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The Portland Trail Blazers travelled to face off against the Brooklyn Nets in the Barclays Center, NY.
The Blazers came out on top with a win, 113-99 as many had predicted. Even though Damian Lillard did not show up with his scoring, he was an elite playmaker tonight and McCollum along with Jusuf Nurkic had a superb night.
With Enes Kanter also on the team as a solid offensive option off the bench, they blew the Nets out of their own home court. So, here are the 3 biggest talking points from the game.
#3 Enes Kanter shows off his moves
Enes Kanter was enjoying a productive season with the Knicks at the beginning of the season, but as the Knicks got worse, his playing time got shortened as he was too good for the Knicks on the offensive end.
They wanted to groom their younger centers in Noah Vonleh, Mitchell Robinson and Luke Kornet, so much so that he was almost entirely out of the rotation. He was averaging a solid double-double for the season, going for 14 points a game along with 10.4 rebounds as well.
He ended up being bought out of his contract and joined the Portland Trail Blazers, who didn't really have a good backup center.
In his first game for the Blazers, he had a really good outing, playing just 20 minutes but was superb. He scored 18 points, with 8-9 shooting, 88.9% from the field and was able to deputize for Nurkic without any problems.
He also managed to get a steal and had just 1 turn over which did not really affect the Blazers in the end. If he ends up being a live wire off the bench for the Blazers like against the Nets tonight, the Blazers will become a big threat in the playoffs.
#2 The Brooklyn Nets might not be ready for the playoffs
Brooklyn Nets have been superb all season long, climbing up to the 6th spot in the Eastern Conference and are one of the feel-good stories of the NBA this season.
They have a .500 record with 30-30 and will be looking to keep themselves going. But the game against the Portland Trail Blazers showed that while the young stars are making a name for themselves, they are not in any shape to actually compete anytime soon in the playoffs.
D'Angelo Russell was cold tonight, scoring just 14 points, shooting 4-16 from the field in 29 minutes. He had 8 assists and 4 rebounds to go with it but was not really able to perform.
Caris LeVert has just come back from a scary leg injury and is still rusty. He scored 12 points in 21 minutes, shooting 4-11 from the field and looked lethargic. With Spencer Dinwiddie out for another few weeks, the Nets need to find a go-to player that they can rely on.
#1 The Blazers are becoming a strong playoff team
The Portland Trail Blazers have been playing really well all season and it has shown with them on the 4th spot, with a 35-23 record in the Western Conference, which has been really difficult in a really difficult conference.
With the win over the Warriors before the All-Star break and now another one over the Nets has somewhat cemented them as a really good team this season.
With Damian Lillard, they have an All-Star guard on their roster, scoring more than 26 points per game and more than 6 assists as well, showing his elite scoring alongside with elite playmaking skills.
CJ McCollum has had an up-down season but has been able to perform at a high level all season too, alongside Lillard. He has been scoring more than 20 points per game as well. Nurkic has been the third player to complete their superstar lineup and has been playing his best basketball this season.
With able role players like Al-Farouq Aminu, Rodney Hood and Maurice Harkless, alongside upcoming stars in Jake Layman and Zach Collins, the Blazers seem to be getting their system finally right and could be a strong team in the West this season.
