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Andrew LopezESPN
NEW ORLEANS: Another night, another clutch performance by Portland Trail Blazers goalie Damian Lillard.
Of course, this included another bucket from Lillard: his 25th game goal or tie in the last 20 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime, the most in the NBA since he entered the league in 2012-13 – but the victory by 126-124 against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday and the Blazers ’recent success is more than Lillard’s individual success.
With CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins missing time, the Blazers ’six-game winning streak and eighth win in nine games is a“ collective effort ”.
“I think the beauty of what we’re doing now and why it’s been so fun and so special, like last season, I had a career where for 10 games I was scoring 48 as a game and then the bubble that was scoring 48, 50 , 60, just had great performances, but we weren’t playing that well, ”Lillard said.
“We didn’t have stops. We didn’t move the ball. It wasn’t as collective as it is now. … Everyone comes in and does their job. I don’t just say that to give people credit. It looks like it does because everyone comes in and he does his job. Without CJ, Nurk and Zach, we don’t win these games if they aren’t as collective as they used to be. “
Lillard called each Blazers rotation player by name when he discussed the “fun” the team has on this occasion. But of course, it doesn’t hurt either when your superstar gets 43 points and equals his career with 16 assists.
Despite New Orleans ’scoring result, Lillard says he can see the Blazers’ defense (ranked 28th in defensive efficiency after Wednesday’s games) begin to spin.
“I think we’re just locked in there lately,” Lillard said. “We are much clearer for longer periods of time. Teams run, it happens, we will have a lapse here like all teams do. Tonight, I thought we played very hard, physically and smart defensively and we had 124 points “I think our urgency has increased. We’re communicating. We’re taking on a challenge. All the guys are committed to playing defense and making that effort.”
Portland coach Terry Stotts said he believes the team has improved defensively by returning to victory against Philadelphia on Feb. 4. In the last eight games, the Blazers have the 13th defensive line in the league.
“The numbers don’t favor us, but we’ve always had the effort,” Lillard added. “I said it at the beginning of the season. We haven’t always been on the same page through communication.”
Communication was key for Portland during the stretch on Wednesday, mostly because the Pelicans had a chance to tie or send the game into overtime in the final possession.
After Lillard’s i-1 increased the Blazers by two with 16.5 seconds left, it was obvious that the Pelicans would try to get the ball into the hands of Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram.
“We explored some of his end-of-game works and mixed it up, like the previous play they went to Zion,” Stotts said. “You knew he was going to be in one of his two hands.”
The Pelicans entered the ball to Josh Hart, who turned it over to Ingram. Williamson went up to set up a screen for Ingram, but his defenders changed, putting Derrick Jones Jr. in Williamson and Robert Covington in Ingram.
Covington gave Ingram body in the drive, forcing a pass to Lonzo Ball by a deep 3. Hart tilted the ball out and found his way to Ingram in the corner. Ingram threw a dribble and planted a 14-foot contest against Carmelo Anthony that didn’t fall when Portland got the win. A team victory: using defense, that is.
“I think it’s a big win for us, but I don’t think it’s the biggest win for us this season. We’ve played well defensively and we’ve played offensively. We’ve just had to close a little more on the defensive side and that it’s what we’ve done, and I’m glad we did, ”Jones said. “We will continue to learn from this victory and we will return.
“Just getting on this road trip, we had the mindset to keep our streak going and we’ll keep going. We’ll just go every day and play the right way. We know how we should play and we just have to get out of it every day and play the the right way, while we do it, the sky is the limit for us. “