Earlier, the Blazers beat the Rockets 125-110 to win the third game in the last five games, and this game replaced Lillard as the starting Anfine Simmons, continued to play excellent performances, in the 35 minutes of the opening game, 11 of 17 shooting, 5 of 9 three-pointers to take 27 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, of which the scoring and assists are the highest on the team, he and CJ two newly formed Portland double gun, He also taught The New Talent Jaylen Green a good lesson (he shot just 4-of-11 and had 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists).
According to relevant statistics, Simmons has averaged 24.4 points and 7.1 assists per game since January, and the three shooting rates have reached 48.5%, 44.4% and 89.7%, respectively, almost becoming one of the "180 clubs", and the plus-minus value has also come to +4.2, completely playing the performance of All-Star players. It is also because of Simmons's excellent performance that the Blazers achieved a record of 8 wins and 6 losses in January, and the team did not lose because of Lillard's absence. As of now, the Blazers are temporarily ranked tenth in the West with a record of 21 wins and 28 losses, and there is only a 2.5-win difference from the ninth-place Lakers, and if Simmons can maintain such a stable output, the team is not impossible to continue to rebound later.
As the No. 24 picked by the Blazers in the 18th Draft, Simmons did not actually get a good opportunity to show in the past few years, after all, the Blazers have CJ + Lillard, the two absolute backcourt cores, and simmons played hard last season, and met powell, a point-cutting master, so that he had to face the dilemma of competing with three backcourt players. In fact, according to Simmons' offensive ability, if he goes to a mid-range team that lacks a backcourt, he has a good chance to directly obtain the starting position, but he has come to a team with a crowded backcourt such as the Blazers.
By this season, God seems to have finally begun to pity this potential new star, at the beginning of the season CJ suffered from a right lung pneumothorax injury, Simmons also took on a part of the fire on the bench, the result of playing a double gun another member Lillard suffered an abdominal injury, will be absent for a while, coach Billups also simply let Simmons directly serve as the starting position of the team, living up to expectations, he really played out, not long ago with the Eagles, Simmons God, crazy to win the career-high 43 points, In the following games, Simmons, who firmly occupied the starting position, also steadily handed over 20+ points.
In order to strengthen the team's offensive firepower, Billups directly posed the "three guards" that the team had been accustomed to using last season, but Lillard's position was replaced by Simmons, and the other two CJs and Powell were the same. Also because of the recent big storm, Simmons has raised his stats to a career-best 15.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists, and in a trance, people have seen the original CJ counterattack plot.
It is true that Simmons' outburst is indeed good news for the Blazers, but the reality they need to recognize is that if Lillard returns from injury, how should Simmons make a trade-off, is it to let CJ and Simmons match and choose to abandon Lillard? Or let Lillard and Simmons go together and abandon CJ? This may really be a brain-wrenching for management.