DALLAS — When the Portland Trail Blazers were preparing to face the Dallas Mavericks last Friday, the scouting undoubtedly focused on limiting Harrison Barnes’ isolation chances, preventing Dirk Nowitzki from getting good position in the high post and locating Wesley Matthews on the three-point arc.
Rookie point guard Yogi Ferrell likely didn’t get nearly as much attention. But after tying a the rookie record by hitting 9-of-11 three-pointers at the Moda Center he certainly has the Blazers on alert ahead of Tuesday’s rematch in Dallas.
“I would say partly you gotta give him credit,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said after his team practiced at American Airlines Center on Monday. “He pulled up in transition and he made a tough shot in front our bench. So he was feeling it. But I do think we’ll probably be a little more alert to him.”
“It’s not going down the same way,” Lillard added.
The Blazers started the game going under pick and rolls against Ferrell, who was 12-for-41 (29.3 percent) from three-point range in 13 career games prior to the game in Portland. But after Ferrell made his first four shots, including three from beyond the arc, the Blazers switched up their defensive approach.
“Then it was like, ‘It don’t matter what the scouting report says now. He’s feeling confident, he’s feeling good,'” Lillard said.
Ferrell’s record-setting night helped him earn a contract extension. He came into game on day seven of a 10-day deal with Dallas and by Saturday afternoon he had agreed to a two-year contract. Both Stotts and Lillard said they were happy that a guy in Ferrell’s situation was able to make the most of his opportunity. However, they are focused on preventing a repeat performance.
“In a way, you’re happy for him and his success with the opportunity he was given,” Lillard said. “But you don’t want it to happen against your team. Obviously, we wanted that game and because of that kind of performance by him we didn’t get it. So we’re going to come in here with that on our minds.”
There’s much more at stake for the Blazers in Tuesday’s game than just preventing Ferrell from going off. The Mavericks have won two of three games against the Blazers this season and have closed the gap as both teams chase the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
“The obvious thing is that we’re down 1-2 in the season series,” Stotts said. “So, not only does it mean a game or two in the standings, it also doesn’t give them the tiebreak.”
The Blazers (22-30) trail the Denver Nuggets (23-28) by a game and for the No. 8 seed in the West. The Mavericks (20-31), who have won nine of their last 13 games, sit a game and a half behind of Portland. Sacramento (20-32), New Orleans (20-32) and even Minnesota (19-33) are also in the squarely in the race for the last postseason berth.
The Blazers have an edge in the season series over Denver, Sacramento and Minnesota and are tied with New Orleans. But a loss at Dallas would not only push them down in the standings, it would secure the season series and potentially important playoff tiebreaker for the Mavericks
“You wanna get that (tiebreaker),” Lillard said. “A lot of teams in the position that we’re in or that are in the race for the spot that we want … we have the tiebreaker over all of them right now except for this team. They got two on our home court. We got one on theirs. So we wanna come in here and take another one of their home court.”
Lillard probable
Damian Lillard sprained his right ankle late in Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and is officially listed as probable against the Mavericks.
He missed five games with a sprained left ankle earlier this season and said this injury did not approach that severity. Lillard did all the on-court work during Blazers practice on Monday and explained afterward that his right ankle was sore after the game Sunday and swelled up a bit on the brief flight from Oklahoma City to Dallas.
When pressed about his availability on Tuesday Lillard paused, smiled and said, “I’m pretty sure I’m playing.”
— Mike Richman
mrichman@oregonian.com
@mikegrich
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