Before we get into the importance of Toumani Camara, the heroics of Robert Williams III, the unstoppable force that is Deni Avdija and the grit-and-grind of Sidy Cissoko, please consider this scene from the Trail Blazers’ 128-120 victory over Sacramento on Friday night. Over the final two minutes of a close, knock-em-down, drag-it-out game, Blazers coach Micah Nori did what few — if any — coaches have dared to do in the past decade: He substituted Damian Lillard and Ja Morant out of the game in favor of players who were better defenders. “Neither one of us, you know, are probably used to that,” Lillard told The Athletic.
