 points behind Moses Malone.
Fun fact: Dirk Nowitzki has more points than Wilt Chamberlain. I had no idea.
The Blazers are 5th in scoring. They're all about the 3-pointer, putting up over 41 per game which is third in the league. They're 6th in 3-point percentage. OTOH, they're 30th in points in the paint and 28th in 2-point percentage. They would rather just launch from deep than bang in the paint. They protect the ball better than anybody, ranking first is turnover percentage but they're last in assists per possession. When you don't pass the ball you don't turn it over much. It looks like they just hoist a lot of 3's coming around screens or just one-on-one.
They rank 23rd in scoring defense so mainly they just try to outshoot you. They tend to foul a lot, ranking 24th in opponent's free throws per possession. They're 27th in effective field goal percentage, so they can be scored on, especially by attacking the rim.
Whether the short-handed Cavs will have the energy to defend all those 3-point shots and whether they can attack the rim against these guys and get them in foul trouble will determine whether they can compete after last night's knock down drag out with Phoenix. The Blazers used an 8-man rotation in their loss to Atlanta on Monday, so if Powell and/or Lillard are out it will be significant.
The Blazers must be tired, too, as they are playing their sixth game in nine days, all on the road. This is the last game of their road trip so we may catch them looking forward to getting home and maybe not totally focused on this game.
The Blazers are a solid team with a record of 36-29, good for 7th place in the West. They're 20-13 on the road, better than they are at home. They beat the Cavs in Portland two months ago 129-110. Gary Trent, Jr led them with 26 points but he's been traded. Andre Drummond started for the Cavs. Stevens, Dotson, and Windler played 68 minutes combined. A lot has changed in two months.
Sharpshooters Norman Powell and Damian Lillard are listed as game time decisions. Lillard is averaging 28.4 points and 7.6 assists per game. The Blazers feature balanced scoring with Powell averaging 17.0 ppg, Carmelo Anthony 13.6, Enos Kanter 11.4, and Nurkic 10.7. Carmelo scored 23 off the bench against the Cavs in February as he continues to climb the all-time scoring list. He's in 10th place, fewer than 100 points behind Moses Malone.
Fun fact: Dirk Nowitzki has more points than Wilt Chamberlain. I had no idea.
The Blazers are 5th in scoring. They're all about the 3-pointer, putting up over 41 per game which is third in the league. They're 6th in 3-point percentage. OTOH, they're 30th in points in the paint and 28th in 2-point percentage. They would rather just launch from deep than bang in the paint. They protect the ball better than anybody, ranking first is turnover percentage but they're last in assists per possession. When you don't pass the ball you don't turn it over much. It looks like they just hoist a lot of 3's coming around screens or just one-on-one.
They rank 23rd in scoring defense so mainly they just try to outshoot you. They tend to foul a lot, ranking 24th in opponent's free throws per possession. They're 27th in effective field goal percentage, so they can be scored on, especially by attacking the rim.
Whether the short-handed Cavs will have the energy to defend all those 3-point shots and whether they can attack the rim against these guys and get them in foul trouble will determine whether they can compete after last night's knock down drag out with Phoenix. The Blazers used an 8-man rotation in their loss to Atlanta on Monday, so if Powell and/or Lillard are out it will be significant.
