Trail Blazers coach Micah Nori may come across as easygoing, but Portland’s early surge has been built on a demanding edge that his players are already feeling.
The Blazers are 6-1 and have started 5-0 on the road, but Nori still found room for frustration in Wednesday’s win in Phoenix. In the fourth quarter, with Portland ahead by 19, Sidy Cissoko went under a screen on Miles Bridges when he was supposed to go over and stay attached. Bridges buried the three, and Nori immediately called timeout.
“ That’s Micah, right there,” Cissoko said with a smile after the game. “ He mentions that we have to practice us first … we have to set the standard every night.
And I mean, he was right. We gotta do our job.”
Deni Avdija said the same attention to detail has been a defining part of the coach’s message.
“ The will to be great is very important, especially for our coach,” Avdija said. “ Just being focused on the little details, making sure we are doing (them) … because at the end of the day, the great teams do the little details very, very good. And he puts a lot of emphasis on it, and I think that’s a big step for us.”
Avdija also opened up about a summer phone call with Nori that helped ease some of his questions about how the offense would work after Portland traded for Ja Morant and with Damian Lillard set to return from an Achilles tear.
“ I wasn’t thinking negatively,” Avdija said. “ But having two dominant guards join the team who are All-Star caliber … it raises some questions.”
According to Quick, Nori told Avdija that Morant was a “pass-first point guard” and that the attention Lillard would draw would open driving lanes for Avdija. Nori also laid out a plan to use Avdija more in secondary actions rather than having him handle the ball so often, a move designed to trim turnovers and boost his efficiency. Avdija said the conversation left him feeling “reassured” and “valued,” and the early results have backed that up.
Utah, meanwhile, is still searching for traction. After spending the last four years rebuilding, the Jazz wanted a better start than 1-7, and Wednesday’s loss in New Orleans only added to the rough opening. Will Hardy isn’t backing away from the belief that the group can turn things around, but he made clear the margin for error is thin.
“ Understanding who we’re playing and what each game presents, ” Hardy said Monday. “ There’s execution that’s needed, and sometimes that means doing boring things over and over again in order to generate good shots.
You know, we can’t get tired of doing the simple things. I believe so much in our team and in our program.
I know the work that’s going into it. I see things translating onto the court that have been worked on a ton in practice, and we have to be able to sustain that execution for 48 minutes.”
In Oklahoma City, the Thunder are trying to keep adjusting on the fly as injuries force younger players into bigger roles. After Wednesday’s game against Cleveland, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said the group is still learning how to fit together, but the progress is showing.
“ It’s a certain style offensively that’s had to change a little bit, different plays,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “ And then defensively, I think guys are figuring out rotations and spots to be in and also just playing off each other’s personnel on both ends of the floor. Those types of things only come with repetition and experiences, and it feels like we’re getting better with that.”
The Thunder have won two straight after dropping two in a row.
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