The Portland Trail Blazers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans in heartbreaking fashion, 105-103. Although they fell short, there were many more reasons for optimism in the future compared to their blowout loss to the Warriors to open the season.
We wanted to do a “studs and duds” article for their first game, but zero players played well, even according to Chauncey Billups. That wasn’t the case in this extremely close game that the Blazers certainly could have won, leading 84-75 entering the fourth quarter.
Dud No. 1: Anfernee Simons
In the Blazers’ first loss to the Warriors, it was easy to point the finger at every player. However, in a close loss of this nature, it becomes clearer to narrow down a handful of players and moments that played a significant role in the loss, including Anfernee Simons.
To Simons’ credit, he finished the matchup with 24 points and seven assists, contributing to over half of Portland’s free throw attempts by going 10-11 from the charity stripe. But for the Blazers to come away with the victory, Simons must be more clutch and cognizant of the importance of possessions and high percentage looks towards the end…