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Health and safety protocols due to COVID-19 have deepened the injury that the Portland Trail Blazers present in their inner game. Among his seven players included in them are Jusuf Nurkic and Cody Zeller, which advanced serious problems to contain the inner towers of the Utah Jazz and close the lanes to the rim.
Out of necessity, the Oregonians appealed to a makeshift small-ball with Larry Nance Jr. That meant constantly shifting between the five positions, but Quin Snyder’s men read the approach very well and punished the Blazers’ flimsy defense. Result: comfortable victory for the visitors by a result of 120-105.
Curiously, the Jazz only needed to score eight triples – averaging 15.1 this season – to certify the victory. Why? For their absolute hegemony in the inner game: they were imposed by a resounding 74-30 in the paint. An area in which the Blazers had already suffered during the course still with all their pieces intact: his rivals score 64.3% of his attempts in the paint –Fourth worst record–, where they receive an average of 48.1 points.
That means that the absences and the insistence of the Jazz had an impact on 26 more than average conceded goals. A perhaps inevitable outcome if we take into account that Salt Lake City emerge as the second most effective team in the restricted zone.
The Blazers may have tried to emulate Tyronn Lue’s approach in past playoffs with the Los Angeles Clippers. However, those small quintets that destroyed Utah had a greater size thanks to the presence of players such as Paul George, Marcus Morris, Nico Batum, Terance Mann, Reggie Jackson or Kawhi Leonard – until his injury.
Therefore, those of Chauncey Billups – or Scott Brooks, who temporarily exercises this role because of the positive head coach– were run over in these defensive changes, returning matches as uneven as the following between Hassan Whiteside and Anfernee Simons.
This situation was replicated throughout the game. On the next play, Bojan Bogdanovic took advantage of his bigger build and low-post fundamentals to easily pass Damian Lillard. The absence of any kind of defensive aid only pronounced these differences.
“We are short on staff, so it is a bit difficult. We are too small ”, stated Norman Powell after the match. “They have two big guys over six feet in the paint, so it’s hard to stop them on every possession.”
Indeed, Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside combined for a total of 37 points and 25 rebounds. As older, Rudy Gay had another 21 points and 6 more sacks.
“We competed and obviously we were lacking players,” added Damian Lillard. “They have guys like Rudy Gobert and even Rudy Gay is bigger than all of our guys, so it’s hard to get rebounds. The rivals are scoring by two and we respond by shooting three pointers. We will fight for an opportunity regardless of the context. I think we can stick with that but the difference in size was overwhelming for us. “
Now, external factors converged on the success of the Jazz last day. Which does not detract from the good offensive reading made by Quin Snyder to attack the paint and momentarily abandon the outside shot. But it will be in the playoffs where they will have to demonstrate this level of response to small quintets, of higher quality and not as depleted in terms of strength as has been the case with the Blazers. Some Blazers that, in turn, are still stranded in no man’s land, trying to stretch as much as possible a project that already reached its ceiling a few years ago.
(Cover photo by Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)
