Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton, left, drives to the basket against Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. The Blazers won 109-104. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) APAP
The Oregonian’s Aaron Fentress and OregonLive
Center for the Portland Trail Blazers, Deandre Ayton, played a key role in the team’s 109-104 victory over his old team, the Phoenix Suns, on Tuesday night, but he brushed off the notion that he had any extra incentive.
After grabbing 15 rebounds and scoring 16 points, Ayton remarked, “It’s just another team.” “I believe that the excitement and feelings surrounding it have faded. And all I’ve been doing is focusing on becoming a Trailblazer and defining our identity. I can’t really worry about the Suns right now since I’m too concentrated on that. It’s merely in the path.
Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant, Ayton’s teammates, weren’t quite believing that Ayton didn’t have any extra motivation to face the team that traded him to the Blazers in October after selecting him first overall in 2018.
After learning about Ayton’s remarks, Simons stated, “Whether he knows it or not, it’s going to be natural.” “It seems like playing for your old team always gives me more motivation.”
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Grant sensed a discernible change in Ayton when he faced the Suns.
Grant remarked, “I think he came out and played with some force tonight.” I believe it was beneficial to us. In addition, he was combative from both sides of the floor. several rebounds. He thus absolutely took care of the paint for us.
Going forward, the key is to bring out that Ayton most of the time, not just occasionally.
Grant remarked, “We’ve got to figure out how to keep him motivated every night because we’re a lot better team when he plays that well.”
Despite shooting just 6 of 18 from the field in his 40 minutes against the Suns, Ayton was more aggressive in his attempts to make shots. That was a season-high 18 attempts for him. Five of Ayton’s previous seven games saw him take fewer than ten shots; this season, he is averaging 10.4. During that period, he was able to average 12.1 points a game thanks to his 58.1% shooting percentage.
He is averaging 12.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 55.7% shooting for the season. He took 13.2 shots per game and averaged 18.0 points on 58.9% shooting during his previous season with the Suns.
The coach of the Blazers, Chauncey Billups, stated that he had been thinking about giving Ayton more playing time to get him going. This season, Ayton is averaging 31.6.
Forty is a lot, according to Billups. However, he is in incredible shape. Furthermore, he made no requests to leave or come out. I simply felt that he played an incredible game the entire time.
According to Simons, the Blazers made an effort to get Ayton the ball frequently.
Because he was dominating in the paint for us, Simons claimed that “that kind of boosted him up.”
According to Ayton, the first play Billups ordered was for him.
Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton, left, shoots over Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. The Blazers won 109-104. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) APAP
Coach wants me to establish myself and find my rhythm and flow as soon as possible,” Ayton remarked. “My teammates watching out for me and finding me in my favorite spots is how we accomplish that.”
Ayton’s dismal shooting performance that evening didn’t bother Billups.
“I’m glad he took those shots, even though he missed a few,” Billups remarked.
After the Blazers trailed 36-20 after Ayton’s 1-for-4 start in the first quarter, they rallied for seven points in the second quarter, but on 2-of-7 shooting. With 10 points and seven rebounds in the second half, he had a huge impact as the Blazers were having one of their better halves of the year.
Ayton doesn’t always play as aggressively as he did against the Suns, but he can’t take full responsibility for his lack of shot attempts. This season, the Blazers have not used many plays for Ayton. Instead, he has been paired with Grant and a number of guards who are more interested in getting their shots than in finding the big man in the middle.
In his career, Simons has hardly faced an open shot that he did not take, even though he missed 18 games due to a thumb injury and took some time to get along with Ayton. To increase their chances of scoring and setting up plays for others, Simons and Ayton will need to learn to collaborate effectively.
This is crucial when Simons is being blitzed by the opposition to get the ball out of his hands. Billups stated that he observed positive development in the way the Suns were responding to Ayton and Simons’ tactics.
“In certain moments during today’s game, they began blitzing (Simons), and DA was grabbing the ball high up the court,” stated Billups. “I felt he made some really good passes to our guys, right on time and on target.”
To help Simons see plays more quickly, Ayton claimed he made a greater effort to roll out of pick-and-rolls more quickly and to get at his places earlier. According to Ayton, he is also progressively understanding how the league uses Simons and how to hold them accountable for giving him too much attention.
Ayton remarked, “I’m just observing how teams respect him throughout the league and how teams use different coverage against him.” The ball was traveling quite quickly tonight, so he got me in the pocket and just took a few glances. We took what they gave us and what they gave us.
According to Billups, the pair’s effectiveness and execution in this regard should only get better with time.
Billups stated, “I think those two will just keep getting better and better and more at ease with each other.” “After that, we’ll begin working on the back end of things, getting to know DA better and giving him some reads.” I appreciate that they maintained their aggressiveness throughout and eventually came to a conclusion.
Defense is another area where trust is growing.
“We really strengthened our defense to the point where they rely on you to be that rock on the back end, passing everything to me, and simply believing in our defense to initiate our offensive play,” Ayton remarked.
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