Trail Blazers Fall Apart Late As Devin Booker Propels Suns To Victory

The Trail Blazers played some of their best basketball of the season against the Suns, but Devin Booker and Chris Paul proved too much for Portland after halftime.

Notes, analysis, observations and clips from the Portland Trail Blazers' 127-121 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at Moda Center.

• Chris Paul set the second-half tone for Phoenix, and Devin Booker drove it home. Watching the Suns' superstar backcourt completely take over after halftime, it was easy to long for C.J. McCollum's return. He'll be back soon, of course, but the Blazers would've had their hands full keeping pace with Paul and Booker even if he were healthy. Booker dominated the fourth quarter, picking apart Portland's defense at will as a scorer and passer. Terry Stotts even sent Enes Kanter to trap him in ball-screen action late in the game, yielding predictable results. It was Paul who kept the Suns within reach as the Blazers threatened to pull away in the third quarter, though, pushing the ball up the floor and looking for his shot with newfound purpose. Phoenix, clearly, is a contender. But the gravity of the Suns' title potential really comes into focus when you're reminded how Paul and Booker can dictate terms of the game in such different, devastating manners at the flip of a switch.
• Booker, by the way, didn't go off on Portland again because of Stotts' inexplicable decision to make Damian Lillard his primary defender. Derrick Jones Jr. got that honor on Thursday, holding his own early, but the Blazers also switched most on and off-ball screens for Booker one-through-four. Jones is the only player on this roster with the physical tools to at least theoretically avoid being overwhelmed by Booker's immense offensive gifts. It didn't help that Portland made his life easier with careless mistakes defensively, on multiple possessions failing to switch with urgency or forgetting to switch altogether. The Blazers just don't have anywhere near the amount of defensive talent to survive those basic errors against average opposition, let alone contenders.

• There's no getting around it: Rodney Hood played too big a role and too many minutes in the fourth quarter. Stotts is regularly credited by players for allowing them to play relatively free, embracing the elements of their games that got them to the NBA. But Portland's roster is stocked with too many players who are most comfortable playing isolation basketball, Hood included. The Blazers can't waste possessions in the fourth quarter of competitive games on Hood post-ups, especially with Lillard on the floor. Stotts knows that, and he needs to better drill it into his players.
• Speaking of Hood, his fourth-quarter minutes could have easily gone to Nassir Little given the latter's play in the first half. Portland won its second-quarter minutes without Lillard, and Little's fingerprints were all over the scoreboard. He was fantastic in the third quarter, too, helping the Blazers get out to a multi-possession lead with his typical energy, athleticism and burgeoning shot-making.

• Turn on any NBA game and you're certain to see at least one team, and probably both, run the "Spain" pick-and-roll – a high ball screen with a shooter setting a back pick for the rolling big man. It's not a staple of Portland's offense the way it is for other teams, like Phoenix, but the Blazers still pulled out Spain on a couple second-quarter possessions to easy success. The inflection point of both plays below is the same as so many others for the Blazers: Lillard drawing two defenders at the top of the floor. It may seem like the means of getting there is inconsequential, but that's just not the case. Floor spacing and player positioning has never mattered more in the NBA, and that's especially true for a Portland team that frequently finds itself with a numbers advantage behind the point of attack. High drag screens, double picks, staggered screens, dribble hand-offs and Terry Stotts' famous flare screens will remain the engine of the Blazers' offense. Variety is crucial, though, and considering how reliant Portland will remain on pick-and-roll play even once McCollum returns, it'd be wise for Stotts to make Spain a permanent part of his team's playbook. 

• Anfernee Simons was awesome in the first half – so good that Stotts extended his normal playing stint for the duration of the second quarter. The highs and lows of his season continued after intermission, as Simons was suddenly playing a major role in Portland's early fourth-quarter labors. Phoenix took their first lead of the final stanza on a baseline out-of-bounds play that netted Cam Payne a wide-open three; the broadcast was late getting back to the action, but Carmelo Anthony audibly called out Simons as culprit of the Blazers' mistake. A couple possessions later, he inexplicably threw the ball away while making a simple elbow entry pass to Anthony, resulting in a pair of Suns free throws. Simons slapped the backboard stanchion in frustration after his turnover, even going so far as to hit his head on the padding, Kevin Garnett-style. Confidence is a huge part of Simons' development, and he had loads of it in the first half. Let's hope personal disappointment stemming from his brief fourth-quarter stint doesn't linger.
• Robert Covington's subpar ball-handling ability was no secret before All-Star weekend, and his performance in the Skills Challenge only further confirmed it. But he was an aggressive, assertive dribbler from the opening tip against Phoenix, frequently driving overzealous close-outs with relative comfort. He ripped the ball past a pressuring Paul for a layup, drove a close-out for a nifty drop-off to Kanter and even up-faked Booker for a couple hard lefty dribbles and tough finish through traffic. Covington has flashed subtle improvement as a penetrator all season – steps so small they're easy to miss. They were obvious on Thursday.

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