(USA TODAY Sports Images)
It was falling apart; Portland’s backcourt saved it from blowing up.
It is hard to decide which games are must-wins. Most of the time, those games appear depending on outlying circumstances. Coming into the game against the New Orleans Pelicans, it was turning into a must-win for the Blazers.
After letting the first two games of this trip get away from them, the Blazers had to record a win to keep themselves afloat in the playoff race.
It was dicey and it was in danger of disintegrating, but the Blazers kept it together long enough to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 117-112 on Friday night. The Blazers improve to 36-34, while the Pelicans fall to 25-43. Portland wins the season series 3-1.
Going back to making games harder than they should, the Trail Blazers almost burned themselves due to letting a 20-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter and even having to fight back to regain the lead. With teams like Pelicans, confidence is everything and letting them complete a comeback made Portland wake up.
Without a clutch three-pointer from C.J. McCollum in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, this might be an entirely different outcome. What was a destructive and pointed offensive attack by Portland in the first half turned in a sloppy mess in the second half. Electing to pass around the perimeter and attempt long-range shots, the Blazers played into the Pelicans strategy and stopped attacking the rim.
In the first half, Portland shot 52 percent from the field, but just 24 percent from deep. The Blazers hoisted 17 three-pointers and made just four. However, of their 67 first half points, the Blazers scored 30 in the paint and had 12 points off of second-chance buckets. The Blazers outmuscled New Orleans on the boards 27-10 and looked to be in commanding control.
Obviously, the main focus would be to stop Anthony Davis; however, after sustaining a foot injury that led him to play just 14 minutes in the first half and not return for the second, the Blazers had to deal with Ryan Anderson who was more than a handful. On the night, he finished with 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting, 2-of-9 from three with seven rebounds and three assists.
One would assume that most of his damage would come from beyond the arc, but his damage came in post-ups and fadeaways. He converted all of his eight attempts at the line.
With Portland carrying a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter, it was not exactly a comfortable sight, but it seemed to be under control. The Pelicans made several runs to keep the game from getting out of reach, but the Blazers always seemed to answer back to push their lead back to 20. The fourth quarter was a different story.
The Blazers made just three field goals all quarter, shooting just 21 percent from the field. Damian Lillard and McCollum combined to go 1-of-9 from the field. The Pelicans cranked it up on offense and defense leading them to shoot a blistering 60 percent from three, going 6-of-10.
Jrue Holiday was the catalyst going 4-of-4 from beyond the arc including swishing two in a row to give the Pelicans their first lead since the first quarter with 3:15 remaining in the fourth quarter. How was Portland even staying in the game?
Look no further than the foul line where Portland went 17-of-20 in the quarter, including 10-of-10 from McCollum and Lillard combined. Portland started getting aggressive once again and after McCollum swished a clutch three-pointer from the right wing to put the Blazers up 111-109 with a minute remaining, Lillard took over and got himself to the line.
His ability to get past the Pelicans’ guards forced them to foul. As Blazer fans have come to expect, Lillard is even better at the line in clutch situations. Still, there was a sense that the Blazers should not have been in that situation to begin with.
Taking their foot off the pedal and allowing a sparky Pelicans team to regain momentum without their star player spells disaster, especially for a team in Portland’s position. Bad offensive sets, turned into poor transition and lazy defense, resulting in plenty of fouls as Portland committed seven.
Despite it all, the Blazers kept to it. The early version of this squad would have wilted under the pressure. This game would have been one in a long list of games that Portland gave away. It was a dodged bullet, but a bullet that Portland needs to keep their eye on. This problem continues to rear its head at times and Portland has to stay vigilant.
This game was not without highlight-worthy performances.
Lillard finished with 33 points on 9-of-19 shooting, 3-of-8 from three with eight rebounds and six assists. Most of his damage came from attacking the basket. Without Davis clogging the middle and Omer Asik being a matchup problem for the Pelicans, Lillard seemed to have whatever he wanted underneath the rim.
McCollum was superb all night, providing his dose of punctuating offense. He finished with 30 points on 11-of-23 shooting, 4-of-7 from three with three rebounds and six assists. McCollum played with five fouls for some of the fourth quarter and still was able to hit a three-pointer that gave Portland the momentum back.
Gerald Henderson deserves credit and he was red-hot scoring 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting with six rebounds and one steal, the spark in Portland’s surge in the first half.
Next up, the Blazers take on the Dallas Mavericks in an important home-and-home series. The Blazers have the potential to push Dallas out of the playoff picture, first up, their match on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Dallas.
Stay tuned!