Those who have spent a lot of time watching the NBA over the years know that if you make the league, you can play. You might not be better than the players in front of you, and thus, might get few opportunities to show what you can do, but if you made it even that far, you can play.
The Trail Blazers proved that adage Thursday night in Philadelphia.
Despite missing four-fifths of their starting lineup from Opening Night and having just nine players in uniform, the Trail Blazers blew out the 76ers, the top team in the Eastern Conference, 121-105 Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
“Happy for a lot of people,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “This is Robert Covington’s first win in Philly since he’s been back here. CJ Elleby had a great game for a rookie, he hasn’t had much chance to play. Rodney (Hood) did a really good job at point, a position he doesn’t play very much. I thought Enes (Kanter) really battled Embiid, particularly in the second half. You go up and down the line, there were contributions from everybody.”
The Trail Blazers are now 12-9 overall and 7-4 on the road this season.
While the 76ers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back and were without Ben Simmons, who sat out Thursday’s game with left calf tightness, the conventional wisdom was that they still had more than enough talent to easy dispatch a Trail Blazers team playing without the likes of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Derrick Jones Jr.
But it became evident in the early going that the Trail Blazers who were able to play Thursday night were up for the challenge.
“I wish everyone was healthy,” said Enes Kanter, “but if someone is down, other guys is ready to step up and play big.”
After playing to a draw in the first half, in and of itself an accomplishment against a Sixers team that had lost at home just once going into Thursday’s contest, the Trail Blazers blew the doors off of Philadelphia at the start of the third quarter.
Behind a total team effort, Portland started the second half by going on a 12-0, which would lay the groundwork for a 20-4 run that turned a tie game into a 77-61 advantage for the road team.
“We just came to play,” said Trent Jr. “We all know that they came off a back-to-back last night, so we was ready to come out, play hard, play strong and whatever the outcome was, the outcome was going to be.”
The lead would swell to as many as 22 points in the third quarter, and unlike at other times through the first 20 games of the season, the Trail Blazers never allowed their opponent to get back into the game.
Rookie CJ Elleby scored seven points and was a menace on defense, Carmelo Anthony continued to make hay in the midrange and Enes Kanter made Embiid’s life difficult enough that Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers would eventually wave the white flag with over six minutes left to play.
“I don’t think it’s unusual that when a player like Dame is out that everybody knows that everybody has a little big more responsibility,” said Stotts. “I think it does change the chemistry of the game. I’ve seen it before, when a player like that is out and we’ve lost games against teams that have been shorthanded. It happens, it can happen and I’m glad it happened for us.”
Six Trail Blazers finished in double figures Thursday night led by 24 points from Trent Jr, who also contributed three rebounds, three assists and a block in 38 minutes.
Anthony went 8-of-14 from the field and 3-of-4 from three for 22 points to go with five assists, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 31 minutes. Kanter had yet another double-double, going 7-of-14 from the field for 17 points while grabbing 18 rebounds in 33 minutes.
Hood, who handled point guard duties for much of the night, followed up his solid game in Washington with another gem, going 7-of-14 from the field for 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 34 minutes. Anfernee Simons, who was on a minutes restriction due to a nagging hamstring injury, went 4-of-9 from the field for 14 points in just under 19 minutes.
But the biggest surprised of the night was Elleby, who entered Thursday’s game having played 45 minutes, total, thus far in his professional career. But the 6-6 forward out of Washington State looked like he belonged over the course of 31 minutes versus the 76ers, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, seven rebounds, two blocks a steal and an assist in 31 minutes.
“I felt pretty comfortable all game,” said Elleby, who said he sat in the cold tub and watched anime at the hotel to clear his mind prior to Thursday’s game. “It’s just a credit to our defense. We got our energy from defense so I felt like offense just came. We always can score, I think once we focused on defense, that side kind of took care of itself.”
Embiid led all scorers with 37 points, though 31 of those game in the first half. Tyrese Maxey came off the bench to add 15 points, Furkan Korkmaz had 13 and Tobias Harris finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Next up, the Trail Blazers wrap up a six-game trip in the Big Apple with an early Saturday tipoff versus the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is scheduled for 10 a.m.