Portland Trail Blazers Sent Message To Western Conference With Win vs. Dallas Mavericks
By Dan Schultz
@DSchultz89
Getty Images
The Portland Trail Blazers easily defeated the Dallas Mavericks 108-87 on Thursday night in a Western Conference showdown, sending a message throughout the Western Conference that they are a team to be reckoned with.
The Mavericks knew they were in for a tough challenge against the Trail Blazers, who have a reputation for being an outstanding home team that uses the passionate, infectious energy of their crowd to help motivate them. There has been a lot of talk lately about how the West will be ruled by the likes of the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Mavericks, but the Trail Blazers showed everyone once again why they should be considered a legitimate team as well.
The game began as a tightfisted affair between these two Western Conference rivals, but the Mavericks maintained a steady lead of for most of the first half thanks to the aggressive penetrating play by Monta Ellis. However, the Blazers started out on fire in the second half, with a much more aggressive Damian Lillard attacking the rim and looking for his teammates.
The Blazers took advantage of a Dirk Nowitzki-LaMarcus Aldridge mismatch and improved their ball movement as the half went on, taking the lead and eventually coasting to an easy victory in front of their home fans.
With this win, the Trail Blazers demonstrated that they have greatly improved their bench, especially inside with the very underrated Chris Kaman, who still possesses a variety of clever post moves. It will also be fascinating to see if C.J. McCollum can bounce back from his injury-riddled rookie season last year and become a key rotational player this season.
If the Trail Blazers bench can be this good all year, they will be an extremely difficult team to beat moving forward.
Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.
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