Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts praised Damian Lillard, as expected, after Wednesday’s game against the Houston Rockets. Lillard, who is arguably playing the best basketball of his career right now, had just recorded his first triple-double to lead his team to a big win at home.
But after he finished speaking about Lillard’s performance, Stotts spent the rest of his news conference talking about another player: Trevor Ariza.
“Trevor’s been in the league a long time," Stotts said. "He knows his niche, he knows how to play, he makes open shots, he defends, he gets out in transition, he finishes when he has opportunities around the basket. He just knows his role and he knows how to do it well.”
The Blazers, who currently sit in 10th place in the Western Conference, have struggled this season as they’ve dealt with an onslaught of injuries and inconsistency on defense. But there’s been a marked improvement in the team’s performance over the last few weeks. Lillard deserves a lot of credit for the recent uptick. He was named the Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 52.7 points over a three-game stretch, and he has scored 30-plus points in seven of the last eight games, leading the Blazers to a 5-3 record over that span.
But Ariza’s part in helping the Blazers start to turn a corner shouldn’t be discounted.
Ariza, who joined the Blazers from Sacramento following a trade last week, has averaged 16.3 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 59.4 percent from the field in three games with the Blazers. Along with spacing the floor and giving the team another option on offense, Ariza has provided size and consistency on defense, plus veteran leadership.
“These guys here have a very high IQ and are very talented,” Ariza said of his new teammates. “All I have to do is catch the ball and shoot it or get the ball and put it in the basket or rebound and make simple plays.”
Over his 16 seasons in the NBA, Ariza has carved out a nice role for himself as a versatile starter and consistent 3-and-D player. But when he signed with Sacramento this offseason, the 34-year-old knew that he would be asked to play a somewhat different role. The Kings hoped that Ariza could be a mentor to their younger players, while giving the team a consistent option off the bench. It didn’t work out.
“That was the role that was asked of me,” Ariza said. “I tried to do it to the best of my ability, and it didn’t work for me or for that organization. I ended up here and things are working good so far. Hopefully, we continue to improve and get better."
Ariza failed to find a rhythm coming off the bench in Sacramento and was struggling through a difficult season with the Kings before the Blazers dealt Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver and two second-round picks to Sacramento last week in exchange for Ariza, Caleb Swanigan and Wenyen Gabriel.
The trade saved the Blazers $12.3 million and cut their luxury tax bill in half, which prompted many analysts to suggest that the move was made primarily for financial reasons. Before the trade, Ariza had averaged 6.0 points per game while shooting just 38.8 percent from the field in 32 appearances off the bench for the Kings.
But Ariza has made an immediate impact in Portland.
While Lillard’s triple-double Wednesday made headlines, Ariza’s outing was also crucial to the Blazers securing a win. He scored 21 points and put in a strong defensive performance to help the Blazers hold James Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, to 18 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“He’s huge,” Lillard said. "He’s been — since he’s been here, from the get-go — he’s been impacting our team defensively, from an experience standpoint, just being a vet and understanding and being able to change the game on the defensive end. The way he runs the floor, the way he screens, his understanding of spacing in situations on offense — it’s really helped us. It’s made a difference in our team so far.”
-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg
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