The Portland Trail Blazers beat the woefully shorthanded Orland Magic 112-105 Friday. Anything short would have been a disaster, with Orlando suiting up everyone but the coaching and arena staff after shipping off essentially the upper-third of its roster yesterday at the trade deadline. Jusuf Nurkic made his long-awaited return. Robert Covington was great. So was Enes Kanter, returning to his bench role. But that’s not what we’re here for today. Like a child receiving a forgotten Christmas gift in July, all eyes were fixated on the Blazers’ shiny new sharpshooting wing toy.
Despite no practice time with the team, Norman Powell, who was just a freeway commute away from where his former team was relocated to in Tampa, made the trek and slotted right into the starting lineup in place of Damian Lillard, who missed the game due to a “left knee contusion,” which hopefully reads closer to “well deserved rest against a downtrodden opponent.