Trail Blazers Routed By Surging Suns on First Leg of Back-to-Back

The Trail Blazers opened their difficult back-to-back in forgettable fashion, getting blown out by Devin Booker Suns in Phoenix.

Notes, observations, analysis and highlights from the Portland Trail Blazers' 132-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday.

The floodgates opened in the third quarter, when Phoenix extended its nine-point halftime lead to 29 entering the fourth. Portland's game-long shooting struggles reached a nadir in the third, and its early issues with ball security resurfaced, too. Worse was the Blazers' play on the other end, where they allowed 60.8 percent shooting, five threes and six scores from the restricted area. The silver lining? Portland's dreadful third quarter allowed Damian Lillard to take the last one off, affording him some extra rest ahead of Tuesday's game against Denver on the second leg of a tough back-to-back.
Devin Booker embarrassed every defender the Blazers threw at him on Monday night. Lillard, who opened the game as Booker's primary assignment, proved way too small. Gary Trent Jr. did, too, on multiple occasions falling victim to Booker's size, physicality and patience in the post. Booker roasted Robert Covington at the point of attack, and Derrick Jones Jr. was similarly helpless defensively when he wasn't occupied by Chris Paul. When his jumper's going, Booker is as close to unstoppable as the term actually gets in the NBA. Still, Portland certainly didn't make life very hard on him, no matter where or how Booker was doing his damage.

Trent never found his footing offensively versus the Suns, but more discouraging was the coaching staffs' apparent calculation they had superior defensive options against Booker and Chris Paul. Trent spent some time guarding both of the Suns' stars, faring better against Paul than Booker. But it was telling that Portland opened with Lillard on Booker and Derrick Jones Jr. on Paul, leaving Trent matched up with the low-usage Mikal Bridges. When Booker was on the bench, even Rodney Hood was assigned the task of checking Paul ahead of Trent, who was stashed on E'Twuan Moore. The advanced numbers paint an ugly portrait of Trent's true defensive impact, and he's obviously not as versatile as a real wing stopper. But if Trent isn't the Blazers' best defender of Booker nor Paul, it bears much further questioning of his positive value on that end altogether.

Even on a night the three ball wasn't falling, Lillard did everything he could against another defense who sold out to stop him. The Suns committed two defenders to Lillard in ball-screen action all game long, testing his teammates' ability to make them pay as much as Lillard's ability to get his own points regardless. Though initially somewhat confused by Phoenix sticking to shooters and leaving the rim largely unprotected, Lillard quickly adjusted to pick apart the defense with the pass and the drive. There are diminishing returns to running pick-and-roll most every time down the floor, but the Blazers basically couldn't score otherwise against a stingy Suns defense. Lillard will continue putting up huge numbers and single-handedly driving efficient offense heading into the All-Star break – he's that good. This was a loss, though, where Lillard must have really, really felt the absence of C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic.

Just when you think it's time to wonder whether this would be another wasted season for Rodney Hood, he reminds of the impact player he could be prior to going down with a ruptured Achilles in December 2019. Hood was fantstic against Phoenix, especially in the second quarter, when his personal 7-0 run suddenly vaulted Portland in front with Lillard catching his breath on the bench. Hood attacked a close-out and quickly spun over his right shoulder for a floater; drained a pull-up three from the wing in pick-and-roll; and even ripped Chris Paul's dribble en route to a coast-to-coast dunk. Hood's most impressive play of the night, though, was this cross-court bullet to Trent when he was doubled in the post. You can see Hood recognize the double and map the floor in his head, then make a subtle fake to the weak corner to manipulate the defense before whipping a dime to Trent. Just imagine how much better Portland would be if Carmelo Anthony took similar advantage of extra defensive attention on the block.

Perhaps still experiencing nightmares of Robin Lopez dominating the Blazers' undersized second unit, Stotts switched up the rotation on Monday, opening the second quarter with Enes Kanter at center. As a result, Nassir Little's lone first-half stint came in the opening stanza – a shame considering the way he flashed offensively when the game was out of reach late. Little connected on three three-pointers in the fourth quarter, further confirmation of his much-improved jumper.
Trent, by the way, set a new franchise record with 11 consecutive games of at least three made triples. Thank god for extended garbage time.