The debut of the Trail Blazers’ new center tandem Thursday night in Brooklyn likely launched some big dreams. And while it’s typically imprudent to overreact to one game, there’s nothing wrong with getting excited about the prospect of Jusuf Nurkić and Enes Kanter bullying their way around the court in the final two months of the NBA regular season, and perhaps even a bit longer after that.
So go ahead and indulge your basketball fantasies a bit, because the way Nurkić and Kanter punished smaller defenders in the post and handled the offensive glass in a 113-99 victory versus the Nets, it’s easy to get carried away about what the two burly internationals can do in a league where “traditional” centers are going the way of Chuck Taylors and peach baskets.
“Obviously our two big guys really dominated inside,” said Terry Stotts. “That was an important part of our offense.”
Going up against Jarrett Allen and Ed Davis, both lengthy, lithe defenders, Nurkić and Kanter simply proved too big, too strong to be contained. When it was over, Nurkić had a season-high 27 points to go with 12 rebounds and three blocks. The ease with which he scored early in the game forced the Nets to send double teams intermittently and he was was the prime reason Allen, considered one of the best young shot blockers in the league in his second season out of Texas, was limited due to foul trouble before eventually fouling out in under 23 minutes.
“Nurk was great, he changed the game,” said CJ McCollum, who went 9-of-19 from the field for 21 points in the victory. “Made them have to really, really double down in the paint. He attracted a lot of attention, finished strong, was efficient. He helped us a lot.”
Then there was Kanter, who, despite retaining few plays, if any, from his first practice with the team the day prior, made his first six attempts to finish with 18 points and nine rebounds, with five of those rebounds coming on the offensive side of the ball. Like Nurkić, Kanter made life difficult for Davis, who Trail Blazers fans are well familiar with after he spent the last three seasons in Portland. Davis held his own statistically, going for 15 points and 10 rebounds, though he also collected five fouls in 23 minutes, a product of having the unenviable task of trying to corral a motivated Kanter.
"(Kanter) was tremendous, definitely," said Nurkić. "To be able to score the ball in the second unit and play with Dame some minutes, so I think for us going forward, to play that way, it’s going to be huge."
While both Nurkić and Kanter put on impressive individual performances in Brooklyn -- at no time were they on the court at the same time during Thursday's win -- it's the notion of what they can do together as a center rotation that might have some in Rip City recalibrating their expectations for the remainder of the season.
"It’s not a break for other teams," said Damian Lillard. "You come out with Nurk, who’s huge, he’s banging guys down low, getting the ball in the paint. And then when he’s out of the game, you come in with Enes and he’s the same. Strong, he banging, he’s in there making those guys work, so they’ve got their work cut out in the paint."
Between a trend toward "positionless basketball," which tends to value sacrificing size for versatility, and an emphasis valuing the perimeter more than the post, the formation of a Nurkić/Kanter center combo is a sizable zig to the larger NBA's zag.
"I think we can use that," said Kanter. "Obviously (Nurkić) is one of the toughest big men in the league. He uses his body, he kinds of plays like I do, physical game, rebounding, post ups, face up shots. I think it’s just going to get better from now."
Of course, every night won't go as well as Thursday's for Nurkić and Kanter. Teams that have bigs with range out to the three-point line will make things difficult defensively, double teams, which are generally easier to employ than counter, will have to be contended with and opponents will be better prepared to contend with Kanter as a Blazer once the scouts get a few games worth of film to analyze.
"They can’t go smaller," said Nurkić. "Obviously they gonna try it and if they make shots it’s going to be good for them but if they don’t, somebody need to guard two big fellas out there."
And there aren't many fellas out there bigger than Nurkić and Kanter. So if the standard going forward is anywhere close to what was on display versus the Nets, some of those big dreams that might have crept their way in Thursday night just might come to fruition.