Nets 109, Trail Blazers 107: What We Saw

Thoughts and observations from the Blazers' down-to-the-wire loss to the Nets on Thursday night, plus the Jersey of the Night.

• I was amazed at how positive and upbeat Nets coach Jacque Vaughn was in his pregame media availability given everything that's going on over there right now. I've never seen a coach more excited in one of these things. Talking to some Nets people, that's just how he is all the time. The enthusiasm and positivity were refreshing.
• Kevin Durant got a loud reception in player intros, about an even split between cheers and boos. And there were a lot of No. 35 Sonics jerseys in the crowd.
• Friend of the program and Locked On Blazers host Mike Richman was not in the building last night, because his wife recently gave birth to their first baby. Kevin Calabro broke the news on the broadcast. Congrats to them.
• The best player on the floor for the Blazers on Thursday was Shaedon Sharpe, who continues to get better every week. He had a career-high 20 points off the bench. He's getting more comfortable with the green light—early on, he passed up a few open shots to make the extra pass into a worse shot, and as the game went on he started letting it fly, which is what he should be doing.
• Sharpe's nightly ridiculous highlight was this dunk over Yuta Watanabe, who is building up quite a resume of these.
• Speaking of Watanabe, I met a woman who was in town to cover the game for a Japanese outlet. They have reporters covering the Nets and Wizards regularly, given that Watanabe and Rui Hachimura are the only two Japanese players in the league. I always find it interesting to talk to people covering the league from countries with only one or two players, and how intense the interest is there.
• It just so happened Watanabe was fantastic for the Nets last night. He was their second-leading scorer (behind Durant) with 20 points off the bench on seven shots, along with seven rebounds.
• Jerami Grant had a rough shooting night (2-of-13 from the floor, 1-of-5 from three) but he did block a Durant fadeaway, which doesn't happen too often.
• The one or two times a year I get to watch Durant in person will never not be special. It's incredible how unguardable he still is at 34 with his injury history. Blazers players guarded him as well as you can, and they still couldn't do anything about the shots he was hitting, which were the same ones he's hit for his entire career. Whatever else is going on with the Nets, he's still transcendent to watch.
• Sharpe postgame on Durant: "I looked up to KD growing up. Guarding him was like, 'Welcome to the NBA,' for real."
• Damian Lillard brought two of his three kids to the postgame podium session—his older son, Damian Jr., who is a veteran of these things, and his daughter Kali.

Jersey of the Night: