It’s difficult to judge the Portland Trail Blazers based on their somewhat lackluster 106-66 victory over the New Zealand Breakers on Tuesday night at the Moda Center.
The Blazers’ starters were less than impressive, but won a rather meaningless game. On the other hand, it is not always easy to get promoted to a team with significantly less talent.
To illustrate, the Blazers faced Maccabi Ra’anana in the 2022 preseason and won 138-85.
The halftime score on Tuesday was 48-39 after the Blazers shot just 38.5%. In the second half, the Blazers’ bench played much better and allowed the team to pull away.
“Offensively, I thought we just had a lot of nervous energy,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “Everyone was rushing, and I thought it would calm down a little bit, but that didn’t happen until the young guys really came in in the second half and just played so damn hard – and then you get steals and go.” You get out and break quickly, and that makes everything easy. Overall I think it was good to get that out of the way.”
But let’s forget about the team’s overall game and focus on the positive aspects.
Rookie Scoot Henderson started, played 19 minutes and demonstrated his ability as a passer with six assists and seven points.
One of his best sequences came in the second quarter. Henderson pushed deep into the lane and then, when faced with a tall defender, easily played a pass to Matisse Thybule, all alone in the left corner, for a three-pointer. On the team’s next possession, Henderson set up Deandre Ayton for an alley-oop layup. Not long after, Henderson found Thybulle for another three-pointer and then gave Ayton a dunk.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (#00) drives under the basket into traffic during a preseason basketball game against the New Zealand Breakers at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.
This section got to the heart of why the Blazers think so highly of Henderson’s playing ability.
“Scoot played well. We’ll be impressed with that all year long,” Billups said.
Billups mentioned that the physicality of the game surprised Henderson, but was pleased with his performance overall.
“He was a little shocked at how physical those guys were playing against him and Jerami (Grant),” Billups said. “Those guys hit us in the mouth first and we had to respond – and that’s why I want to be the kind of team we beat first. That’s kind of our goal to get to this point, but I think Scoot did it. Good job in his first game.”
Henderson said he thought he played well in his first game with the Blazers and that the Breakers’ physicality didn’t actually bother him. Henderson said playing for the G League Ignite exposed him to a lot of physical activity.
“I know they play like that overseas,” Henderson said. “The scouting report said they were going to be physical… I was kind of used to it. They hacked most of the time, but that was something I hadn’t seen before.”
Anfernee Simons started in the backcourt with Henderson and scored 14 points while making three of four three-pointers. Ayton scored eight points with six rebounds.
WHAT IT MEANS
Not much. The Blazers, who returned just four players who started with the team last season, have had a good experience as a team and will now face better competition as they prepare for the start of the regular season on October 25th at the LA Clippers prepare.
RESOLUTIONS
The Blazers started Henderson, Simons, Thybulle, Grant and Ayton. That group appeared to make up the starting lineup as the team left training camp in Santa Barbara, California, over the weekend.
Shaedon Sharpe and Malcolm Brogdon were the first to come on. Next came Jabari Walker and then center Moses Brown.
Backup center Robert Williams was noticeably missing from the lineup. Billups said before the game that Williams needed more time to get into game shape.
OTHER KEY ROOKIES
Kris Murray, No. 23 from Iowa, came off the bench to score three points with five rebounds. Rayan Rupert, a second-round pick, scored seven points and had three assists and two rebounds. Second-round pick Toumari Camara, acquired in the trade with Phoenix that brought Ayton to the Blazers, finished the game with 13 points and four rebounds.
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Latest Blazers news
— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)
MORE BLAZER COVERAGE