The Memphis Grizzlies are back at home on Saturday night for a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Grizzlies’ are coming off of a dominating 112-101 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
With the win on Friday, the Grizzlies moved to 48-21 on the season and extended their division lead to 1.5 games over the Houston Rockets. Harris Newman of Rip City Project was kind enough to do a Q&A with Beale Street Bears before tonight’s Grizzlies-Trail Blazers matchup.
Discussion
1. The Trail Blazers kicked off their current road trip with a dominating victory over the Toronto Raptors. What has been the reason for their recent struggles against teams with a losing record such as Orlando?
From an outside perspective, it’s hard to say why a team underperforms in the regular season. Some coaches (cough, Gregg Popovich) are notorious for simply whiffing games to save his players, and some know how to allocate their energies for more ‘important’ games. Then again, we are in March, i.e. the Final Stretch.
My guess for Portland is that they just came off a disappointing loss in Miami, and then came into Orlando with their eyes on the Memphis game and after that possibly even Golden State, two games which have much more significance for them.
The hard thing is that in today’s NBA, no games are free (unless you play the Sixers), so even games against low-record teams like Orlando you can’t lose focus.
They also lost Chris Kaman early on, and played with a short bench for the second half. Afflalo played poorly and Portland couldn’t get a stop in the fourth (could be road fatigue). Alright, now I’m just making excuses.
Feb 22, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Arron Afflalo (4) shoots a jump shot before the Portland plays Memphis Grizzlies at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports
2. With Wesley Matthews out with the torn Achilles, how has Arron Afflalo done stepping into the starting lineup?
Arron hasn’t proved his ability to match Wesley’s scoring, but he certainly can hit from deep (43% since joining), and brings decent defense on the other end. Not the worst fill-in for what Matthews contributed to this lineup.
Portland, however, is 3-4 in the seven games that Afflalo’s started for them. Their lineup with Lillard-Afflalo-Batum-Aldridge-Lopez has a +/- of -2.5 in 12 games, one of their lowest marks among all of their lineups.
In my opinion, the offense with Afflalo looks just fine. I’m also really comforted by his ability to hit clutch 3s, and I love his aggressiveness with the ball.
I think it’s going to take time before he and the other four can match that same defensive rhythm they had with Matthews – the one that stomped teams in the fourth and would open the door for all of those late comebacks. That type of chemistry is really hard to replicate. It’ll develop, though.
3. You recently wrote an article about the new Blazers’ sixth man options over at Rip City Project. For those who haven’t read the article, give us your pick for sixth man that will be important for the Blazers’ down the stretch and into the playoffs.
In the article, I said Kaman is the most important guy as Portland’s sixth man. What I really mean is, Kaman is the only guy capable of being our sixth man.
Truly and deeply, I’d say this team would be most effective with CJ McCollum acting as the sixth man. This team needs a lineup where they can play Aldridge at the 5 – that is how they can maximize their spacing and shooting. Stotts has experimented with that a bit, notably late in the Orlando game last night, and McCollum is a promising piece in that lineup.
But the guy just isn’t ready yet. He’s not strong defensively, and that’s a huge problem given our woes with Lillard’s D. McCollum hasn’t proved his ability to score consistently, and hasn’t contributed in much areas besides the points column.
He is reliable from deep, and can hit shots off the dribble, so he shows a ton of potential to be a sixth man. Kaman’s injury(extent unknown) comes at brilliant timing for McCollum, as this gives him the opportunity to contribute more off the bench. Should be an interesting month.
Mar 6, 2013; Memphis, TN, USA; Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard (0) shoots the ball against Memphis Grizzlies shooting guard Tony Allen (9) during the game at FedEx Forum. Memphis Grizzlies defeat the Portland Trail Blazers 91-85. Mandatory Credit: Spruce DerdenUSA TODAY Sports
4. Who do you feel is more important to this Blazers’ team, Damian Lillard or LaMarcus Aldridge?
Tough question. Ultimately, I’d pin it to: which player would Portland be worse without, and I’d undoubtedly say Aldridge. The news of his thumb injury a few months back screamed ‘Apocalypse’ for Portland, and he’s been nothing short of a savior for putting off his surgery.
Portland relies on Aldridge’s scoring much more than Lillard’s, and he’s far more important on defense than Lillard. I mean, Aldridge is a fringe contender for the MVP award.
Granted, it’s a thing of beauty when Damian goes into destruction mode and starts destroying teams in fourth quarters (one of the league’s best fourth quarter scorers). But when Portland needs a bucket, they go to number 12.
5. What’s your prediction for today’s game?
It’s a wonderful thing when your team gets to end a five-game road trip, including the short end of a back-to-back, playing against one of the best teams in the Western Conference. What do they call that arena – the Grindhouse? What a beautiful way to end a road trip!
Memphis is 3-0 vs Portland, and it’d kill me to see the Blazers get swept by them, but I can’t see Portland winning this game. Not with the way they’ve been playing recently. Aldridge is coming off consecutive 30-10 games, and I don’t know how much he has left in the tank (he also has a night of banging bodies with Zach Randolph to look forward to).
I think Portland’s fate is decided by their backcourt – if Lillard and Afflalo can combine for 45 or more, they can take it. But scoring needs to come elsewhere besides Aldridge. Defensively, the Blazers need to stop Marc Gasol. If Lopez can hold his scoring under 15 or so, then they can take this game.
Ultimately, I can’t see Portland winning this game. Too much energy was spent elsewhere. I can imagine them dropping this one and then beating Golden State back home, but I’m getting too far ahead. Hold onto the broomsticks, though, as I’d love for the Blazers to surprise me.
Thank you again to Harris Newman of Rip City Project for answering a few questions before tonight’s big Western Conference matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies. After tonight’s game, the Grizzlies’ head back out on the road for a matchup with the Knicks on Monday.