The Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls played a feisty game on Saturday night, throwing haymakers at each other like heavyweight brawlers in a sweltering gym. Damian Lillard and Zach LaVine showed why they’re two of the best scorers in the entire NBA. Portland countered Chicago’s size advantage with quickness darting down the lane and shooting prowess.
But the Blazers faced a constant problem, unable to deal with Chicago’s interior scoring. Lillard’s ability to generate infinite points countered the mismatch as long as the tap was on, but he couldn’t play all 48 minutes.