If you want to say which team in the league surprises fans the most at present, it must be the Blazers. After sending McCollum before the trade deadline, almost everyone thought they would give up the season. But after the big deal, the Blazers have grown more and more courageous, having won three straight games before this game, and their opponents in this game are the Grizzlies, who are currently in third place in the West and have won six straight before this game.
However, despite facing a formidable opponent in this game, the Blazers did not flinch in the slightest, taking the lead in the first quarter with Simmons. In the second quarter, the Blazers continued the fiery feel of the first quarter, and the continuous outside shots allowed them to pull the point difference to double digits. In the second half, although the Grizzlies struggled to chase points in the third quarter, the Blazers still entered the final quarter with a four-point lead. In the final quarter, although the Grizzlies once reversed the score, the Blazers finally won the game, winning 123:119.
The reason why the Trail Blazers were able to win this battle was still due to the current fiery state of the whole team. In this game, the Blazers scored as many as 5 players in double figures, including Nurkic with a team-high 32 points, in addition to 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Simmons scored another 30+ in this game, shooting 5 three-pointers and 31 points and 6 assists. Two new signings, Hart and Winslow, provided the team with a powerful firepower, with the former scoring 22 points and the latter also scoring 16 points. In the case of the Blazers' full team blossoming, the Grizzlies are also difficult to cope.
In fact, the Trail Blazers have been one of the most disappointing teams of the season before making this deal for McCollum. With Lillard in very poor form at the start of the season and the double gun missing multiple games due to injury, the Trail Blazers' record in the first half of the season was not ideal. With Lillard likely to be reimbursed for the season and the team falling out of the top eight in the West, the Blazers' management gradually tended to abandon the season, first trading Powell and Covington in the team's starting lineup this season to the Clippers, in exchange for the likes of Winslow and Bledsoe.
When the trade deadline came, they made a blockbuster deal with the Pelicans, sending away mcCollum, the core of the team for many years, and exchanging players such as Hart and Satoransky from the Pelicans. After the deal, the Blazers' intention to decide to mess up this season seems to be becoming more and more obvious, after all, after the lack of players such as the Double Gun and Powell at the same time, the strength of the Blazers' current book lineup has dropped significantly. The Blazers had already suffered six straight losses before the trade, and many fans expected them to lose more games in an effort to secure higher picks in the offseason.
But after the trade, the Blazers' performance was unexpected by all fans. In mcCollum's first game away, they first narrowly defeated the Lakers led by james by two points at home, thus ending a six-game losing streak in which Simmons scored 29 points. Next, they beat the visiting Knicks 112:103 at home, and new signing Hart scored 23 points in the first game. If the Lakers and Knicks are not currently in the top eight of the division at the playoff level, their away games against the Bucks are full of weight.
In that game, the Blazers were in a hot state, maintaining the lead almost the entire game, and at one point stretched the point difference to more than 20 points, and finally won 122:107, in which the Blazers started the five Tigers all scored in double figures. If there is some element of luck in their victory over the defending champions in Antetokounmpo's absence, they have defeated the Grizzlies, who are currently in the top three in the West and have just won six straight games in this game. After this campaign, the Blazers have won four straight, and the back-to-back wins over the strong teams have kept their morale currently very high.
Looking at these four games, the Blazers have been able to win all of them, in large part due to the current fiery state of the whole team to blossom. First of all, Simmons is undoubtedly the primary contributor to the team's four-game winning streak. In these four games, Simmons, who has been established as the new core of the team, has scored 30+ in 3 games and has become the best hot candidate of the week. Secondly, the team's interior core Nurkic is also indispensable, making great sacrifices around the double gun, he has cut a large double double in 3 of these 4 games, including 20 rebounds against the Knicks, and 32 points in this game.
Finally, the trail Blazers' new signings Winslow and Hart, who have traded this season, currently have a very important role for the team. During the four-game winning streak, Winslow averaged 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals per game, making an indelible contribution to the team on the defensive end. Winslow averaged only 12.9 minutes per game with the Clippers this season, but he is currently averaging 31.3 minutes per game with the Blazers, and his performance is a good response to the team's trust.
Hart, who has only been a role player in the Pelicans this season, has also played a core player-level performance after coming to the Blazers, playing in three of them during the four-game winning streak, averaging 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, shooting 60% from the field and 52.4% from three-point range. From the current point of view, Hart has become an indispensable player in the Blazers team, he has a strong scoring ability on the offensive end, and when he leads the team alone on the court, the team has performed well on both offensive and defensive ends.
In short, whether it is the team's original players or new signings through trade, the Blazers players are almost all soldiers, which is the main reason why they are currently able to play such a good performance. As of now, they are getting smaller and smaller from the top eight in the West, and if they can maintain their current state, the Blazers will not need to be messed up at all, and they will most likely become an important spoiler of the Western Conference playoff situation.