The Trailblazers took care of business against the lowly New York Knicks on Monday. A loss to to this team at home would have been a disaster, and although that didn't happen, it was closer than it should have been. The Knicks showed some spunk, led by former/spurned Blazer Noah Vonleh, and never let the game get into blowout territory. Jusuf Nurkic topped Blazers' scorers with 20 points and second unit standout Jake Layman turned in the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Final score: 111-101.
Coach Stotts elected to give the second unit heavy minutes in the first half. This was either a sign that he liked the way his bench guys were playing, or that he didn't consider the Knicks a serious threat. It was true that the second unit played pretty well, but they weren't able to get separation from the Knicks and in fact fell behind by as much as six points midway through the second quarter.
The Knicks, a "rebuilding team," were without their star prospect, 7' 3" forward Kristaps Porzingis, as well as key role players Frank Ntilikina and Mitchell Robinson. This allowed ex-Blazer Noah Vonleh to start the game and exact a little revenge on the organization that dumped him midway through last season for financial considerations. Vonleh, a promising power forward who never really stood out while he was a Blazer, seemed especially motivated on this night, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
The Blazers led by a mere point at halftime, leaving fans to wonder if they'd witness a routine clean up job in the second half, or a nail-biting catastrophe. Which would it be? Before we delve into that, let's have a look at some of the crowd wandering the hallways during the break:
Best Beard!
Mother/Daughter duo!
Matching couple!
There were a number of Knicks fans in attendance, despite the team's dismal record for the past, um, decade or so. This guy grew up in Portland, but for some reason gravitated toward the Knicks. He said it was because he loved the NY Giants during the Tiki Barber era and went with the Knicks for consistency. He believes they will pull out of their slump in a few years. Okay!
The second half started well for the Blazers as they jumped out to a quick 10 point lead. The Knicks stuck around though, and never let the the Blazers coast into blowout mode. Personally I was hoping to see some of the deep bench guys get minutes in this game, but it didn't happen. Stuaskas, Swanigan, Simons, and Trent Jr. all saw zero time. Stuaskas in particular has seen his court time drop significantly with the ascendance of Jake Layman, who has put together a nice string of games since taking Stauskas' spot. Layman is bigger and more aggressive on defense than Stuaskas, and has thrown down some impressive dunks to boot. If Layman can continue to improve it could go a long way towards filling a gap in the wings for the Blazers.
CJ McCollum remained in slump territory, hitting seven of his 17 attempted shots. Lillard had a slow shooting night as well, but notched nine assists, many of them connections with big man Jusuf Nurkic. Curry had a nice game, scoring 13 points. The Blazers had six guys in double digits, an evenhanded attack.
The Blazers, who currently sit in 7th place in the packed Western conference, continue this five game homestead on Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls. It's another game they should win, though it likely won't be as easy as this one.
