Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers have momentum on their side, and they look good against the shorthanded and downtrending Memphis Grizzlies.
Nevertheless, the coveted eighth spot in the West playoff picture is on the line, so this will be regular season game with playoff drama written all over it.
Catch the game tomorrow morning, August 16th, at 2:30 AM.
HOME TEAM: Portland Trail Blazers (35-39)
The Blazers went 6-2 on the seeding games and won each of their last three outings. They averaged 126 points and 15.4 threes per game during that eight-game stretch. Their defense, however, has a lot of room for improvement as it allowed 123.4 PPG.
Portland beat Memphis in the two teams’ bubble opener last August 1, 140-135. It was a nail-biter as the Blazers needed two overtime periods to finally earn the win. That win tied the season series at one game apiece.
CJ McCollum led the way for Rip City with 33 points on 14-for-21 shooting; Carmelo Anthony showed out as well by making 7 of his 10 shots and adding 21. Damian Lillard, meanwhile, went for 29 points and nine assists.
As we’ve all seen over these past two weeks, Lillard is a man possessed. The 30-year-old is simply locked in to carry the whole team on his back, tallying an impressive 154 points (51, 61, and 42), 21 threes, and 27 assists in just his last three.
What’s scarier is he’s still getting ample help from everywhere. Aside from McCollum and Anthony, there’s also the rising Gary Trent Jr., who’s averaging 16.9 points and 4.3 threes in the bubble. The returning big man, Jusuf Nurkic, has been fabulous too, with 17.6 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 blocks.
Be concerned, Laker fans. Be very concerned.
ROAD TEAM: Memphis Grizzlies (34-39)
The Grizzlies are not having a fun time in the bubble. They are just 2-6 since the restart, and have also lost Jaren Jackson Jr. to injury.
Things actually much worse and they could’ve easily been 0-8 – Friday’s 119-106 win over the Milwaukee Bucks was mainly due to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s suspension and Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe only playing 20 minutes.
The exciting thing now is we’ll get to see how “for real” Ja Morant really is. The scoring and facilitating are solid since he’s putting up a double-double ever since Jackson’s injury (18.8 PPG, 10.2 APG).
Overall, though, it’s been up-and-down so far, and he needs to clean up his shooting percentage as he’s had four games shooting below 37%, two of which were actually under 30%.
In the aforementioned double-OT loss to Portland, Ja had a double-double of 22 points and 11 assists, but bricked his way into a 7-for-22 shooting.
Dillon Brooks and Jonas Valanciunas will remain as the co-main weapons – Brooks has particularly stepped up after Jackson went down, and has increased his scoring to 23 PPG in his last five.
Memphis has averaged 112.6 PPG in the bubble.
PREDICTIONS:
It’s going to be tough for the Grizzlies. I expect them to come out with a lot of energy and put up a great fight, but the Blazers are just too poised, experienced, and loaded. I see another Damian Lillard explosion happening.
Portland will win this, 118-109.
