";s:4:"text";s:5178:" Even Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young was impressed.Down the stretch with the Blazers trying to make the comeback, it was Camerlo Anthony aka Skinny Melo aka CLUTCH Skinny Melo that gave Portland a late lead from the right wing.Also, who could forget Damian Lillard, who finished with 29 points, nine assists, and five rebounds, including a drive to the rim that iced the game in overtime.He also committed murder on former teammate Anthony Tolliver by making him fall over.Somebody go check on Anthony Tolliver Damian Lillard just took this mans anklesAlso, Gary Trent Jr. showed why he deserves more minutes for Portland, shooting 5-8 from three en route to 17 points.
Saturday will be the first day to hit the ground running both figuratively and literally. And the pressure is going to continue. “I think the league did a really good job of using these two weeks from a COVID standpoint and testing, and then having the three weeks of practice to get ready for a game,” Stotts said. Damian Lillard played 45 minutes and scored 29 points and McCollum played 46 to get his 33 points.Lillard was stretching his legs on the sidelines frequently and was fighting off pain most of the game.“At the beginning of every season, I always have a little bit of issues and soreness with not my groin, but right above it, where the muscle that attaches my pelvic bone to my abs,” Lillard said. Trail Blazers take a knee in solidarity prior to tipoff against Memphis.Awesome moment to see our beloved Trailblazers kneel in unity. So, I think we have to kind of wait and see.”One of the many concerns of returning to play has been that players haven't played a competitive game since March.To combat that issue during the three-week training camp, each team will participate in inter-squad scrimmages from July 22-28, ahead of the NBA's resumption on July 30.The scrimmages will have the look and feel of a typical NBA game. Oh, and he also played some great defense on Memphis including rookie of the year favorite Ja Morant when Trent Jr. sent his shot out of bounds late in overtime.After today’s game, Gary Trent Jr> your favorite player But, Trent Jr. was called for a technical foul for taunting after the play, which upset many online who felt it was a soft call.JA MORANT DON'T WANT THAT SMOKE FROM GARY TRENT JR The Trail Blazers will now turn their attention to Sunday, August 2 when they'll play the Boston Celtics at 12:30 p.m. PT here on NBC Sports Northwest.While all of Rip City was anxiously awaiting the return of Jusuf Nurkic in the NBA's restart in Orlando, it almost didn't happen.Following the Trail Blazers' thrilling 140-135 victory, Nurk, who got the start and finished the game with 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists, six blocks and two steals before fouling out, revealed that he almost didn't return to the team because his grandmother, Hana, had contracted COVID-19 last Friday. It isn’t surprising that Stotts shrunk his playing rotation down, but it was a clear admission of how important this game was to Portland. But if the chaos and emotion on the court didn’t make this feel like a postseason showdown, Stotts’ shortened postseason-esque rotation gave it a true playoff feel. Portland finished the game with 27 assists as a team. I said, if you don't go, I'm coming. That will likely shorten the amount of time he will spend in quarantine.And there are going to be more than a few NBA people very interested to see how Williamson's return process works — because similar ones await other players as well.Two people with knowledge of the situations said Friday that both Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers and Austin Rivers of the Houston Rockets have added themselves to the list of players who have left the NBA campus at Walt Disney World to tend to family issues. After more than four months with no NBA basketball, the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies tipped off their first seeding game of the NBA's resumption. The Kings believe Barnes could be ready when the seeding games, or resumption of the 2019-20 season, starts next week.“As long as his baseline is at a certain level, I think he’ll have enough time to be ready for that first game,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. No one really notices it.”Not all bubble departures are for personal reasons. Portland must pass Memphis or be within four games back of the eighth seed at the conclusion of the eight seeding games in order to force one or two play-in games, which will decide the eighth and final seed out West. The Washington Post's Top 100 of 2020 list projects the premier NBA talents over the course of the in-progress 2019-20 season. Besides English, players opted to wear it in their native Italian, French, Bosnian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, German, Spanish and Latvian.