The Portland Trail Blazers made the Orlando Magic miserable Thursday night at the Moda Center.
Orlando entered the matchup already reeling toward the dark side of the Vibes Spectrum as losers of six of its last seven. Then the momentum-riding Trail Blazers mowed them over in an inspired 119-90 beatdown that continued an impressive stretch of six wins in the last seven games for Portland.
Just like Portland’s victory Tuesday over the Milwaukee Bucks, Thursday’s win was an all-around group effort. Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson scored 23 apiece, Deandre Ayton played maybe his best game of the season with 22 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and others chipped in throughout the roster.
More than anything though, the Blazers dominated with defense, hustle and physicality, frustrating an Orlando team known for those exact qualities.
“Anybody who tries to think they can bully us, we’re embracing that. That’s how we want to play,” Ayton said after the win. “The refs let us play like that tonight, and we opened our wings and threw our punch back.”
The Blazers held the Magic to 42% shooting from the field and an abysmal 19.2% from behind the arc, while forcing three 24-second shot clock violations. Blazers forward Toumani Camara produced just seven points and five rebounds, but he might’ve been the most impactful player of the game with his defense. He had two of the best blocks you’ll see all season in a 30-second stretch in the second quarter, as he went vertical to deny two dunk attempts from the formidable Paolo Banchero.
It was real unstoppable-force-meets-immovable-object type stuff, and Camara got the best of the battle. Both Ayton and Portland head coach Chauncey Billups spotlighted those efforts from Camara as game-changing plays. Ayton seemed at first to struggle to bring to words how impressive the blocks were, while Billups said they practically held the effect of 4-point plays in terms of momentum.
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Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
“I was so impressed because I know I [indistinct comedic murmuring], I had never been in that. I don’t even think I’m capable of doing that,” Ayton said about the blocks. “I had never seen that before, so I told him, ‘Yo, hats off to you bro.’”
“His ceiling, we don’t know what it could be, defensively,” Billups added about Camara’s potential in the NBA. “He wants to be the best in the world, he really does.”
In the face of that pressure from Camara and the rest of Portland’s defense, Orlando got agitated and chippy. Nasty intentions or not, Orlando guard Cole Anthony undercut Blazers players’ legs on two separate occasions as he dove for loose balls. In the second quarter, Magic center Goga Bitadze took issue with a loose-ball shove from Sharpe and went after the normally mild-mannered third-year guard. All Bitadze’s frustration really seemed to do was help the Blazers rally around their teammate, while waking Sharpe up to unlock one of his best offensive games in awhile.
“I want somebody to get into it with Shaedon every game,” Billups said. “ … I love a mad Shaedon. We’re best like that.”
Several Magic players seemed to take exception at different moments with the defensive hounding from Camara. It led to Camara enduring some physical hits throughout the game, some of it called, and some of it not. Ayton said the Blazers took note of that physicality. Once again, they used it as more motivation to rally around each other and fight back.
“He was getting beat up, man, and he was taking some blows,” Ayton said. “We all saw it, and we were in the huddle saying, ‘We gotta take this personal and understand that this is a physical game and we’re gonna have to change it up and protect home court.’”
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Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
True to Ayton’s words, the Blazers answered the bell and soon overtook the Magic. What began as a 10-point deficit in the first quarter turned into a nine-point lead at halftime. Then the Blazers stormed away with an extended 25-9 run to start the third quarter. Henderson capped off that run by canning a 3-pointer and then finding Camara for a rolling dunk in the lane. The sequence led to an 87-62 Portland lead at the 3:37 mark of third, prompting an Orlando timeout.
As Henderson walked back to the bench, Billups greeted his young point guard near halfcourt with a high-five and snare. They could’ve stopped the fight right there; the Blazers had landed an early knockout punch.
“The way we fight for each other on both sides of the ball, not really caring where the ball ends up, just playing together,” Henderson said. “That’s fun. When you play like that, the basketball gods, they look out for you. They reward you.”
A lot will be made about the Blazers’ diminishing lottery odds following this January streak of unexpected winning. But — switching to first-person mode momentarily — I found this latest win hard to get mad about. There have been times this season when I have been frustrated about the minutes distribution and process that have led to wins, and maybe those wins will come back to bite Portland. But when Scoot and Sharpe both play over 30 minutes and score over 20 points, Camara is leading a determined defense and Ayton is dribbling coast to coast for fast-break dunks, the product and process feel good.
In a season that has seemed pretty damn bleak at times, this was the type of performance that felt valuable for development and lent hope to the future.
“We’ll still be up and down most of the season. We’re still young,” Billups said. “But I want our guys to just know what it feels like when we’re doing it the right way.”
