It was Mac & Cheese night in the stands as the Sixers welcomed the Portland Trail Blazers into the Wells Fargo Center this evening in search of their first win of the season. The Sixers were coming off a 91-83 loss in Madison Square Garden to the Knicks on Saturday night and although the game went down as the 13th consecutive loss to start the season for the Sixers, it was highlighted by the coming out party for rookie sensation Nerlens Noel who finished the night with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Coach Brett Brown said in his post-game press conference, “It was his most complete game of the season.” As for the Blazers, they arrived in Philly riding a seven game win streak and were considered to be one of the hottest teams in the NBA led by their strong group of starters, including 3rd year PG Damian Lillard and veteran All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge. Monday night in south Philadelphia was sure to become a blowout win for the Blazers but the Sixers came out ready to play and fought hard until the final buzzer sounded, but their efforts weren’t enough to defeat the streaking Blazers as Portland took control late leading to a 114-104 victory over Philadelphia.
Throughout the first quarter of action both teams were struggling shooting from the floor. MCW began the game 0/5 from the floor with four of his misses coming in the paint. It was clear that last season’s rookie of the year was frustrated with himself as he continued to force shots and turn heads in a negative way during the early moments of the first quarter. His efforts found him a seat at the end of the Sixers bench with a chance to gather his thoughts. As the first quarter came to a close the Blazers led 24-20 and both teams were struggling to score consistently. Defensively the Sixers were playing their usual aggressive style resulting in turnovers and fastbreak points on the offensive end. They forced 14 Blazers turnovers in the first half and managed to contain the league’s second best three-point team to 2/12 from downtown. They also had a 34-18 advantage in the paint and an 18-5 advantage on the fastbreak as the Sixers took a rare lead into halftime, leading 52-50.
The second half featured the Blazers taking the lead around the midway point of the third quarter and generated some serious separation from the Sixers towards the end of the quarter. After outscoring Portland by two points in the first quarter and six points in the second quarter, the Blazers put up 38 third quarter points and shot the ball extremely well while outscoring the Sixers by 11 in the quarter. Rebounding was a problem all night for the Sixers as they were outrebounded 52-29 on the night. The majority of the credit for that large margin of rebounding can go to the Blazers big men. LaMarcus Aldridge led the team with 11 boards while Chris Kaman accumulated 9 and Robin Lopez picked up 8 boards off the glass. The Blazers also managed 18 offensive rebounds which put the Sixers at a major disadvantage on the defensive end throughout the game.
For the Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge was just too much for the younger Sixers frontcourt to handle. He led the Blazers with 33 points on 13/20 from the floor and added 11 rebounds on the night to complete his double-double performance. Star point guard Damian Lillard had a relatively decent night, finishing with 16 points on 6/11 shooting to go along with 4 assists. Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez also had good nights offensively as Wesley went for 17 points and nailed a few important three-point attempts that helped decide the game, and Lopez was a dominant force all night in the paint giving him 12 points to go along with his 8 rebounds.
As for the Sixers, MCW quickly turned around his brutal start and had an impressive second half that should provide him with some confidence moving forward. He had a season high 24 points on the night and led the team in scoring with his ability to find lanes to the rim in the second half. Tony Wroten gave the Sixers his usual electric spark accumulating 20 points on 7/18 shooting while also dishing out 9 assists. As for Nerlens Noel, the big man played well for the second consecutive game finishing with 12 points on 6/7 shooting with 5 rebounds. He was only credited with two blocks but was clearly a major force inside as his dominant defensive presence made it difficult for Portland to score in the paint.
“We are close” were Coach Brett Brown’s wise words in the post-game press conference. And he’s right. This team is close to getting a win. They led at halftime tonight against one of the hottest teams in the league and even though they squandered the lead in the second half, they did battle and stayed close until the very end. Hopefully Michael Carter-Williams will and Nerlens Noel will both be able to acquire some an extra boost of confidence after their performances tonight. The team, as a whole, didn’t look bad at all. They took care of the ball by only turning it over nine times, but they just need to put together a complete game. Each and every night something isn’t there, whether it’s the shooting, the defense, the turnovers, or the rebounding, something continuously manages to plague this team night in and night out. With that being said, we are beginning to see some consistency from Noel which is really our biggest concern at the moment. Win or lose, we just want to see progress being made and a collective unit being built, and it’s nice to see some of that forming as the season progresses.
Next up: Wednesday November 26th vs Brooklyn (5-8), 7pm Tip
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