Blazers’ Micah Nori isn’t satisfied with strong start: ‘I see what they can be’

The Blazers were up 19 in the fourth quarter, and Micah Nori still found a reason to call timeout and let somebody hear it.

That might help explain why they’re winning.

As Jason Quick of The Athletic detailed, Nori wasn’t about to overlook a defensive mistake simply because Portland was comfortably ahead of the Suns. Sidy Cissoko went under a screen, Miles Bridges buried a three, and the coach delivered a reminder about the assignment.

“That’s Micah, right there,” Cissoko told Quick. “He mentions that we have to practice us first … we have to set the standard every night. And I mean, he was right. We gotta do our job.”

Portland improved to 6-1 with the win, including 5-0 on the road. Damian Lillard, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan have supplied plenty of production. Nori wants the attention to detail to match.

“I see what they can be,” he said.

The players seem to understand the distinction between winning a game and building something that lasts.

“We lacked small details,” Scoot Henderson said. “Great teams are big on that from what I can see, just playing against them. Going back to last year, we lacked some of the small details. Nori is helping us with that.”

Toumani Camara described the approach similarly.

“We are not worried about the outside,” he said. “We are challenging ourselves to be as perfect, as disciplined, as we can be.”

Seven games won’t establish Portland’s ceiling. But holding players accountable while they’re winning is a reasonable way to raise it.

The Blazers are giving Nori plenty to like. He’s making sure that doesn’t become permission to coast.