The Portland Trail Blazers kept rolling Saturday, beating the Utah Jazz 112-90 to grab their fourth win in five games and open the first meeting of a four-game regular-season set between the two teams.
Portland had plenty of contributors in the blowout, with five players finishing in double figures. But even in a comfortable win, there were clear standouts and a couple of rough nights worth sorting through as the Blazers turn toward Monday’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets.
Deni Avdija kept his scoring surge going in a big way. He pushed his streak of 20-point games to four, finishing with 24 points, five rebounds and two assists while shooting 50 percent from the field and from 3-point range. It was the fourth straight game in which he led Portland in scoring, and the Blazers have continued to lean on him as their primary offensive option.
Toumani Camara also stayed hot from deep. Through Portland’s first five games, the fourth-year forward has hit 20 threes on 39 attempts, which leads the team, and his 51.3 percent mark from beyond the arc is also best on the roster.
Against Utah, he again led the Blazers with four 3-pointers, finishing with 14 points, four rebounds and two steals. The Dayton product has been one of the league’s better 3-and-D wings to start the season and looks to be building a strong breakout case.
On the other side of the ledger, the Blazers’ guard rotation is dealing with a major absence after Ja Morant suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday. He is expected to miss the next month, which opens the door for more work for players like Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday.
Holiday answered that opportunity well against Utah. Coming off the bench, he led Portland’s reserves with 14 points in 22 minutes and added four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. With Morant out, Holiday is set for a much bigger role, and Saturday gave the Blazers a strong early look at what that stretch could bring.
Donovan Clingan, meanwhile, couldn’t build on his strong five-block performance against Memphis. He ran into foul trouble early and had a quiet night offensively, finishing with four points, nine rebounds and five fouls in 15 minutes. Robert Williams III and Yang Hansen both outplayed him in the frontcourt rotation.
Vit Krejci also had a mixed night off the bench. He logged a season-high 24 minutes but continued to struggle with his shot, going 33.3 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range. He ended with five points and four rebounds, and his season numbers remain shaky at 21.4 percent shooting from the field in 11.4 minutes per game.
In Other News...
Blazers Win Offered A Telling Early Look At Portlands Rotation
The Blazers 112-90 win over the Jazz offered an early glimpse at how Portland wants to sort through its rotation, and it came with a few useful clues. With the road start now 3-0 and the team sitting at 4-1 overall, the night had the feel of more than just another early-season victory, especially with Scoot Henderson getting the start in place of injured star guard Ja Morant and logging the most minutes on the roster.
Henderson finished with 14 points and three steals, while Deni Avdija again looked like one of Portlands most reliable pieces by leading all players with 24 points and a plus-minus of plus-32. Jakub Krejci also showed some improvement after a slow start to the season, giving the Blazers a little more to think about as the rotation takes shape and the early schedule keeps testing how deep this group can go. [Read more 🡒]
Ja Morant Injury Puts Blazers Early Momentum On Edge
Ja Morants early run with the Trail Blazers had given Portland a jolt of playmaking and pace, and now the team has to adjust after he suffered a left hamstring injury in a recent game. The setback comes after Morant averaged 16.3 points and 6.3 assists in his first three games, a promising start that hinted at how quickly he could settle into the rotation and change the look of the offense.
For now, Scoot Henderson has moved into the starting lineup in Morants place, while the ripple effect has reached other parts of the roster as well. Deni Avdija and Vit Krejci have both seen their roles shift with Morant sidelined, and Portland will have to navigate the next stretch without the guard it had just started to build around until he is reevaluated four weeks from now. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Suddenly Look Like A Much More Dangerous West Team
After the Damian Lillard trade sent Portland into a reset, the Trail Blazers rebuilt around a blend of young players and veterans and found their way back to the playoffs last season. Now the early returns suggest this group is no longer just trying to get back on track. With Lillard rejoining the team in 2025 while recovering from an injury and Ja Morant in the mix, Portland has looked far more balanced under head coach Micah Nori, especially on the offensive end.
The encouraging part for the Blazers is that the progress does not seem to be coming at the expense of what already made them tough to play against. Their offense has shown real improvement from the issues that held them back before, while the defense has stayed strong enough to keep them in the conversation in a crowded Western Conference. For a team that spent the last year proving it could survive a major roster shakeup, the next question is whether this version can turn early momentum into something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]