Portland Trail Blazers: 3 reasons the season is over

3. The Blazers underperformed on both ends of the floor

In the first round against the Pelicans, the Blazers looked and played like a completely different team than they had all season. Their offense seemed out of sorts and very stagnant. Their defense couldn’t get stops and struggled to guard the Pelicans all over the court.

Stats for the series for the Blazers (per NBA.com):

• Damian Lillard averaged 18.4 points, 4.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 40.6 minutes per game while shooting 35.2 percent from the field and 30 percent from the 3-point line.
• C.J. McCollum averaged 25.3 points, 3.5 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 38.9 minutes per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 42.5 percent from the 3-point line.
• Al-Farouq Aminu averaged 17.3 points. 9.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals 32.7 minutes per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from the 3-point line.
• Evan Turner averaged 9.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 32.7 minutes per game while shooting 36.4 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from the 3-point line.
• Maurice Harkless (in two games) averaged 8.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 26.6 minutes per game while shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line.
•  Jusuf Nurkic averaged 11.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 assists in 23.4 minutes per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the field.
• Ed Davis averaged 8.0 rebounds and 2.8 points in 17.7 minutes per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.
• Zach Collins averaged 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 17.4 minutes per game while shooting 36.7 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from the 3-point line.
• Pat Connaughton averaged 4.0 points, 1.5 assists and 1.0 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game while shooting 40 percent from the field and 20 percent from the 3-point line.

The Blazers’ big four of Lillard, McCollum, Aminu, and Nurkic averaged 72.8 points, 23.5 rebounds, 10.6 assists, 4.9 steals, 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line.

On the offensive end, the Blazers struggled to hit shots or even get open shots. The Pelicans’ game plan was to make anybody else besides Damian Lillard, and C.J. McCollum beat them, and it worked. The other Blazers seemed to struggle when Lillard and McCollum were forced to give the ball up. They attempted to go one-on-one to score, but every shot they took seemed to be a tough one. There was a lot of ball watching, standing around and isolation basketball from the Blazers.

Rip City had never experienced both Lillard and McCollum so taken out of a game before. They would get their shots to fall eventually, but it was usually too late when the Pelicans had the game under control.

They needed to move the ball around and run their offense. The Blazers averaged 19 assists and 14.5 turnovers per game in the playoffs. They shot 45.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line per game, settling for contested jumpers instead of getting to the rim.

Jusuf Nurkic never established a rhythm on the offensive end and was almost a non-factor. He averaged 11.8 points, 8.0 rebounds while shooting 48.8 percent from the field on 9.8 shot attempts per game.

On the defensive end, the Blazers could not stop the Pelicans and pretty much let them do whatever they wanted. The Pelicans got to the basket for layups or lobs. They also were hot shooting the entire series. They shot 52.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line per game.

The Pelicans pushed the pace the whole series and continued to score in translation. The Blazers seemed slow to get back and defend them on the fast break.

Portland was steady all season protecting the rim, but appeared helpless against Davis, Holiday and Rajon Rondo. The Pelicans averaged 114.5 points and 26.5 assists per game for the series. They moved the ball around and made the Blazers run around and waste energy trying to catch up to their guy. Portland had a top-10 defense this season but got exposed in this matchup with the Pelicans.