It was a record breaking night, the 16th straight home opening win by our very own Portland Trailblazers. That's the longest streak ever by an NBA team—but that wasn't even the best thing about this first-game win against the Utah Jazz (final score 113-104).
The Blazers enter this season in fine style, a young team riding good expectations, but still a little under the radar, with something to prove.
Speaking of style, I'm most impressed by young Noah Vonleh's transformation over the summer. This dude has grown his hair out into some awesome cornrows and has clearly been hitting the gym. Here he is in street clothes walking into the arena tonight:
More on Vonleh later, as his stylistic transformation came along with some definite improvements in play as well. The cooler you look, the better you play; that's my motto.
Fans were given trippy wristbands, which were told by a computer somewhere to light up and flicker different colors in sync. It was an impressive effect—all these multicolored lights pulsing to a beat—but the crowd would've been into this game regardless. Before the game started Damian Lilllard came out and told everyone they were "the best fans in the NBA." We've heard that before in Portland—but hey, we believe it every time because it's true.
Here's some fan-made signs I liked:
"Let the Mania Begin!"
"Silence the Jazz!"
"Rip the Jazz a new 1"
"Go Blazers, with love from Gladstone"
The truth is the Jazz were a depleted team tonight, missing three of their better players due to injury, including stars Gordon Hayward and Derek Favors. I suspect they'll give the Blazers a lot more trouble down the line, though tonight was hardly an easy win. On the Utah side, I was personally curious to see the long-armed Frenchman Rudy Gobert in action. This dude has the longest wingspan ever seen in the NBA draft (7 feet, 8 1/2 inches) and is so good at blocking shots they call him "The Stifle Tower."
But you know what? He didn't really stifle the Blazers tonight. Here we see Lillard going right at him, undaunted:
Lillard was on fire tonight, scoring a game high 39 points and earning chants of "MVP!" towards the end of the game. It's a wee bit early in the season to be making that call, but hey, Lillard was the league's MVP for opening night, hands down.
I'd say the whole team looked solid, to be honest, with the aforementioned Noah Vonleh (11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting) standing out as the most pleasant surprise. He looks way more confident out there this season. CJ looked awesome as usual and Crabbe seems ready to prove he's worth all that money he's now getting paid.
New man Evan Turner had an okay night as well, despite scoring only 3 points. He looks like he'll fit in out there. One fan held up a sign which said, "ET has come home." It took me a moment to figure out who they were talking about.
During halftime I like to check out fan outfits and here's some of my favorites:
And then there was this guy:
I admired his 80's era warm up suit, and thought he looked a little familiar. When he told me the #7 was for Hank McDowell, an obscure one-season Trailblazer from 1982, something clicked and I realized I'd taken this dude's picture two seasons ago in the exact same outfit. Here he is with his family in 2015:
Anyway, the second half started poorly for the Blazers. What seemed to be shaping up as a fairly easy win turned into a third quarter quandary. The Jazz hit a scorching 75% of their shots in the third and took the lead by six. Tense, but exciting!
Fortunately, this year's Blazer squad has heart and they came on strong in the fourth. Good old Ed Davis would not be denied on the boards and newbie Evan Turner ended up tying the game at 94 with about 6 minutes to go. What more can you ask of an opening night game? Tied going down the final stretch. And you know what? That final stretch really is Lilllard Time. The crowd turned electric when Dame hit a long three to make the score to 109-102 and thrust a sweet dagger into the hearts of those feisty Jazz upstarts.
It was a fine beginning to what could be a mighty fine season in Rip City. Afterwards, during the press conference, Coach Terry Stotts seemed pleased with how it all went down. He said his guys showed "the sign of a really good team" in that they all were willing to step up and fill in as needed. For years the knock on the Blazers was that they had a weak bench. Now, finally, there's some real depth out there. A plethora of talent! The next game is Thursday night against the evil Clippers empire. Bring it on.