Injury concerns have been the prevalent topic of the Blazers’ season, and now the Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers look to defend home court against Zion Williamson — A.K.A the 19-year-old human bulldozer — in their first game back from the All-Star Break. With Lillard expected to be out for at least 1-2 weeks, the Blazers are now expected to piece together a winning formula against teams without their flamethrowers at the guard spot. What better test to see how far they have to go to look the part of a multidimensional faction than to play against a multifaceted team like New Orleans?
The Pels are no stranger to untimely ailments to their star pieces, especially since their coveted No. 1 pick and purveyor of hope for the franchise’s future, Williamson, was forced to miss the first three months of the regular season due to him rehabbing a knee after meniscus surgery. But, now that he is perfectly healthy and spry, he’s reaching unmarked heights in his first couple of weeks in the NBA.
Zion Williamson has played in ten NBA games, and he’s already averaging 22.1 points and 7.5 rebounds. Crazy, we know. In the last time these two teams faced off before the break, Williamson went off for 31 points and snatched nine rebounds off the glass in the Pelicans win as they inched closer to challenge for the eighth seed in the West. Of course, the main point of emphasis on the defensive end will be to shut Williamson down to the best of their ability, but on offense, it’ll have to be the CJ Mccollum show if the Blazers want to make things interesting tonight.
Where Portland gets their Lillard fill-ins on offense is to be determined, but if they are to go 2-1 on the season series against New Orleans, they cannot replicate their abysmal 13.8 field goal percentage and 24.1 percentage from deep, that for sure.
Tip-off for ESPN’s second Friday night game is at 10:30 p.m. ET.
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