Launched in the last leg of their longest “road trip” of the season, the Blazers got off to a flying start in Toronto. A 25-4 outset to put the Raptors on the back foot and lead by 34 points in the first half.
Never behind in the score, the Blazers had a little scare late in the game, when Fred VanVleet brought his troops down to -4 in the last minute, but Anfernee Simons, the new boss of the Oregon club, planted two 3-pointers in a row to definitively seal the fate of the match. And the 4th victory on this “road trip” which included six games in twelve days…
“Except for the Denver game where we were really very, very short in strength, I think it’s a convincing course. We came out of it well with four wins in six games on the program, against high quality opponents. We know we haven’t been good on the road this year. Wins are hard to come by, but it’s an amazing move for us”, welcomed Chauncey Billups on the official website of the Blazers. “I’m really proud of our guys. We’re just becoming a cohesive unit, and I’m very happy about that. “
With only two victories on the move, before this “road trip”, the Blazers have therefore tripled their away record, just on this streak at the start of the year. They are now at 6 wins for 15 losses away from their bases.
Jusuf Nurkic raises his voice
“We were lucky not to have two games in a row on this trip. But we really gave it our all, playing as hard as we could in every game before we could rest the next day. I found this “road trip” to be different from the usual long trips, where you feel tired and worn out from the previous match. I didn’t feel that at all with our team. “
Boosted by the return of CJ McCollum, author of 19 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists against a certain Gary Trent Jr. in front of him, the Blazers are still 6 wins in their last 8 games. As if the injury and the operation of Damian Lillard had appeased the group, and launched new objectives.
In addition to the return to business from the back and the confirmed outbreak of Anfernee Simons who is averaging 26 points and 7 assists in January, it is the return to form of Jusuf Nurkic which also explains the resurgence of Portland at the trough of winter. With a fifth consecutive double-double, including the huge 29 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists to win in Boston, the “Bosnian Beast” finally regains all its impact, averaging 18 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists in January.
“I think my comeback is going pretty well,” concludes CJ McCollum. “But I would say above all that it’s a good road trip for us. The goal is to win games, fight hard, and continue to build winning habits by playing hard. I think that’s what we did. “
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Damian Lillard | 29 | 36.4 | 40.2 | 32.4 | 87.8 | 0.4 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 7.3 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 24.0 |
| Cj Mccollum | 28 | 35.1 | 43.3 | 40.6 | 70.2 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 20.6 |
| Norman Powell | 34 | 32.9 | 45.5 | 39.9 | 82.0 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 18.6 |
| Anfernee Simons | 40 | 27.5 | 44.4 | 40.1 | 91.3 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 15.2 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | 43 | 27.2 | 54.0 | 20.5 | 69.4 | 2.7 | 8.1 | 10.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 14.3 |
| Nassir Little | 41 | 25.8 | 45.4 | 31.8 | 73.6 | 1.3 | 4.2 | 5.6 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 9.5 |
| Ben McLemore | 29 | 17.2 | 42.7 | 41.2 | 79.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 9.1 |
| Robert Covington | 43 | 29.2 | 39.3 | 35.6 | 78.6 | 0.8 | 4.7 | 5.6 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 7.7 |
| Larry Nance, Jr. | 37 | 23.2 | 51.5 | 30.6 | 65.3 | 1.6 | 4.1 | 5.6 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 6.9 |
| Dennis Smith | 28 | 17.3 | 41.6 | 22.2 | 68.1 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 5.9 |
| Reggie Perry | 2 | 20.4 | 44.4 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 5.5 |
| Cody Zeller | 27 | 13.1 | 56.7 | 0.0 | 77.6 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 5.2 |
| Cameron McGriff | 3 | 15.3 | 35.7 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 4.7 |
| brandon williams | 2 | 5.9 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| Cj Elleby | 26 | 10.9 | 43.4 | 32.5 | 81.2 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Trendon Watford | 20 | 9.5 | 49.1 | 0.0 | 65.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 3.4 |
| Tony Snell | 32 | 13.2 | 35.6 | 32.1 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 2.3 |
| Keljin Blevins | 6 | 6.0 | 36.4 | 44.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2.0 |
| Greg Brown III | 18 | 4.7 | 41.9 | 0.0 | 46.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Jarron Cumberland | 3 | 4.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
