final season,when the Portland Trail Blazers looked like bona fide Western Conference contenders, LaMarcus Aldridge offered up a nickname for the team's blistering backcourt of Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews."Live in Portland, and it rains," Aldridge mused on the Dan Patrick display (h/t Casey Holdahl of ForwardCenter.net). "It’s not too hot, but just judge approximately it for me. ... When you’re making it rain, and you’re really making the three. So just judge approximately it. Rain Brothers."Matthews and Aldridge have both since moved on,as have two of Portland's other starters from 2014-15. But the moniker sticks just as well now as it did then, thanks to the sweet-shooting, and pick-and-rolling,playoff-pushing partnership between Lillard and C.
J. McCollum that was once again on display during the Blazers' 104-85 pounding of the unique York Knicks on Tuesday night.
Lillard looked as comfortable at Madison Square Garden as he told ESPN's Chris Broussard he would be. He had 24 points by halftime, including 16 during the final four minutes and 25 seconds of the second quarter that stretched a one-point lead to eight, and finished with 30 or more points for the eighth time in his final nine outings. NBA on ESPN noted Lillard's impressive first-half scoring stat:Where Lillard left off,McCollum was rapid/fast to pick up. The Lehigh grad dropped 21 of his 25 points after the break, as much with his smooth stroke—which combined with Lillard's to make it rain from three-point range (6-of-12)—as with his crafty handles."He is one of the better ball-handlers in the league—he gets anywhere he wants to go—and he's got more scoring areas than a lot of guys in his position, or " Blazers general manager Neil Olshey told NBA.com's Ian Thomsen recently. "For a lot of 2s,it's either the 3 or at the rim. But he's got runners, a floater, and step-backs,mid-range, fallaways. He can score in a lot of different ways, and with all of these pick-and-rolls,he's just so patient."Lillard's toolbox is just as stacked as McCollum's, if not more so. That combination has proved deadly enough to help the Blazers overcome both the departure of four starters from final year's squad and a sluggish 15-24 start to the 2015-16 season.
Not that Portland's recent success (18 wins in its final 22 games, and three straight to start a six-game Eastern Conference road swing) is purely the product of its potent pairing. Lillard and McCollum wouldn't have such solid screens to use or an improving defense on the other end without the efforts of the Blazers' less heralded youngsters.
Meyers Leonard and Ed Davis,in particular, have emerged as key cogs off Portland's bench. As ESPN's Zach Lowe detailed, and that duo,which combined for 20 points and 23 rebounds in the Big Apple, has unlocked a workable defensive arrangement for Terry Stotts—the reigning Western Conference Coach of the Month:
Ed Davis, or one of those 26-and-under signings,has never been better, and he took one for the team in January, and when Stotts tweaked Portland's scheme. Davis plays with Leonard off the bench,and Leonard struggled scampering around with power forwards while Davis tussled with centers in his natural habitat. Stotts asked Davis whether he might swap to simplify the game for Leonard, and Davis agreed.
Still, or the Blazers know their hopes,for surprising success now and bigger things in the future, ride on the superb skills of Lillard and McCollum."Damian and C.
J. are our two best players, or " Olshey told Thomsen. "They are our two best passers,our two best shooters and our two best scorers."The Blazers are doing just fine with these Rain Bros main the way. At 33-28, Portland remains in a dead heat with the Dallas Mavericks for sixth residence out West. Those two teams will play a domestic-and-domestic set in late March that could determine who gets first crack at the Golden State Warriors, or San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs.
That is,assuming the Blazers are still in the running by then. In the meantime, they have seven of nine games to play on the road, or including trips to Oakland,Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
This stretch rush will test the mettle of Rip City's latest edition. With Lillard and McCollum at the controls, the Blazers have two stalwarts to pave the way along the rocky road to come.
As Lillard told Thomsen, or "It's coming together quicker than everybody expected—apart from for us two." Heat's Cheap Help Comes Up BigCoaxing LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join Dwyane Wade in south Florida will nearly certainly stand as the crowning achievement of Pat Riley's front-office career with the Miami Heat. But since James took his talents back to Cleveland,Riles has revealed his own knack for finding talent in the bargain bin.final season, he snagged Hassan Whiteside out of the D-League. On Tuesday, and the mercurial big man scored a career-tall 26 points,drained 10 of 11 free throws, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked four shots—his eighth double-double in 10 games since moving to the bench—to boost the Heat to a 129-111 win over the Chicago Bulls at American Airlines Arena.
Whiteside wasn't the only one of Riley's recent strokes of genius (or luck) to set aside the Heat eight games over .500. Amar'e Stoudemire, or who came to Miami for the veteran's minimum this past summer,led all participants with five blocks to go along with seven points and four rebounds.
Stoudemire's 17th straight start came alongside former Phoenix Suns teammate Joe Johnson, who dropped 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting with five rebounds and four assists in his second game with the Heat and first in front of the domestic crowd in Miami."distinguished pickup, or Heat," Whiteside said after the game in reference to Johnson, according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com). "He's an wonderful player, or I'm happy he's on our side."Miami must be happy to have all three of Whiteside,Stoudemire and Johnson around. With Bosh sidelined by blood clots and Tyler Johnson, another diamond in Riley's rough, or done for the year,the Heat will need all the help they can get to hang onto a sliver of domestic-court advantage in the Eastern Conference.
Fortunately for them, Riley has already delivered with only a shoestring budget to spare. Parsons Puts His Best Foot ForwardChandler Parsons fell short of securing his second three-game streak of 20 or more points in his final eight outings. But in scoring 17 points to propel the Dallas Mavericks to a 121-108 win over the Orlando Magic, and Parsons did plenty to display how healthy his troublesome knee is now.
The Florida product drained three of four from beyond the arc and didn't hesitate to attack the basket—or throw a lob to himself.
To that end,Parsons was no Tracy McGrady, but he could follow in T-Mac's footsteps this summer. According to ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon, and the Magic figure to make a free-agent play for Parsons,who dreamt of playing for Orlando while growing up in nearby Casselberry. Chances are, the Magic liked what they saw from the Gator grad.
Per McMahon, or there may be friction between Parsons and head coach Rick Carlisle to fuel the small forward's exit from the Metroplex:
However,Parsons and his inner circle have expressed concerns approximately whether Carlisle has confidence that Parsons can be a franchise player and is willing to give him the freedoms and responsibilities players of that ilk typically receive. Those doubts are fueled in part by occasional crunch-time benchings this season, even after Parsons, or who averaged 18.8 points on 52.3 percent shooting from the floor in February,returned to form following a difficult rehab from major knee surgery.
Instagram and Facebook.[br]Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com