MIdway through the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, Portland Trail Blazers wing Rodney Hood hit a 3-pointer. The shot gave him 25 points and the Blazers a 14-point lead. "Man, he is a different guy," ESPN announcer Mark Jones said. "He has gone through an incredible transformation this series." As the Blazers and Nuggets have battled for a Western Conference finals berth, Hood's redemption story has been told over and over again. With the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, Hood was in and out of the rotation in the playoffs, looking unsure of himself as jumpers clanked off the rim and his market value sunk. "I was down on myself," Hood told reporters after the Blazers' 119-108 win forced a Game 7. "I didn't really know how to get out of that, you know what I mean? It was a dark moment for me." In free agency, Hood had to settle for signing the one-year qualifying offer to stay in Cleveland, where he was essentially irrelevant until Portland acquired him in exchange for a couple of second-round picks in February. He didn't stand out in the regular season or the Blazers' first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which makes his exploits against Denver -- he hit the game-winner in the fourth overtime in Game 3 and is averaging 16.2 points on 62.4 percent shooting in the series -- even more remarkable. If you had time-traveled here from July 2017, however, this would all seem much less surprising, aside from the fact it's happening in Portland. Back then, in the immediate aftermath of Gordon Hayward leaving Utah Jazz, exec Dennis Lindsey said he believed Hood could be their primary scorer. Hood averaged 18.1 points in the first 24 games of 2017-18, but then Donovan Mitchell emerged and, with restricted free agency coming up, Lindsey's front office traded him to the Cavs. "The talent has always been there," Hood said Thursday. But what are we supposed to make of his wild swings in production? This isn't a P.J. Tucker story, in which a player initially doesn't make it, only to find his niche years later. Hood's skills genuinely haven't changed, and the same is true for several role players enjoying similar success. His former Cleveland teammate George Hill has thrived in the playoffs for the Milwaukee Bucks, mere months after he was traded for draft picks. His current teammate Enes Kanter was waived by the New York Knicks in February and is now in the Blazers' starting lineup. Austin Rivers, dumped by the Washington Wizards and waived by the Phoenix Suns, played 33 minutes in the Houston Rockets' win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday. Here are three lessons to learn from this: Fit is everything If you're in the NBA and not a superstar, you're probably going to have to adjust to your team rather than hoping that the team will adjust to you. Playmakers need spacing in order to show what they can do. Shooters need good passers to set them up. Elite athletes might not look useful if their teams never run. There are all sorts of variables at play, from the personality of the coach to the philosophy of the general manager. Early in the season, Rivers told The Athletic's Fred Katz that he wanted to exclusively shoot 3s and layups. "I'll probably be the most extreme case of the analytic movement this year," he said. It is no wonder, then, that he looks at home in Houston. In Hood's case, his smooth pick-and-roll game was essentially shelved next to LeBron James last season. Unlike Utah, Cleveland did not run a motion-oriented offense in which he would touch the ball frequently and feel involved. He was essentially a spot-up shooter with a little bit of secondary playmaking responsibility. On a possession-by-possession basis, James dictated whether or not he would get opportunities. This is not to say that the Cavaliers should have taken the ball out of James' hands in order to run an equal-opportunity system. Hood, however, is far from the only player who has been uncomfortable in that situation. Cleveland sent Jae Crowder to Utah when it acquired Hood, and after Crowder's first game with the Jazz, he said he "got back to having fun playing basketball." He also praised coach Quin Snyder for giving players freedom, which brings us to… Empowerment helps You've heard countless players credit their coaches and teammates for giving them confidence after a big game or during a breakout season. These aren't always empty words. There is a direct relationship between freedom and confidence, and it is difficult to play your best if you're worried about the coach taking you out of the game the first time you mess up. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie believes there are two types of confidence: belief in your abilities and situational confidence. You can have the former, but it won't look that way on the court without the latter. To Dinwiddie, the situational confidence he has in Brooklyn comes from being encouraged to play his game and learn from mistakes. He likes to say "the green light is the greatest drug known to man." Hood appears to have the green light in Portland, at least in this series. The Blazers need his offense on the second unit, and he can take some pressure off of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum when Denver is focused on stopping them. He definitely did not have the green light this time last year. Empowerment cannot be totally disentangled from fit. Creators are inherently less valuable on a team stacked with them. Boston Celtics guard Terry Rozier told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan that he "felt like I went from the passenger seat to the trunk" when Kyrie Irving and Hayward returned. Rozier's season surely would have had a different flavor if he had been traded to a team that needed more from him. As a contrast, think about De'Aaron Fox, who had a spectacular second season on a team that could afford to give him the keys and tell him to drive as fast as he liked. Matchups, matchups, matchups Hood only scored 16 total points in five first-round games and is averaging slightly more than that number per game in the second round. This is how he explained it: "OKC series, I was more of a spacer. You know, Dame and C.J. just had a great rhythm and it was more of trying to affect winning: playing defense, getting deflections, those type of things. This series, you know, I got a matchup that I like. I'm real aggressive." More specifically: "A lot of times, (Jamal) Murray is guarding me. Not to take away from him as a defender, but he's smaller and I feel like I can get a shot off anytime." Against the Thunder, Lillard and McCollum were unstoppable, and they were responsible for almost all of the Blazers' playmaking. Lillard had a usage rate of 31.2 percent, McCollum 27.3 percent and everybody else was at 17.6 percent or lower. At 10.9 percent, Hood had the lowest usage rate on the team. Against the Nuggets, Lillard (28.9 percent) and McCollum (27.1 percent) have remained Portland's most important offensive players, but they have not been as consistently efficient as they were in the first round. In need of a jolt, Terry Stotts' coaching staff turned to Hood, a 6-foot-8 playmaker who happens to be facing a team that lacks size on the wing. Meanwhile, enormous and lovable Philadelphia 76ers center Boban Marjanovic has proven to be unplayable against the Toronto Raptors: In a stint spanning two minutes and 23 seconds on Thursday, the Raptors went on a 5-0 run. When Marjanovic checked back in for another two minutes and eight seconds, Toronto went on an 8-0 run. In the first round against the smaller Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia had a plus-10.5 net rating with him on the court, thanks largely to a 41.3 percent offensive rebounding rate. This time of year, every team is looking for plays, lineups and strategies that work against one specific opponent, not what will work most of the time over an 82-game season.<doc-sep>The Portland Trail Blazers remain alive in the 2019 NBA Playoffs, forcing a Game 7 with a hard-earned 119-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets. The win ends a streak of four straight elimination games losses, illustrating the grit and fight of this Blazers team. Damian Lillard returned to his first-round form by scoring 32 points on 11/23 shooting and six three-pointers. CJ McCollum provided crucial buckets down the stretch and added 30 points of his own. Off the bench, Rodney Hood scored 25 points, Zach Collins blocked five shots, and Evan Turner collected seven assists in 19 minutes of play. Portland’s reserves outscored Denver’s by 29 points. While the bench succeeded, Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu struggled on both ends once again. The two combined for nine points on 3/10 shooting and had a plus/minus of -8 and -9, respectively. Rodney Hood and Zach Collins Play Big Minutes Hood, now averaging 16.2 points per game in the semifinals against Denver, shot 8/12 from the field and 3/4 from deep tonight. His scoring rejuvenated a stagnant Blazers offense at the end of a disappointing 34-26 first period. Harkless failed to capitalize on the smaller Jamal Murray defending him, but Hood used brute force, spins, and fakes to create easy looks out of the post. He also displayed aggressiveness when shooting threes; he notably made a standstill triple when Nikola Jokic backed off just one step at the end of the first quarter to slim Denver’s lead. Hood didn’t seem to care which Nuggets defender he posted up on. He backed down Torrey Craig and Will Barton en route to easy finishes at the rim or fouls throughout the game. His hot hand then encouraged Denver’s big men to double-team in the post or come out on screens, which freed the lane for other Blazers to score. The easy looks produced by Hood’s shooting helped Portland continue scoring when the Nuggets made a final push late in the fourth quarter. Collins benefited from Hood’s hot shooting, discovering open opportunities under the basket. He also knocked down a corner three when Paul Millsap collapsed on a Lillard drive in the second quarter to keep the game tight, something Aminu hasn’t been able to capitalize on. Collins made his biggest impact on the defensive end, though. He blocked five shots, several coming on smart help defense plays. He stayed strong when Millsap tried to back him down in the post and vertically contested the ensuing shot. In the fourth quarter when he matched up against a burlier Jokic, Collins continued to hold his ground. He predicted Jokic’s slow post moves to strip the ball or heavily contest the signature floater. Blazers Win the 3rd Quarter In Portland’s last two losses, Denver outscored them by 13 and 10, respectively, in the third quarter. Tonight, the Blazers won the third quarter battle by a margin of three points, enough to stave off an early Nuggets run and enter the fourth with a seven-point lead. Damian Lillard led the game-altering third quarter offense. 17 of his 32 points came in the period, including three triples. Jokic found himself in no man’s land around the arc, nestled against the dividing line but not far enough out to defend Logo Lillard. Those 12 minutes felt reminiscent of Dame’s utter destruction of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He darted around screens to fire up deep threes, scared Jokic into backing up only to hit an easy midrange jumper, and got to the rim for layups or free throws. Once the crowd watched Lillard sink a 30-footer midway through the quarter, the momentum was firmly in Portland’s pocket and the Blazers never looked back. Defensive Adjustments As he hinted in the pre-game press conference, Terry Stotts tasked Aminu with defending the much bigger Jokic. Same as in Game 5, Jokic immediately went to work in the post and fought hard for offensive rebounds. The Denver big man coasted through the first quarter and shot 5/5 from the field. Aminu, assigned to Jokic purely to counter the Jokic-Murray pick-and-roll game, sagged back on screens as a traditional big man would. The advantage of Aminu there instead of Kanter is he and Harkless’ switchability, but they didn’t defend it that way and the Nuggets’ two-man game torched the Blazers defense. Halfway through the first, Kanter returned to defending Jokic, with Aminu moving to Millsap. Denver responded by finding their power forward in the post on consecutive possessions. It looked a repeat of the demoralizing Game 5. Collins put an end to that. He demonstrated his ability to defend Millsap better than Aminu and Turner in the third quarter, so Stotts went with the youngster down the stretch. His mobility contained Murray on the switch, plus his verticality disrupted both Jokic and Millsap in the post. Aminu effectively does the first portion and Kanter the second, but only Collins blends the two. Another Scrum In the dying minutes of Game 5, Meyers Leonard’s “flagrant foul” on Jokic created a minor dust-up between the two. Collins supported his larger teammate by hopping in the action, but no penalties resulted from the word exchange and delicate pushing. The two teams upped the ante tonight when Jokic sent Collins to the floor halfway through the fourth, which somehow led to Seth Curry and Will Barton nudging each other from opposite sides of Collins’ fallen body. Barton escalated the matter and the two were separated, each earning technicals. Although this series doesn’t have the abrasiveness of the first round matchup with OKC, the further it progresses the hotter it gets. Back-to-back “fights” after four games of patting each other on the back illustrates the heightened stakes as the two teams enter their final matchup. Up Next Box Score Instant Recap The Blazers travel to Denver for Game 7 on Sunday. The time is yet to be determined. if Portland pulls off the victory, they will make their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2000.<doc-sep>PORTLAND, OREGON - MAY 09: Rodney Hood #5 of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts after hitting a shot in the second half of Game Six of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Denver Nuggets at Moda Center on May 09, 2019 in Portland, Oregon. The Blazers won 119-108. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) Duke Basketball: Recent early commits have been kind to Blue Devils by Matt Giles The former Duke Basketball star Rodney Hood continued his excellent play helping the Portland Trail Blazers force a Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets. Rodney Hood is continuing the best stretch of postseason games in his career and the Portland Trail Blazers have needed every last bit of his production. Hood’s latest achievement was in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals, helping the Blazers force a Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets. The former Duke Blue Devil posted a playoff career high on Thursday night with 25 points in 32 minutes on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range. In the series, Rodney Hood is averaging 16.1 points per game and in addition to help lead the charge in Game 6, he came off the bench in the fourth overtime in Game 3 to win the game for the Blazers. After the Trail Blazers win on Thursday, Damian Lillard called Hood Portland’s best player in this series and Denver head coach Mike Malone said that Hood was the best player on the floor in Game 6. In the first round against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Hood averaged 3.2 points per game, only totaling 16 points in the five games. The 6-foot-8 forward only trailed Lillard and CJ McCollum in points on Thursday in Portland’s 119-108 victory, Lillard scored 32 points while McCollum dropped 30, but Hood led the Trail Blazers in +/-, ending the game with a +21 rating. Hood also was able to grab four rebounds off the bench in 32 minutes in Game 6. Game 7 between the Portland Trail Blazer and the Denver Nuggets will take place on Sunday, May 12 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, but a start time has yet to be announced due to the potential of three Game 7’s on Sunday. The Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors will also be playing in a Game 7 on Sunday afternoon and based on the final score of Game 6 between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, those two teams could also be playing in a Game 7 on Sunday.<doc-sep>
After the Portland Trail Blazers avoided elimination Thursday night, extending a special season to the most special of places — Game 7 of an NBA playoff series — Rodney Hood stood on the Moda Center court and struggled to complete a sentence. Hood was in the middle of a postgame interview, his aw-shucks southern smile splashed across the jumbotron above center court, when 20,022 delirious Blazermaniacs refused to let him answer questions, drowning out his soft-spoken syllables with a thunderous, continuous cheer. “ROD-NEY! ROD-NEY! ROD-NEY!” they chanted, over and over. The man trapped in playoff purgatory only a year ago continued his starring role in this year’s Western Conference semifinals, helping the Blazers defeat the Denver Nuggets 119-108 in a do-or-die Game 6. And now, an entertaining and even series that has featured everything from quadruple overtimes to Bowtie Wednesdays to Mile High meltdowns, comes down to this: A winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday. “It’s some of the most fun basketball you’ll play,” Hood said of competing in the finale of a best-of-seven series. “There’s nothing like going into somebody’s building in Game 7 and winning. That’s a memory that will last a very long time. It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be intense.” And it’s something that wouldn’t be possible without Hood. Because while Thursday offered the return of the dominant Damian Lillard we’ve come to expect, an abundance of big shots from CJ McCollum, a coming-out party for Zach Collins — and even a little brouhaha — perhaps no player meant more to the Blazers’ season-saving victory than Hood. The Blazers’ backup wing continued to torment the Nuggets, finishing with a playoff-career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He breathed life into the Blazers virtually the moment he stepped on the court, converting a driving layup past Jamal Murray roughly a minute after relieving Moe Harkless, and proceeded to give enough support to Lillard (32 points, five assists, six three-pointers) and McCollum (30 points, six rebounds) to push the Blazers into Game 7. Time and time again Friday — and, really, in this series — the 6-foot-8 Hood has exploited smaller Denver guards, backing them down into the lane for easy buckets in isolation post-ups, draining midrange jumpers over the top of them and swishing three-pointers as they’ve retreated back to protect the rim. He’s averaging 16.2 points per game and shooting a blistering 60.6 percent from the field — including 58 percent from three-point range — in the series, emerging as the Blazers’ most dependable third option on offense. “I thought Rodney Hood was the MVP of the game,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. Hood is an unlikely hero in an unlikely moment for the Blazers, not because of who he is or how he plays, but because of how far he’s come and where he’s come from. He, of course, started the season with the rebuilding Cleveland Cavaliers and didn’t join the Blazers until February, when they acquired him in a deal before the NBA trade deadline. His time in Cleveland had been both rocky and controversial, so his arrival in Portland offered a fresh start and a chance at redemption. Like the Blazers, Cleveland had acquired Hood at the trade deadline in 2018, hoping his addition — as part of a larger roster overhaul — would help LeBron James’ chase for another championship. But by the time the playoffs arrived, Hood was struggling to find his place alongside James and his new teammates, and he was effectively benched. His tumultuous tenure reached an apex in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, when, during a blowout victory over the Toronto Raptors, Hood refused to enter the game. The Cavaliers downplayed the incident afterward, but it was enough of a distraction that Hood apologized to his teammates. The playoff benching. The apology. The adversity. Despite reaching the NBA Finals, it was one of the lowest points of his career. “I was down on myself and I didn’t really know how to get out of that,” Hood said. “It was a dark moment for me.” Even redemption has come slowly. Hood entered the 2019 postseason with plenty of playoff experience, but hit-and-miss success. In 28 career postseason games before this season, he averaged just 8.9 points and 2.7 rebounds, while shooting 35 percent from the field. Then, in the Blazers’ first-round victory over the Thunder, it was more of the same. A virtual afterthought, Hood scored a combined 16 points in five games.