The year is 2043. The Portland Trail Blazers are playing their season opener in the brand-new Rose Garden Floating Arena on the eastern bank of the Willamette having just celebrated their fifth title in fifteen years. As they raise the banner and Damian Lillard Jr. receives his ring on the court, your grandson turns to you and asks, “Hey gran-gran… do you remember when the Blazers finally got good again?”
The 4D image of your grandchild projected onto your aging corneas, you see his eyes full of wonder, your face breaking into a smile. Despite forgetting a great many things, you do, in fact, remember. For November 17, 2024 was the day the Blazers built a three-game winning streak by overcoming a massive early deficit to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 114-110.
This game started like you might expect after a pair of unexpected and plucky wins: the Blazers were coming back down to earth.
Falling behind by as many as 16 points in the first quarter, the Hawks looks sharp, quick, and decisive. Portland did not. The Blazers bench came in to stem the bleeding, but the home team still looked sped up as Atlanta was content to push the pace the catch the Blazers’ nonexistent transition defense sleeping again and again. There was no yawning talent difference here: the Hawks were playing fast, loose, making decisions with pace and (mostly) executing them. Even as a Portland 8-0 run got the lead back to something manageable, they looked a bit scrambly, and it was 33-21 Hawks after one.
My notes after the first quarter were simply: “CAN THE BLAZERS SLOW DOWN AND CALM DOWN?”
The second period still had the Blazers searching for their footing, and they started finding it in the defense of Toumani Camara. He harassed Trae Young beyond half court, at one point forcing a turnover that led to a Scoot Henderson dunk. The Blazers also found advantages forcing the Hawks to guard the perimeter, something Atlanta is most certainly not known for. For his part, Shaedon Sharpe was aggressive on both ends, picking up his third foul midway through the period but was (wisely) allowed to stay in. As someone who has at times let his energy and focus slip, Sharpe stayed engaged even when the Blazers were battling from behind.
The Hawks took a 64-56 lead into the half, and the Blazers were effective in slowing the game down a little. After eight turnovers in the first quarter, Portland had just three in the second. Now they needed to keep track of Atlanta’s outside threats and continue probing the midrange for scoring advantages or passing opportunities. They were very much in this game.
Then the Camaracabra began feasting on hawk’s blood.
Is it cliche to suggest one person playing really hard can make everyone else on your team play harder? Maybe. But if ever there were a game that supported that theory, it was tonight.
Though the quarter opened with some sloppy passes and the Blazers still looked a little sped up, they hung around. The Hawks began to get flustered. Dyson Daniels turned the ball over, then Zaccharie Risacher, then Onyeka Okongwu, then Trae Young. The Blazers started lobbing it to Robert Williams III, then to Sharpe, Sharpe again… the pace that earlier got the Blazers into massive trouble was now their best friend. It started with their defense. Rotations were crisp. Doubles came fast. The Hawks looked lost. Camara’s defense, picking up half court and beyond, had completely changed this game, discombobulated the Hawks, and pumped up the rest of the Blazers. The crowd looked up and it was a 17-0 Blazers run in under three and a half minutes as Portland took a 94-81 advantage into the final period.
With the opportunity to put the game away, Portland politely declined, letting their frenetic defensive energy spill too far into their offense and causing them turnover trouble again. The Hawks went on a 10-0 run of their own. There were eight lead changes in the last five and half minutes, Atlanta leaning on Young and the Blazers leaning on Sharpe. After losing a gut-punch of a challenge (more on that later), the Blazers turned a three-point deficit into a one-point lead after an all-Shaedon four-point possession. Drawing fouls and hitting (most of) his free throws, Sharpe took the Blazers home having scored their last 11 points by himself and getting the on-court postgame interview for his effort.
This game wasn’t perfect, and there is plenty to criticize. But for a team looking for its identity – a team that has for YEARS claimed that defense and energy would be its calling card – you could squint tonight and see how this team could one day, in a far-off future in a floating arena, be lucky enough to hang a banner… or at least get close. And when that day comes, you can tell your grandchildren all about how it started with a comeback win in November of 2024.
Game Notes
- The Camaracabra: Toumani Camara deserves the game ball as much as Sharpe. He had all four of his steals through three quarters, and without that third-quarter defensive burst that reverberated across the bench, the Blazers wouldn’t have won this game. He was hounding Trae Young all night, picking on him, Dyson Daniels, or whoever had lead ballhandling duties WELL beyond half court. He got burned a few times, but there should be no doubt that the rest of the Blazers were following his lead and his impact went far beyond his 1-7 shooting. The five dimes were a nice touch, too.
- Sharpe-Dressed man: Shaedon Sharpe is arriving. His 32 points tonight (following 33 last game) tells part of the story: the five assists, his consistent energy and focus, and his willingness and ability to put the team on his back during a competitive game against a team that had no interest in losing tells the other, bigger part. And excuse me, did we see him hit a no-dip three in the corner? Maybe I forgot that was in his bag, but I don’t remember him having that shot before. If Sharpe can regularly shoot threes THAT quickly, AND do everything else he did to get the win tonight? Look out.
- Let’s play some Bantonball! Dalano Banton continues to author his own NBA story. As our own Dave Deckard said on the latest episode of Trail Daddy, it’s going to make Portland’s roster-building life a heck of a lot easier if Banton can be not just a scoring guard, but a true I-can-run-the-offense point guard. Most of his 23 points came in the first three quarters when the Blazers really needed them, including in the third when the Blazers took the lead for the first time off Banton’s double clutch, time-winding-down three. Could he clean up the turnovers? Sure, but same goes for a handful of other Blazers, especially early in the game.
- Timelord: Besides Camara, the other player responsible for the Blazers’ defense looking (at times) a few clicks better than competent was Robert Williams III. It’s also just so much fun to finally see him healthy! He got up for what seemed like a half-dozen lobs, got his hands on deflections, had blocks, and along with Camara was an absolute tone-setter for the Blazers’ defense. He didn’t miss a shot, going 6-6 for his 14 points, 8 boards, a block, and a steal (though he probably could have been credited for at least one more of each of the latter two). It’s bittersweet to know that if he continues playing like this – and we should all hope he does – he will be setting the tone for some other team that’s closer than Portland to contention.
- Deni is getting there (trust me): Eye test Deni Avdija and stats Deni Avdija have been out of alignment all season, and it’ll be great to see those things come together as the year goes on. As a ball handler, he puts pressure on defenses to control his drives, which gives him time to let the offense develop and find openings like his huge lob to Robert Williams III in the second quarter. He also clogs passing lanes and effectively closes out to three without flying past the shooter. His 12-8-4 with two steals and a block tonight does, to my eye, accurately tell the story of how he impacted this game.
- Scoot is getting better: Ignore the rest of his box score tonight and focus on the 10 assists. How did he get them? Were they junk passes? Fortunately for those of us that want to see him develop and succeed, the answer is no. Time after time tonight, Scoot got what he wanted at HIS pace, whether it was finding Banton for three or finding Timelord for a lob. Scoot’s patience and timing is noticeably better than last year. There were three possessions in about a minute where he got someone on his hip, kept the dribble alive, and either turned it into an assist or exploded for the drive and bucket. It was great stuff for the long term, even if the box score might make you think otherwise.
- Cling Kong update: After a historic performance, Clingan had a quiet game, but one moment caught my attention. He got wrapped twice in two possessions in the fourth quarter; the second time, it got a little chippy, and Clingan smartly walked away. Without missing a beat, his teammates had his back and start getting a little scrappy themselves, requiring a whistle to break it up. That kind of looking out for each other – and a splash of nasty – will do the Blazers good. He did have six points, eight boards, and three blocks, but was a team-worst minus 20 tonight.
- The bench: For all of Camara’s defensive and Sharpe’s offensive brilliance, the Blazers’ bench bailed them out. After the starters went into freefall early on, it was the bench that reorganized things and kept Portland in contact. The numbers don’t lie: only one Blazers starter (Sharpe with +8) had a positive plus/minus, while no Blazers bench player was in the negative.
- Challenges: How do they work? The Hawks challenged a call with about five minutes left and were successful, regaining possession of the ball and keeping their timeout. The Blazers, on the other hand, challenged what appeared to be an obvious foul-baiting move from Trae Young as he stopped on a dime and jumped into Camara’s face. The officials saw things differently, erasing Portland’s very last timeout, upholding the foul, AND awarding Young three free throws. Ouch. Anecdotally, Billups hasn’t been the best at using his challenges, and the Blazers are lucky this one didn’t impact the outcome.
Next Up
It will be worth staying up a bit to wait for Conor Bergin’s report from the Moda Center. The Blazers’ next game isn’t until Wednesday Nov. 20 in Oklahoma City against the Thunder at 5pm Pacific.
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