The Trail Blazers didn’t have much trouble early in the season, but that changed over the weekend after losses to the Lakers and Spurs, writes Sean Haykin of The Rose Garden Report (subscriber link). Portland looked incredible against a pair of MVP favorites like Luka Doncic poured 53 points on Friday and Victor Wembanyama followed that up with 29 points in 24 minutes on Saturday while dominating the defense.
“The beginning of the third quarter, we were terrible,” coach Mika Nori said after Saturday’s game. “We had one or two stops and then again … losses and we looked kind of out of place. For the first time in a year. If you want to make an excuse, you can make an excuse. But it’s a big boys’ league. They go back-to-back, we’re back-to-back. It’s going to happen. We’re going to have guys. I don’t care who’s out. We’ve got to make sure we compete and be who we are, and today I thought it was the first time we got away from it.’
One of the bright spots on Saturday was the game v Jan Hansenwho moved into the role of backup center with Robert Williams resting. Hansen had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his career, and Hykin notes that he seems to have separated himself from Brendan Carlson and Micah Potter in the big man rotation.
“We just need him to keep getting better” – said Nori. “And I think the more he continues to play, and he starts to play well, and accelerates, and his communication gets better, that’s only positive for us. So, the more minutes he can get, the better we’ll reap the benefits moving forward. We’re high on him. He’ll be able to help us.”
There are more from the Northwest Division:
- Thunder a beginner Marr’s candidate college coach loans Dusty Maynow with the Mavericks, for helping him become an NBA player after his transfer to Michigan, passes Justin Martinez of Oklahoman. “I was thinking too much,” Mara said. “I was thinking about how I had to do everything perfectly so I could earn the coach’s trust and how I couldn’t make a mistake and stuff like that. I had the UCLA mentality. But (May) came in and just told me, ‘Don’t worry.’ He just gave me confidence.”
- If Timberwolves lacked forwards this summer, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly reached out to Trey Lyleswho played in Spain, trans John Krawczynski of The Athletic. Connelly developed trust in Lyles during their time together in Denver, and he became a valuable backup after the team was able to add Jonathan Cuminga. “I don’t want to say it’s easy, but I think (it’s) just my ability to adapt.” Lyles said. “Being able to adapt to different situations has always helped me in my career. So I think it just shows another situation where I can do it.”
- All five Nuggets starters, together with DeMar DeRozanhave been listed as questionable for tonight’s game at Houston because of travel issues after Saturday’s contest in Mexico City, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Altitude TV reporter Cathy Vinge explains the team’s lengthy flight delay (Link to Twitter).
