Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Pelicans

1. The Blazers need to get Jusuf Nurkic more shots

Jusuf Nurkic finished the game Saturday night scoring 11 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking two shots. He only finished the game with seven shot attempts, and on a night where Rip City couldn’t buy a basket from deep, he should have gotten more looks.

If Nurkic is involved early in the offense, it opens up the Blazers’ offense a lot more. Once Nurkic scores a couple of easy baskets, the defense will have to send help his way, and that’s when everyone else sees better looks. In Game 1, instead of being aggressive getting to the hoop and drawing double-teams, he was looking to pass out of the post as soon as he got the ball.

Nurkic is dominant in the pick-and-roll, but against Anthony Davis, he is no match athletically. Davis was able to bother Nurkic with his length and quickness when he was trying to score off a roll. Instead of pick-and-rolls next game, the Blazers need to go to him in the post more. Let him back down his defender and use his strength to get to the hoop.

The Pelicans don’t have anyone on their team to match up with Nurkic and his 280-pound frame. In Game 2, the Blazers need to go to him and look to get him one-on-one matchups. He isn’t going to make every shot, but he’s going to wear out their big guys out and may even get a couple of them in foul trouble. When Nurkic gets it going, he demands double-teams.

Nurkic is capable of taking over a game on the offensive end and is hard to stop when he gets hot.

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The Blazers know the Pelicans are going to try and take away Lillard and McCollum, so hopefully in Game 2 we see a healthy dose of Nurkic, somewhere in the range of 12-15 shots.