The Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls clashed Friday evening in a match that had implications for the two teams of the NBA 2025 lottery. The Bulls and the Blazers are part of four teams crossing the positions of the 8th -11th in the May drawing order. Portland had 43 defeats before the evening, Chicago 42. The team that lost would bring a blow for the domination of the ping-pong balloon, a critic for two franchises that belong to the playoffs about as much as Chuck McGill belongs to a better purchase.
It turned out that the Blazers won the Battle of the odds, losing against the Bulls 118-113. Coby White and Nikola Vacevic led Chicago with 31 points each. Josh Giddey had a triple-double with 15 points, 19 rebounds and 12 assists. Deni Avdika kept the Blazers with 37 points, pulling a Christmas percentage, 12-25.
Here are some of the factors that determined the game’s result.
Where is D?
Someone must have slapped a big price on the defense of Portland last night, because he certainly did not make much of the Canada border in the United Center. The Blazers granted Bulls 33 points in the first quarter, more than 50% of shooting for a large part of the first half. Things were normalizing a little while the game cracked, but Chicago would light again for 40 in the third. It was another in a series of defensive efforts below Portland. The alignments are broken by injuries, but all these wings of 6’6 are supposed to be interchangeable in defense. It is certainly not to look like that.
Chicago reversals
The only factor that worked in Portland – Credit in particular for Defense and partial with discombobubulated bulls – has been reversals. Chicago hired 18 for 23 Portland points. This kept a moving shooting game in favor of the Bulls fairly on the dashboard. The Blazers only committed 5 reversals all evening.
Offensive rebounds
Regardless of the programming, regardless of the opponent, the Blazers go to an offensive rebound like hobbits for the second breakfast. They swallowed up 19 tonight for 20 second chance points.
Three
Whatever the three -point Mojo shot, the Blazers have developed this season have left them in the last weeks of their campaign. Portland pulled 11-42, 26.2% of the arc, a lamentable performance. They open enough. They do not force strokes. It was as if someone had hit his targets and that he had not been able to readjust.
An overview of a possible future?
Nikola Vacevic pulled 13-22 for his 31 points with 12 more rebounds. It was a hell of a game. But even before the statistics passed through the roof, I thought that Vacevic could be a better mentor for Donovan Clingan than Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III combined. Vacevic and Clingan are different players, but Clingan could adopt vuacen characteristics: positioning, passes, how and when to take the three. It’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t be crazy if this fantasy became reality.
Vlangan, by the way, caught 18 rebounds tonight.
The next
Box
The Blazers play another intense lottery match on Sunday, against the San Antonio Spurs at 3:00 p.m. Pacific.
