Sir Charles in Charge
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2018 NBA Playoffs: Necessary adjustments for Pelicans, Blazers ahead of Game 2

By Scott Levine

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 10: Rajon Rondo #9 of the New Orleans Pelicans reacts against the Brooklyn Nets in the first quarter during their game at Barclays Center on February 10, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 10: Rajon Rondo #9 of the New Orleans Pelicans reacts against the Brooklyn Nets in the first quarter during their game at Barclays Center on February 10, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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The New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers are evenly matched. Minor adjustments and counter-adjustments will likely determine the result of this series

The New Orleans Pelicans eked out a Game 1 victory on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum woke up from behind the arc in the second half, but New Orleans was too far ahead by then.

Portland cannot be happy about dropping the first game of the series at home. Still, the Blazers should be encouraged that they only lost Game 1 by a handful of points. They could not hit a shot in the first half, and the Pelicans’ relentless transition pushes caught the Blazers off guard.

Lillard and McCollum will hit more shots in Game 2. The Blazers defense will be better prepared for New Orleans’ brisk style of play. Portland might need to make adjustments beyond this, though.

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The Blazers are hurting from the absence of Moe Harkless. They got to 49 wins by running pick-and-rolls with Lillard or McCollum, and punishing the defense for helping off of Harkless or Al-Farouq Aminu. Those two shot 41.5 and 36.9 percent from 3, respectively.

Terry Stotts compromised this strategy by moving Evan Turner from being the sixth man to the starting small forward. Turner had a solid year providing a burst of playmaking and defense off the bench, but has struggled starting alongside Lillard and McCollum.

The Pelicans ignored Turner in the corner. Every Lillard-Jusuf Nurkic pick and roll led to a trap from Lillard and Nurkic’s man, and Turner’s man tagged Nurkic on the roll.

Nurkic didn’t capitalize when a smaller defender tagged him. He probably won’t punish the Pelicans for playing this way. According to Second Spectrum data provided by NBA.com, Nurkic averaged a humdrum 1.02 points per possession as a roll man this season.

The Blazers should start Pat Connaughton at the small forward. Normally he’d be too small, but Pelicans are starting E’Twaun Moore at small forward, so he should be fine defensively. Connaughton shot 35 percent from 3 this season. He isn’t going to destroy the Pelicans for playing off of him, but he can make enough shots to keep them honest.

Connaughton’s presence will open things up for Lillard and McCollum. The Pelicans will have a harder time trapping Lillard and McCollum with a shooter in Turner’s spot. The floodgates for Portland’s two stars will open.

This will be a problem for New Orleans. Jrue Holiday is the only plus defender in their guard rotation (and boy was he a plus defender in Game 1). Rajon Rondo made a few major defensive lapses, while Ian Clark and E’Twaun Moore had trouble chasing McCollum around screens. The Pelicans may have to play Solomon Hill more to provide more physicality against Portland’s guards.

For the Blazers, Nurkic struggled defensively. Anthony Davis burned him on a few faceups. Nurkic provided no resistance in transition when cross matched onto Nikola Mirotic. The Pelicans got away with guarding Nurkic with Mirotic for significant stretches. Nurkic might not play much if he can’t exploit this matchup on offense.

If Harkless was healthy, the Blazers could play Aminu at the 5. Aminu is the best equipped Blazer to guard both Davis and Mirotic. Instead, Stotts must give out major minutes to Zach Collins, who just turned 20, and Ed Davis, who is only slightly fleeter of foot than Nurkic.

Collins in particular had trouble remembering that Mirotic could shoot, and Rondo promptly found Mirotic for a few transition 3’s that ended up being the difference.

Rondo, for all his warts on defense and in the halfcourt on offense, was fantastic at getting the ball to his teammates in their preferred spots in transition. I said his style of play would be less effective in the postseason, and he made me eat my words.

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I still think we’ll see diminishing returns on Rondo’s style of play. It’s hard to prepare for until you’ve seen it in person, and Blazers have seen it. They’ve had three days to focus in on Rondo. New Orleans will need to rely even more on Jrue Holiday to create in the half court.

The first game of the series left me with more questions than I had before the start of the playoffs. The Blazers and Pelicans will answer these questions tonight.

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