Only one game stands between the Portland Trail Blazers and a much needed nine-day All-Star break.
They said their focus is on Wednesday’s matchup against the lowly Los Angeles Lakers. But it was also hard not to see the spectacle unfolding at Tuesday’s practice as Wesley Matthews prepared for the All-Star 3-point shootout.
Assistant coach Jay Triano held a dust mop high in the air as if to mimic a television microphone. Fellow assistant coach Nate Tibbetts followed Matthews acting as an official to make sure Matthews was behind the line.
Even LaMarcus Aldridge looked to be a part of the rehearsal, sitting courtside as he likely will be on Saturday in Brooklyn.
Matthews leads the NBA in 3-pointers, but still hasn’t broken character.
“I’m always the underdog,” he said. “I’m never not the underdog.”
Perhaps nobody on the team needs the extended All-Star break than Matthews’ running mate on the wing, Nicolas Batum.
Batum, who played major minutes for France in the FIBA World Championships and has been playing with an injured wrist, thinks it is the most important break of his career.
“I needed this break after the summer that I had this year,” Batum said. “I really need to just get some rest and just go away from everything and go back and be ready for the rest of this year.”
Batum hit a huge step-back 3-pointer Sunday against Houston to give Portland breathing room late when the Rockets were charging. Batum feels as though he is in his own head too much, but he was not with the clock running down Sunday.
“The last shot I made in Houston, I don’t really think about it,” he said. “That’s the way I’ve got to be every time.”
Meanwhile, Damian Lillard’s perimeter jump shot came back into form.
Over the weekend, Lillard tied a career high in steals against the Mavericks. He also tied a career high with two blocks Saturday and got a pair of swipes in Houston.
The Blazers run a conservative, low-risk defensive scheme and are in the bottom three in the league in opponents turnover percentage.
Within the scheme, Lillard started to see places where he could poach to give their defense more of an edge.
“I just been trying to keep getting better defensively,” Lillard said. “Watching film, it’s a lot of situations where guys are making passes out of pick and rolls and I could easily get a hand on them. But I haven’t been active enough with my hands.”
Overall, Lillard is getting more than 1.5 steals a game this season, the highest mark of his career.
“I like being aggressive, but not at the expense of giving up anything,” Stotts said. “I think you have to be smart — pick your spots. And as much as we can touch the ball, harass the ball, bother the ball, I think that’s a benefit to the defensive end.”
It also helps the Blazers to have their rim protector back in Robin Lopez.
“I think having RoLo back makes it more comfortable to gamble a little bit more,” Lillard said.
The Blazers will be without backup center Chris Kaman as he has been ruled out with a right ankle sprain. That likely means more minutes for Meyers Leonard, who played 23 minutes in the last game Kaman missed on Feb. 5.
Leonard has played in 17 consecutive games.
