Portland Trail Blazers rookie head coach Micah Nori began his postgame interview Wednesday night with a joke.
“It’s exactly what we thought we were going to do is come out and go on a 20-0 run to start the season,” Nori said facetiously, before getting serious to break down how his team dismantled the Phoenix Suns 123-84 in the regular-season opener at the Moda Center.
About six minutes later at the podium, Nori ended the interview with tears, as he reflected on the night and the achievement of his first NBA head coaching win after nearly three decades of climbing to reach it.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that we were gonna have the start that we did, and play as well as we did, and win by as many as we did,” he said.
It’s understandable the night exceeded Nori’s expectations. It probably exceeded the expectations of everybody in Rip City, even the most optimistic fans. From the reintroduction of franchise icon Damian Lillard to the performance of this new-look Blazers roster as a whole, Game 1 was a smashing success. Practically perfect.
Lillard reciprocated the raucous reception the crowd gave him by knocking down 3-pointers like the days of yore, finishing with a game-high 25 points. Ja Morant’s Rip City debut was efficient and bumping with energy. Deni Avdija was the All-Star force everybody remembers from last season.
With those three leading the show and Nori at the reins, the Blazers rolled out a kinetic offense that swung the ball around with ease and featured several dynamic playmakers who could put the ball on the deck and attack the teeth of the defense. On the defensive end, Portland was connected and physical, getting into jerseys on the perimeter and commanding the glass down low.
The Blazers opened the game on a 21-0 run and led 43-12 after the first quarter, marking the largest lead in a season-opening first quarter in franchise history. They never let up after the dominant start, leading by as many as 52 and turning the full fourth quarter into mop-up minutes for the deep bench. The Moda Center atmosphere was set for a battle between the two Play-In rivals from last season. Instead, the Blazers turned the game into a romp from the jump.
“You only get one chance at a first impression,” Morant said. “That was our message to each other before we ran out of the tunnel, to make sure we leave a good message and start off on the right foot.”
What a first impression for the 2026-27 Trail Blazers. What a first impression for their first-time head coach.
After Nori spent the preseason talking about his vision for how to take this team higher and the importance of relationship-building in his coaching philosophy, his players walked the talk in Game 1. The Blazers played hard. They played sharp. And they played together. Then they celebrated their head coach’s first win by dousing him with a water bottle shower in the locker room, as is tradition in the NBA.
”He’s a coach that we all really do love,” Lillard said. “The way that our September went. The way training camp [went], the preseason, how he communicates with the team. The energy that he’s created in our building. He has the locker room. We want to have success so that he has success. … So you get that first one, and you want to celebrate that. You want to celebrate those moments, especially when you do it in the fashion that we did it. It just shows that we were prepared. Our minds were right. We had the scouting report right. We looked the part. We looked like a well-coached team, so he deserved to be celebrated for that.”
While Nori was clearly proud of his players and appreciative of their support after the win, the emotions didn’t truly wash over him until he was asked about his family and their significance in this milestone. Nori’s parents had made the trip out to Portland to see their son’s big night, watching alongside his wife Melissa.
“A lot, everything,” said a watery-eyed Nori about what he reflected on during such an important night. “I think when I look up there and you have an 84-year-old dad and an 82-year-old mom and they’re able to fly all the way to Portland from Middletown, Ohio, and take a connected flight through Phoenix — which my mom should never be a travel agent — but for them to be here, for me to look up [and see them] … it means a lot. … It meant the world.”
Wednesday night was only the start of a long 82-game campaign. There’ll be stronger opponents and tougher nights ahead for the Trail Blazers. But at least for now, Portland and its new coach are 1-0. Things are perfect.
“When you look back, and I know it’s only one game,” Nori said, “but to draw it up the way Dame came back and the way he played, and the way Ja [played in] his first game, and you go down the list. I could name every single one of them. And just if you could bottle this and carry this forward for 82, I think that would be any coach’s dream.”