If the first NBA game you ever saw was Tuesday night’s matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks, you might have noticed a couple things. The sport is fast-paced. Long shots are common. And watching salted slugs drag a cement mixer through a marathon course would have been more entertaining. The two teams played closer to Summer League level than playoffs-ready. That wasn’t necessarily bad for Portland. An old truism still prevails: if you don’t take the Blazers seriously, they’ll bite you. They did, posting a 127-113 drubbing on their hosts.
Here are some of the factors that helped determine the outcome.