ORLANDO -- The Trail Blazers didn’t have to wait long for their newest acquisition to make an impact.
Norman Powell, who Portland acquired from Toronto in the final hours before Thursday’s trade deadline, put up 22 points in his debut to help the Trail Blazers defeat the Magic 112-105 Friday night at the Amway Center in Orlando.
“To be honest, it’s what I expected,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “(Powell) know how to play the game, he plays the way we play, he moves well without the ball, he shoots threes, he defends, he’s in shape. I wouldn’t have said he’s going to score 22, but I had a good feeling that he would play well for us.”
The Trail Blazers are now 27-18 overall and 13-9 on the road this season. Portland has now won the first two games of a four-game road trip and remain tied with the Denver Nuggets for fifth in the Western Conference.
With Damiana Lillard sitting out Friday’s game with a left knee contusion -- not to mention a few other minor injuries -- Powell got the start in his first game as a Trail Blazer. He scored Portland’s first field goal in Friday’s game, then their first three-pointer, and would go on to score eight points in the first quarter in his first minutes played for a team other than the Raptors in his professional career.
“It felt good,” said Powell. “Let the game come to me, try to play off of the other guys, ask as many questions as I can, different plays and different coverages. I was definitely nervous a little bit during my warmup, felt like the eyes were on me watching me warm up in my shooting time. I just told myself once the ball goes up, it’s just basketball.”
Behind the play of Powell, CJ McCollum and Anfernee Simons, the Trail Blazers outscored a severely shorthanded Magic squad -- they had just eight players in uniform due to trades and injuries -- by 10 in the first half to take a 65-55 lead into the intermission.
Portland struggled in the third quarter, scoring just 15 points on 6-of-23 shooting, a number that would have been worse without Powell, who, along with Jusuf Nurkic, were the only Portland players to managed to score more than two points in the quarter.
Luckily the Magic weren’t a whole lot better, shooting just 39 percent of the field, though it was enough to cut the Trail Blazers advantage to three by the start of the fourth quarter.
While it didn’t ever really feel like the Blazers were going to lose Friday’s game, when the Magic tied the game at 94-94 with just over six minutes to play, there was obviously cause for concern. But after Powell helped carry the offense in the first half, his impact in the fourth came on the defensive end with two steals, both of which Portland would convert into points.
As for the offense, Robert Covington came up in the fourth, scoring 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three and 2-of-2 shooting from the free throw line. Enes Kanter, who resumed his role coming off the bench with Jusuf Nurkic rejoining the lineup for the first time since mid-January, contributed six points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting and McCollum went 3-of-6 for seven points in the fourth.
In the end, Portland did just enough to pull out the win on the second night of a back-to-back. It won’t go down as one of their better wins of the season, but with Powell’s performance, it did qualify as one of the best Trail Blazers debuts in recent memory.
“The way the offense is set up, the way they move the ball and play off one another, it felt really easy to get into a flow,” said Powell. “I think I fit perfectly with what they’re doing. Definitely like the toughness of the team and how together they are, talking to one another in the timeouts and every possession. It fits me perfectly, so I’m excited.”
Powell shot 7-of-13 for the game to finish with 22 points while also tallying two rebounds, two steals a block and an assist in 35 minutes. McCollum also finished with 22 points, albeit on 8-of-26 shooting, to go with seven assists, five rebounds and a block in 36 minutes.
Simons finished with 15 points off the bench and Kanter put up a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds to go with two blocks in 29 minutes. Covington also added 15 points while also filling up the stat sheet with eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks and a steal in 30 minutes.
Nurkic, who was limited to 18 minutes in his first game back from a broken right wrist, went 3-of-6 for eight points, eight rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
“I always feel great with a win,” said Nurkic. “My wind was great, the restriction was 20 minutes and we almost got there. I know Dame was out and I was trying to get Norm going, just have guys get going, try to set screens, make right plays... It’s all good, I felt great out there.”
Seven of the Orlando players who played Friday finished in double figures led by 22 points from Chuma Okeke. James Ennis III finished with 18 and Khem Birch added 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Next up, the Trail Blazers have Saturday off before facing Powell’s former team, the Toronto/Tampa Raptors, a roster that now includes Rodney Hood and Gary Trent Jr. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.