Sidi Cissoko inaugurates “The Box”, a new ritual to win the Blazers

Collecting 131 points and awarding the best defender of the game seems, at first glance, rather contradictory. However, that is what they did Les Blazers Sunday night after the success against the Warriors.

And for this first for the Portland franchise, it’s the French Sidi Cissoko who had honors Thiago Splitter and “The Box”. The “temporary” technician introduced a new ritual that will now follow the team after each victory.

“Box” is primarily one of the nicknames Toumani Camarathe Blazers’ wing and one of the best defenders in the league. As a gift to his Belgian player, Tiago Splitter presented his dressing room with a wooden box, which will reward one of his players after each victory.

« The best defender of the night will have the opportunity to write his name and what he wants » explained the Brazilian technician to his players in a video shared by the Oregon franchise. ” At the end of the season, there will be a surprise as to who will have the most mentions of their name. »

Introducing… a new defensive tradition

Tiago Splitter explains how the best defenseman will put his name in the BOX every night.

Sidi gets us started tonight pic.twitter.com/mJ5ti1FvDR

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 15, 2025

The body of the cassock, which is sled by Danile Dania Damara

Sidi Sissoko was the first to put his name to “La Boite” on Sunday as he shouted it with a smile, taking over the celebration of Toumanie Kamara, who imitates the rectangle with his fingers after a great save. The French winger was in action in the third quarter, during which he committed only three offensive fouls. Valuable ammunition in a matchup equal to the one against Golden State.

« I want to be a dog on the field, to push the team on defense, whatever is needed from me » explained Sidi Cissoko about his decisive influence in this match far beyond the raw numbers (6 points, 3 rebounds but 29 minutes of play and the best +/- of his team at +16). ” Play shift one, two or five, I’ll be there doing my job. » The former Spur admits he is partly inspired by Tumani Kamara to keep improving. ” Tumani probably helped me a little in training » smiled the Frenchman. ” I watch a bit of his game. I try to draw inspiration from the best. I know he did it last year, and he was the best at it. So that’s probably my style of play here in the NBA. »

“The Box” joins a growing list of such celebrations in the NBA, notably those started by Mike Malone in Denver for “Defensive Player of the Game” or Mike Brown in Sacramento and now with the Knicks. The Cavaliers with their “watchdog” style chain or more recently the Raptors with a rotating version and a cobra head scepter followed the movement.

Curry was caught in the box in the final moments

For Portland, this box comes at the right time. Synonymous with victory, it is a big sigh of relief after a very complicated series of 11 defeats in 14 matches, and especially due to numerous absences in leadership and central positions. And if Stephen Curry had fun with 48 points on 12/19 on 3-pointers, it was a defensive action on the Warriors star that made the decision for good.

At 132-129 with 19.9 seconds to play, Golden State could have had the ball to tie the game coming out of a timeout. But Stephen Curry was held tight by Toumani Kamara and then followed by Shaddon Sharpe for the Belgian’s interception and a two-possession lead that lasted until the final whistle.

« He had a great game, and it was one of the last possessions of the game and you don’t want him to shoot » deciphered Toumani Kamara to the media after the meeting. « So when he received the ball off the screen, we had to stop. It’s nice to win this game defensively in this situation. » « We needed him » Tiago Splitter admitted about this success. ” For morale, for all the work we do, for the whole group, from the players to the staff dedicated to the performance. Everyone. Everyone is fighting and working every day to improve, to allow the players to return to the floor (Donovan Klingan and Robert Williams played again on Sunday, editor’s note)and they play even better. The players do the extra work, the recovery, the shooting, to get there. So this win is nice. »

Like a box of sweets, even if this one will taste more like caramel or chestnut than spicy treats.