Everyone has heard of Dirk Nowitzki.  When the Blazers get beat by him, well, you are beat by someone worthy.

Yogi Ferrell

But the Blazers are getting beat by Yogi Ferrell. 

You never heard of Yogi Ferrell?  No surprise.  He is a pickup guy, never drafted, on a ten day contract.  Really.   And he has 22 points, he has shot 6 out of 7 from the 3-point line, and it is only the first half while I write this.

Who is that guy?   He is the guy on the left with his feet about 3 feet off the floor.  Who is that guy in white, the guy too far away from him to guard him, the guy failing to get a hand in the face of a guy on a hot shooting streak?   

That's our C. J. McCullum, the one who doesn't "do defense", rather in the way that some people who do "light housekeeping" say that "don't do windows."  

Is there any hope for Portland?  Yes, Mason Plumlee.   

He is tall, good looking, gets assists, and he is willing to play defense.  He would get a Nike contract if he made points rather than assists, but assists win games and so does good aggressive defense.  It is Plumlee's loss and Portland's gain.  (Of course, this is on the assumption that Portland isn't secretly fighting for a great lottery pick, by losing and being sneaky about it.)

Cheer Up, Mason.  You are an asset.

Tonight Plumlee's defensive work is of little avail because Ferrell is on a streak.  I just now watched Plumlee up close, hand in Ferrell's face, finally doing what defenders are supposed to do.   He was hustling.  He was working to stay close.  But it didn't do any good.  Ferrell stepped back and then shot a three pointer with a high, high arc and it went right over the hands of Plumlee.  Nothing but net.

Damian Lillard Won't Play Defense

Either learn there are two ends of the court or the Blazers should trade you to some unlucky team for someone who does.

Over-rated

This is not rocket science.  The net value of a player is not how much offense he does.  The net value is how much offense minus how much he confounds the other team's offense.  That is why statisticians keep track of the plus/minus.  They look at how well the other team does when you are not on the floor.

Damian Lillard is not a big asset to the team, but he has great trade value.   There are almost certainly teams out there who want a showboater and don't care if they actually win games.  The Blazers should trade Lillard to that team, now, when he has great trade value.

Blazers win in overtime: Blazers 127-Celtics 123

The Blazers Won narrowly and they should have won big.

Blazers get lucky.  Or maybe not.  Perhaps the management's real goal is for them to lose big this season, in which case they were unlucky and only the fans were lucky.

Once again the Portland Trail Blazers counted on big offense and completely forgot about defense.  CJ McCullum and Damian Lillard combined for 67 points, but what the Blazer management doesn't seem to understand is that that does not matter.

Leonard Up and Over for Two

They let Isaiah Thomas score 47 points all by himself.  That is defense malpractice.  He shot 50% from inside the arc which shows how easily he penetrated and got open.  Fortunately for the Blazers Thomas only hit 4 of 11 or 36% from the 3 point line or else they would have lost this game as well, which is basically what the Blazers are up to this year.  I will go ahead and say it.  I think they are tanking on purpose, apparently trying to get a great draft pick.  They now have a 19 Win-27 Loss season, 9th in the Western Conference and out of playoff range.

Meyers Leonard is tall enough to defend--but it isn't a priority for him either and last night's score of 17 points does not compensate for his inability to block shots or harass the Celtic post-up game.   I put a picture of  Leonard here so Blazer fans can see the 2 seconds of glory in 24 minutes of play.  He has one talent that needs to be acknowledged for last night: he was 4 for 4 from the 3 point line, a lucky streak, way above his normal skill level.  Still, that was an extra 9 points over his average at the 3 point line, so I give him credit for that.