Trail Blazers 125, Rockets 111: What We Saw
Sights, sounds and observations from Portland's win over Houston, plus the Jerseys of the Night.
The Trail Blazers handled business against a bad Rockets team without Damian Lillard on Friday night. The story was Shaedon Sharpe's first career start, but there's plenty more to talk about in a win that improved the Blazers' record to 5-2 on the season.
Nassir Little appears to have officially made the switch from Nike to Adidas. Not a bad few weeks for him — a new contract extension with the Blazers and a new shoe deal. He's starting to find his footing on the court, too.
I did a double-take when Eric Gordon was announced with the Rockets' starters. Somewhere in my brain, I knew he was still in Houston, but it was jarring to see him out there at 34 with what is essentially an AAU squad (the Houston Elite, if you will). Gordon has to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer along with Myles Turner, Josh Smith, Brooklyn-era Brook Lopez and Chicago-era Taj Gibson on the list of guys who spent the most consecutive years in trade rumors without ever being traded. Gordon had 18 points and hit four three-pointers on Friday night against the Blazers; he's clearly still good enough to give a contender something, and with the Rockets now several years into a rebuild, it's a little shocking he hasn't been traded yet.
Jusuf Nurkic played his best game of the season, straight up. It wasn't just his box-score numbers, although those were damn good: 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting, 15 rebounds and three blocks and even knocked down an open three. It was also how decisive he was with the ball in his hands. The vocal section of Blazers Twitter that are Nurkic skeptics constantly harp on his reluctance to use his size advantage over most defenders to just go up with the ball forcefully to the basket. He did that on Friday. The likes of Alperin Sengun and Kenyon Martin Jr. couldn't hang.
Speaking of Kenyon Martin Jr., out of all the former players' sons now in the league, that's the one that makes me feel the oldest. The peak years of Gary Payton and Scottie Pippen were a little before my time, so it makes sense that they now have sons in the league. But I was in sixth grade and a fully engaged basketball fan when Kenyon Martin Sr. was the No. 1 overall pick out of Cincinnati. I remember his entire career vividly, and now his son is in his third season in the NBA. It's only going to get worse in a few years when Bronny James is playing.
Jalen Green had a dunk attempt over Drew Eubanks that would have been just as impressive as any of Sharpe's dunks if he made it. At least it wasn't as big a flop as the NFT dunk he tried at the dunk contest last year, which is the single most embarrassing thing that's ever happened during All-Star Weekend in the history of the NBA.
We got our first Wave of the season, wherever you want to land on that.
With Lillard out, Anfernee Simons had another big game, leading all scorers with 30 points. 23 of those points came in the first half, including all seven of his three-pointers. It didn't have quite the same feeling in the building as his explosion against the Nuggets on Monday, because everyone's attention was (deservedly) on Sharpe. But Simons' early shooting struggles can now decidedly be called a blip.
Greg Brown III threw down a between-the-legs dunk in the closing seconds of garbage time, and Chauncey Billups was not amused. In Brown's defense, he didn't have too many opportunities to do that in blowouts in the Blazers' favor his rookie season.
Josh Hart hit his head hard during the game, and the team announced on Saturday morning that he entered the NBA's concussion protocol. This is another reason, much like Lillard's calf injury, that it's incredibly fortunate the Blazers have a big gap in their schedule without another game until Wednesday. Hart might not even have to miss any time.
Speaking of injury updates, we're right around the time Gary Payton II is due to be re-evaluated in his core muscle recovery. Expect an update on that sometime in the next few days.
Jerseys of the Night
For good measure, here's a Justise Winslow Duke jersey:
