Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum watched anxiously as his shot floated toward the basket with less than two minutes left in overtime Sunday night. When the three-pointer swished through the net, McCollum lifted his arms above his head, a look of relief on his face. He then turned away from the basket, closed his eyes and shouted at the top of his lungs.
It was the first three-pointer that had fallen for McCollum since the third quarter of a game against the LA Clippers on Nov. 7, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The shot gave the Blazers an insurmountable nine-point lead over the Atlanta Hawks in a game that Portland desperately needed to win. The Blazers (4-6) went on to beat the Hawks 124-113, snapping a three-game losing streak at home and four-game losing streak overall with the victory.
“You could tell by his reaction, it meant a lot,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “You feel the weight, whether it’s a losing streak or a shooting slump or whatever, you just feel the weight. Sometimes, it’s self-imposed. Hopefully, (that weight) went away with that shot.”
McCollum entered the season with high expectations for himself after playing a critical role last spring in leading the Blazers to their deepest playoff run in 19 years.
In 12 postseason games, McCollum averaged 24.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists, while shooting 39.3 percent from behind the arc. His most important performance came in Game 7 of the conference semifinals where he dropped 37 points against the Denver Nuggets to send Portland to the Western Conference finals. He went on to sign a three-year, $100 million contract extension with the Blazers this summer.
But the 28-year-old guard got off to a lackluster start this season.
During Portland’s four-game losing streak from Nov. 2-8, McCollum shot just 34.2 percent from the field and a dismal 16.7 percent from beyond the arc. After Damian Lillard set a franchise-record with 60 points in Portland’s 119-115 loss to the Brooklyn Nets Friday, McCollum, who had shot an atrocious 21.1 percent from the field and had failed to make a three-pointer in the game, took responsibility for his role in the defeat.
“I just got to get back to the lab and get back to the basics and break everything down,” said McCollum after the loss. “I think the biggest thing is to still be aggressive offensively and defensively, not let the offense dictate how you’re playing and how you’re feeling. Obviously, I want to make shots and I haven’t. I haven’t performed as well as I would like offensively and it’s quite obvious. I have to figure out how to get myself going and help this team.”
After the loss to Brooklyn, McCollum reviewed film with Blazers video coordinator Jonathan Yim, spoke with his brother, Errick, and had player development trainer Phil Beckner, who also works with Lillard, break down his shots for him, so he could get a better understanding of how he was missing and what he needed to do to put the shooting slump behind him.
“I just got back to the lab and tightened some stuff up, talked to my guy, Phil. He broke some shots down for me, sent them to me and I was able to get a better understanding of how I was missing," McCollum said. “Short or in and out is normally how I miss, which means it’s right on target. I just need to get the ball up and continue to stick to the things that I’m doing... I like the shots I’ve been getting. I just got to capitalize."
The shooting woes continued for McCollum in the first half Sunday as he scored just six points on eight shots and failed to sink a three-pointer in two attempts, but he had a strong fourth quarter, going six for 12 from the field to help the Blazers take the game to overtime before finally hitting his first three-pointer of the night to seal the win for Portland.
He finished the game with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a plus-12 in plus/minus.
“I think we all know the level of player that he is," Lillard said. “Our team and our coaches got 1000 percent confidence in him. He’s not the person that you ever have to worry about... It was just good to see him get going. He hit some big shots.”
Lillard has carried the Blazers this season, averaging an incredible 33 points per game over the first 10 games. Only five other players in NBA history have averaged at least 33 points per game over the first 10 games of a season. Backup guard Anfernee Simons has also impressed off the bench, averaging 11.9 points in 20.4 minutes per game so far this season.
McCollum is still averaging 19.8 points per game, which ranks second on the team behind only Lillard. But he is shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from three-point range, well under his career averages. As the Blazers try to turn things around after a disappointing start to the season, they will need McCollum to rediscover his shooting touch -- just like he did with the game on the line in overtime Sunday.
“It’s part of the game, missing shots, but you can’t be afraid, you can’t shy away from the moment, you want to stay aggressive, you want to stay in attack mode,” McCollum said. “I’m going to continue to create space and get to my spots.”
-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com
503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg
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