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The Portland Trail Blazers relied on scoring from a number of faces in their 112-90 victory against the Utah Jazz, as five players reached double-figures and 12 of the 13 who suited up recorded a point. Portland moves to 4-1 on the season with the win. Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 24 points and five rebounds, shooting 50 percent from the field and 3-point range, nailing 10 of 13 free throws. Damian Lillard added 22 points despite a poor shooting performance, while Toumani Camara, Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday had 14 points apiece.
The highlight reels will showcase Damian Lillard and Ja Morant making clutch shots in the Portland Trail Blazers’ 136-129 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. The film session will also zero in on Blazers guard Jrue Holiday filling in the gaps with timely plays and steady leadership. “Jrue is a special player,” Lillard said. “He’s a Hall-of-Fame player. He’s a Hall-of-Fame teammate. You can take him and put him on any team, and he’s going to have an impact. You can put him at any position, and he’s going to have an impact.”
“He’s a weapon for our team, especially because we have so many guards and we got so much depth,” Lillard said. “We can kind of move Jrue all over the board. Whatever it is, he accepts it and he thrives in it. He’s a special player. And he’s a special player for our team.”
How have you handled switching up between playing guard and forward? Jrue Holiday: “I’ve been doing that for a while. I’ve played with [Rajon] Rondo. I’ve played with Lonzo Ball. I’ve played with Derrick White. I think having another guard back there or two more guards, I like it that way. That’s because Scoot can guard multiple people. He can do multiple things. Sidy can do the same. So it has been fun.”
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Devin Booker called you “one of the most underrated players in the game.” How does that land with you knowing your matchups in the 2021 Finals and Team USA connection? Jrue Holiday: “He’s always been somebody that I admire and somebody that I love to battle with. In my book, he’s one of the greats as a scorer and as a player. Obviously, he won two gold medals. Honestly, the way that he’s leading his team and stayed with his team, I feel like that kind of goes under the radar now where you can stay with a team both through the good and the bad. But that’s one thing that I respect. Not everybody has the choice to do that. But being underrated? I don’t know. I’ve gotten a lot. I think at this point, it is what it is.”
“At some point the rubber has got to hit the road. I honestly wonder if its going to be Scoot Henderson more so than Jrue Holiday,” said Jake Fischer on SiriusXM radio. “Joe Cronin identified Jrue coming back to Portland and I think is pretty proud of that kind of, we sneak in stealthily while the Celtics were dismantling their 2024 title team and got this guy Jrue.”
Sean Highkin: Micah Nori didn’t say it outright but he strongly hinted that the starting lineup from the Golden State game on Friday (Ja/Dame/Toumani/Deni/Clingan) is going to be the starting lineup on opening night. Also said Jrue Holiday is fine after missing that game with swelling in his hand
Sean Highkin: Damian Lillard and Robert Williams are resting today and will play tomorrow. Micah Nori says Jrue Holiday will start alongside Ja Morant today, and tomorrow in Sacramento likely Dame and Scoot Henderson start together with Ja and Jrue coming off the bench.
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Nori said that starting Morant and Lillard doesn’t make sense. Both are undersized, and both have never excelled on the defensive end. The more analytically sound option would be to start Holiday — a bigger guard who is an exceptional defender — and have either Morant or Lillard come off the bench. But in a league with huge egos, asking an All-Star to come off the bench is a delicate and difficult task for any coach, let alone Nori, a first-year coach operating on a one-year contract. Nori told The Athletic that his contract status will have no bearing on his decision. Instead, he will experiment with different lineups throughout the Blazers’ four preseason games. The exhibition opener is Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors, and Nori said he “probably” will start Morant and Lillard. “It’s not set in stone, but probably, because I’m leaning toward wanting to see what it looks like,” Nori said. “And … I don’t want to start a fire before I need to.”
The peculiar thing about starting lineups is they matter most to fans and the players in the first five — but not the coaches or front office. “To me, and it’s easy to say this standing here (as a head coach), but I’d rather finish the game than start the game,” Nori said.
“What we don’t want is, just because Jrue may not care about starting, saying ‘Well, Jrue will handle it the best, so don’t start him,'” Nori said. “But other than hearing your name called (in introductions), who cares? I’d rather play when it counts: at the end of the game. I’m not worried about the 6-4 basket; I’m more worried about the 112-110 bucket, quite honestly.”
“If Damian Lillard is healthy,” Nori said shortly after he was hired, “then Damian Lillard is going to start.” Morant on media day was asked whether starting mattered to him. “I think winning is the most important thing for me, so whatever role I have to play to get that done, I think nobody will be mad afterward,” Morant said. “If I’m starting, if I’m not, it’s the same thing. I mean, it’s day one right now. “I feel that’s a coach’s question. But for me, I have no problem with neither.”
