The coach likes what he saw from his team in the preseason game despite the defeat.
The Portland Trail Blazers stayed in the fight until the end on Saturday evening against the Utah Jazz, but ultimately lost 138:133.
Several Blazers scored solid points in the preseason loss, most notably Anfernee Simons with 29 points on Dec. 15. Despite starting center Deandre Ayton’s absence from the lineup, the Blazers didn’t allow the Jazz to take over the glass. Portland tied Utah 38-38 at the boards and won the offensive rebound battle 16-5. That helped Portland make 28 more field goal attempts than Utah, scoring a whopping 102 field goal attempts to Utah’s 78.
In the end, the efficient (56.8% from the field) and 3-point confident Jazz proved to be too much for the young Blazers. Still, it was the kind of performance that Portland head coach Chauncey Billups was pleased with in the postgame press conference.
“I thought it was a good game for us. I really do. This is a good team. This team is difficult to guard due to their size and length and we wanted to keep them off the offensive line. We kept them to six [offensive rebounds]. This is a team that will probably average 10, 12, 14 over the course of the season, so we fought really hard and ended up getting 15 offensive rebounds, so I was happy about that. I think we took care of the basketball pretty well. If you look at the stat sheet you’ll see we took 102 shots – that’s incredible. Walk up and down and play the way we played. Of course one or two here or there go down and shoot, that’s a different ball game. I was just proud of the boys. They just fought so hard.”
Along with Simons’ great shooting, starting forward Jerami Grant added 24 points on an efficient 9/12 shooting, and Shaedon Sharpe easily made his way to a cool 20 points off the bench after struggling against the Phoenix Suns two nights ago. But the standout player of the night wasn’t one of the 20-point scorers. That title likely goes to rookie forward Toumani Camara.
The second-round pick, thrown in the Suns’ Damian Lillard trade, filled the stat sheets on both sides against Utah. Camara scored 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two impressive chase-down blocks in 25 minutes off the bench. Camara also shot 3/4 on 3-pointers. It was an eyebrow-raising performance that caught the attention of Blazers fans on social media, as well as the attention of Billups.
“There are so many things to love [Toumani]Billups said. “What stands out to me is his toughness. He doesn’t give up when he doesn’t play. [It can] Be it an outlier, someone may be at a disadvantage against him. He does not care. He is fearless. He is a competitor. and that’s what I love most about him. … These are opportunities for people like him to gain not only the trust of the coaches, but also that of his teammates. And that’s exactly what he does.”
Portland’s other highly touted rookie, No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, had mixed results in his second game against real NBA competition. Henderson struggled with his jump shot, shooting 6/17 from the field and 2/7 from distance, but the 19-year-old still posted a very respectable 17 points, eight assists and two turnovers. With his attacking and passing skills, Henderson continued to show great potential as he adjusted to his new level of competition. Billups said it’s all part of the process.
“I liked Scoot’s ground game. He’s just good at only hitting guys when they’re open. He whips these passes everywhere. It’s just beautiful to look at. He’s going to grow so much in the next month or two just in his understanding of the NBA game, his understanding of his opponents that he’s playing against and more importantly, his own guys.”
Henderson and the rest of his teammates will have another preseason chance to bond on Monday night. The Blazers play the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix on Monday at 7 p.m
Read more