The Portland Trail Blazers narrowly made it out of Utah on Saturday night with a win over the Jazz. The 116-111 win in Salt Lake City stops a three-game slip and hopefully marks a turning point for a Blazers team that had lost eight of their last 10 prior to this game.
The Blazers took an early lead and held a nine-point lead after the first quarter. They held that lead well into halftime, but the Jazz came alive in the second half to give the Blazers a challenge late in the game. Anfernee Simons led the game with a career-high 45 points.
The Utah Jazz were led by Jordan Clarkson, who finished with 24 points, and four other players had at least 15 points in team performance.
For a quarterly breakdown of today’s game, check out our instant recap. These were some of the key takeaways from tonight’s win.
Fernee Simons
It’s been mentioned before but it can’t be overstated how good Anfernee Simons was tonight. He had a career-high in a quarter with 23 points in the first. He scored a Blazers franchise-record 33 points in the first half on his way to a career-high 45 points. Simons made seven three-pointers, was perfect on eight free-throw attempts and shot 60% of the field in his explosive performance.
Story of two halves
At least on offense, the Blazers looked unbeatable in the first half. They scored at will while watching the ball. They rotated the ball just three times at halftime, forcing more than a few Jazz errors to move up to a fifteen-point lead.
However, the Jazz immediately turned the tide by scoring seven points in the first minute and a half of the second half to reduce the Blazers’ early lead. The Blazers were able to assert themselves and win despite sloppy play towards the end of the game. The Blazers turned over the ball a whopping 10 times in the second half, and the Jazz were 14 points short of turnover for the game.
When are the reinforcements coming?
The Blazers’ big three, Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic, combined for an incredible 93 points in the game. Nurkic and Grant also grabbed 28 rebounds between the two, including eight offensive boards. The rest of the Blazers only scored 23 points. With two starters and a key backup kept out of that game in Damian Lillard, Josh Hart and Drew Eubanks, the Blazers did what they could with what they had and amassed a win. However, it’s easy to see this game ending in defeat if even one of Simons, Grant or Nurkic was a little less efficient.
The Blazers are hoping this is the beginning of the end of their latest slip-up as they seek to remove some of those names from the injury report. There are many valuable role players in the Blazers roster, but without well-known goalscorers it can be easy for an offense to stagnate for a long time. Grant and Simons have both played at or near All-Star level, and with Lillard’s return, the Blazers should do well.
Limiting the ball movement
The Blazers held the Jazz to just 20 assists tonight, a great feat that limits a Jazz team that relies on committee goals. Stopping the ball from flying across the court helped the Blazers limit the number of candid looks the Jazz got from three and around the rim. The Blazers gained points in the Paint Battle, shooting better of three. There were more than a few times in this game where the Jazz were forced to take a low percentage shot late in the shot clock due to unproductive offensive possession.
On the other hand, the Blazers had just 19 assists to their tally. That number is much less worrisome, however, given how much players like Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant create their own shot rather than glancing at catch-and-shoot opportunities. Overall, this number is probably too low to achieve lasting success. But when the iso players are shooting like tonight, that’s not too worrying.
Three-Point Threat Mitigation
The Jazz as a team shot 36% of three out of 36 attempts. Many of their players earned high percentages, but Jordan Clarkson and Malik Beasley – who both typically shoot over 36% from three – combined for 2/15s from deep. They were repeatedly forced into poor shots throughout the game, and the Blazers were able to capitalize on their misses. Overall, the two had 27 points on 35 shots for a hugely inefficient night for both scorers, resulting in them both being plus/minus in the minus.
Defense when it matters
Allowing 90 points in three quarters isn’t exactly a great defensive effort, but the Blazers were able to pull themselves together and play hard towards the end of the game. Allowing just 21 points in the fourth quarter and stringing together some good defensive possessions late in the game. The Blazers conceded just one field goal in the last two and a half minutes of the game, culminating in a block from Simons on a potential three-point attempt by Jordan Clarkson. That the Blazers can emerge victorious in a grind-it-out game in which their top scorer only managed two free throws in the fourth quarter bodes well for the future of a team that has lacked defensive identity for years.
Next
box score
The Blazers (12-11) return home to face the Indiana Pacers to start a four-game home stand. Game ends at 6:00 p.m. PT at the Moda Center.