Portland Trail Blazers: Enes Kanter’s historic night is an encouraging sign
Enes Kanter’s historic night is a sign of great things to come for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Enes Kanter was a monster on the boards as he set the Portland Trail Blazers’ franchise single-game record for rebounds against the Detroit Pistons. The record was held by Sidney Wicks when he grabbed 27 rebounds back in February of 1975 until Kanter secured the record with 30 rebounds of his own.
Kanter also scored 24 points and had two blocks to go along with his dominant performance on the glass. Kanter has proven to be an important player for the Blazers this season while manning the middle averaging 12.2 points and 12 rebounds per game.
His presence has been very important considering the Blazers were missing Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic to injury earlier this year. Kanter has filled in admirably and has been a force to be reckoned with all season especially in the paint.
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He’s basically immovable once he establishes position and has a knack for finding and tracking the ball when it comes off the rim. There were two stretches this season when Kanter had double-digit rebound totals in 10 consecutive games. His consistent rebounding the basketball has him among the top 4 rebounders in the NBA just behind Jonas Valanciunas, Rudy Gobert, and Clint Capela.
The Blazers are going to need Kanter to continue playing at an elite level as they are currently jostling for playoff positioning in a stacked Western Conference as they hold the 6th seed while 8.5 games behind the top-seeded Utah Jazz.
Once Nurkic and Collins return, head coach Terry Stotts will have to decide on how he will rotate his big men in and out of the lineup and figure out what combinations will be more effective against certain opponents. Even though it seems Kanter has solidified and earned his position as the Blazers starting center, the returns of Nurkic and Collins will be a plus as multiple teams in the West will try and impose their size to their advantage if their opponents can’t match up.
Nurkic is set to return any day now after recovering from wrist surgery. Collins should be back right before the end of the regular season which would be an ideal situation to give Collins enough time to get acclimated with the system and his teammates and get some important minutes under his belt as the Blazers will need all hands on deck regardless of who they face in the first round.
The last time Kanter appeared in the playoffs as a member of the Blazers was in the 2019 season when they made an improbable run to the Western Conference Finals but were swept by the Golden State Warriors. Kanter averaged 9.7 during that run but should play an even bigger key role this postseason.
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The Blazers are counting on Kanter to deliver and continue to play big as the anchor in the middle for a team with championship aspirations.