Today the Blazers beat the Grizzlies 116-96.
Stats: Trail Blazers: McCollum 25 points and 6 rebounds, Lillard 20 points and 10 assists, Nurkic 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 breaks, Covington 3 points and 4 rebounds, Nance Jr. 8 points and 5 rebounds, Zeller 10 points and 7 rebounds, Anfinney Simmons 17 points
Grizzlies: Morant 17 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists and 9 turnovers, Jalen Jackson 7 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists, Bane 19 points and 3 rebounds, Adams 4 points and 7 rebounds, Kyle Anderson 6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Zaire Williams 5 points
The Blazers held their breath all over the team today. They can't afford to lose. In the first three games, the Blazers have only won 1. This game against the youth Grizzlies, portlanders want to find a breakthrough, with a big win, to stabilize the hearts of the military.
In this game, McCollum became the Blazers' winning hero, he shot 8-of-21 and scored 25 points. Positive and negative values are as high as +23. The highest in the whole field. Today, when the team needs someone to score, he can always stand up and use projection to break through and punish opponents.
On the other hand, the Grizzlies side does not have the vigor of the past, and the main force is deeply trapped in the circle of iron fighting, and cannot extricate itself. Jaren Jackson Jr. shot just 3-of-13; Adams shot 2-of-8; Melton was worse, scoring 0 points; Morant didn't make it today, shooting 5-of-12 and scoring 17 points, with a plus-minus of -25, the lowest in the game.
The main force is so sluggish, can the Grizzlies not lose?
After the match, Melton was dragged into the venue. His performance today is really bad. Played 25 minutes, 0-of-8, including 0-of-5 from three-point range. What is even more disappointing is that he can't grasp even the most basic free throws, so he can't help but foul his opponent, walk up the free throw line, execute 2 penalties, and he actually loses all the penalties. As the main defender of the team, handing over this report card is really not satisfactory.
In fact, this is not the normal level of Melton. Once upon a time, he was also a promising rookie who was highly anticipated by fans, and he originally had a good draft quote, but then he was banned from the University of Southern California in his sophomore season because of the "bribery scandal" in Melton University. For these reasons, his pick plummeted and he missed the first round. The Rockets, who were holding the No. 46 pick at the time, saw the timing and decisively used the draft pick to remove Melton, and intended to stay and cultivate him for a long time. In the summer league matches, Melton made a big deal out of everything and was impressive. At that time, the Rockets offered him a long contract, but Melton refused, and he was only willing to sign a short contract. The two sides could not reach an agreement on the signing of the contract, and the Rockets had no choice but to trade it off. Today, Melton is a member of the Grizzlies.
In the first three games of the new season, Melton's performance was remarkable. Against the Cavaliers, he scored 20 points; against the Clippers he scored 22 points; against the Lakers, he also scored 13 points.
His three-point shooting and defense can bring improvement to the team. But helplessly, today's Portland basket does not welcome him.
Hopefully, Melton will adjust as soon as possible and regain his shooting feel.