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The Portland Trail Blazers relied on scoring from a number of faces in their 112-90 victory against the Utah Jazz, as five players reached double-figures and 12 of the 13 who suited up recorded a point. Portland moves to 4-1 on the season with the win. Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 24 points and five rebounds, shooting 50 percent from the field and 3-point range, nailing 10 of 13 free throws. Damian Lillard added 22 points despite a poor shooting performance, while Toumani Camara, Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday had 14 points apiece.
Players on both teams were trying to figure out the league’s emphasis on flopping that led to three unsportsmanlike technical fouls late in the fourth quarter of Portland’s 136-129 victory. The Blazers’ Ja Morant and Toumani Camara both said they planned to appeal the technicals. Camara was called for a flopping technical with 5:06 left in the game while trying to guard Dončić in the backcourt, though Dončić missed the technical free throw with Los Angeles trailing 118-116. “I don’t know, it was confusing because (Dončić) came to me with a heavy bump, and I feel like I reacted naturally,” Camara told The Athletic after the game. “I just showed my hands as much as I could, and I actually lost balance for real. So those are hard. “They try to emphasize something that is hard to judge, you know? Especially if you didn’t see the full action, the windup and everything. Making a decision like that, that costs people money and can cost people the game. I think it’s a tough one. But they all make mistakes. I ain’t going to be mad at it. But I’m definitely going to appeal for it, for sure.”
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.
Sean Highkin: Micah Nori didn’t say it outright but he strongly hinted that the starting lineup from the Golden State game on Friday (Ja/Dame/Toumani/Deni/Clingan) is going to be the starting lineup on opening night. Also said Jrue Holiday is fine after missing that game with swelling in his hand
Toumani Camara on Scoot Henderson: “To me, he put it together. Scoot always been super athletic, super fast, great finisher, great driver, great shooter, and I feel like now mentally he just put it all together. How can he affect the team defensively, how scrappy he could get, and offensively make the right play every time. I think there’s no one time this summer where I’m like, ‘You should have done this, Scoot.’ Every time he drive and making a decision, it’s the right one and it’s the one that we need for the team.”
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Throughout his three NBA seasons, Portland Trail Blazers wing Toumani Camara has emerged as one of the NBA’s better defenders. While being entrusted to guard NBA royalty such as LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jamal Murray and Tyrese Maxey, Camara has garnered NBA All-Defensive votes in every season, and he was named to the second team in 2024-25. So, there is some weight behind what the 25-year-old saw this July, when he accepted an invitation from Blazers legend Damian Lillard to train at the superstar’s Portland home, which features a full basketball court. “Impressive,” Camara told The Athletic of his impression of Lillard. “Very, very impressive.”
Camara, who guarded Lillard during multiple workouts at Lillard’s home, said the Blazers, and the NBA, will be reminded of the point guard’s greatness — even with Lillard returning as a 36-year-old coming off a debilitating injury. “I think the most impressive thing for me was his first step, his speed, especially coming back from that injury,” Camara said. “He was just very hard to guard all around.”
After going against him in full-court games, Camara said he would put Lillard in the top five of his toughest players to defend in the NBA. “He has so many ways to get around you,” Camara said. “He has mastered his game and mastered his body, and no matter how good of a defender you are, when somebody has mastered their game, they are going to get wherever they want. You just have to hope they miss the shot.”
Camara paused for a moment as he finished describing Lillard’s offensive repertoire. “There’s one other thing,” Camara added after the pause. “Surprisingly, I would say one of the things that I saw a lot of improvement, compared to the other times I’ve seen him, is defensively … like, he really wanted to guard. He was boxing out, doing all the little things. To me, that might have been some of the most impressive stuff.”
“He’s excited to be on a team with vets like Dame and Jrue, and he loves the young talent of Deni (Avdija), Scoot, (Donovan) Clingan, (Toumani) Camara … I mean, he mentioned them all by name,” Nori said. As they left the restaurant, Nori asked Morant what he needed from him. How could he help? “He just said, ‘Make sure I get some Trail Blazers gear as soon as possible so I can start wearing it,’” Nori said.
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Toumani Buckets: I LOVE ROBERT WILLIAMS
The Blazers have immediate needs at center and power forward. They are not expected to retain free agent center Robert Williams III, who is hoping to land a contract in the $15 million a year range, leaving only second-year center Yang Hansen as a backup to Donovan Clingan. The Blazers are also thin at power forward, with Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara their only options.
Trail Blazers All-Star forward Deni Avdija was not on the table in trade talks for Antetokounmpo, and he remains off the table in Brown discussions as of now, league sources told HoopsHype. Portland’s other young players, such as Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, are considered available. With Boston considering center upgrades and needing to replace Brown’s position if he’s traded, Portland’s Donovan Clingan and 2025 All-Defensive forward Toumani Camara would both be coveted by Boston. However, neither has been put on the table at this time.
KC Johnson: One of the ways you created buy-in in Portland with a video that's made its way to Chicago is the box, where the defensive player of the game after a win would write his name and drop it into a box. It was an idea you came up with. You said thinking outside the box. Some teams have the belt or the chain but yours was a different wrinkle. Will we have something similar this season in Chicago? And what did that experience mean to you and the Portland team last season? Tiago Splitter: Yeah, I mean, one of our best defenders there was Toumani Camara, right? And never whenever he got like a big stop, he would do the box sign and basically saying, I put that offensive player in the box. And I want to create something different than the belt or the chain and why not, you're going to put their whole squad in the box and whoever is the best defender. something of course to create a bond and the guys had fun with. Still, I don't have a great idea for the Bulls. I have time. But we'll figure out something, but the most important thing you know like I said is the bond.
