It was a heartbreaker tonight in the Moda Center as the Portland Trail Blazers lost to the Dallas Mavericks 108-106 in a really frustrating game that saw the Blazers get close, but never really get over the hump. For once, we were on the other end of a game-winner against Dallas as Monta Ellis, with 1.9 seconds remaining raised up and swished a mid-range two pointer to seal the game. Portland vs Dallas games tend to be dramatic and come down to the wire. I do not know if it is the fact that Terry Stotts and Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle know each other so well and run a scary similar style offense and defense that it is basically a mirror matchup or if the games just shake out that way. It is frustrating and exciting whenever the Blazers play Dallas because you know you are getting a good game out of the night. Rarely have there been blowouts or easy games for either of these teams.

Dallas has had some heartbreaking losses in the Moda Center. People remember Game 4 of the first round in the 2011 playoffs where Brandon Roy when outrageous and single-handedly helped the Blazers come back from a 23-point deficit? Do you remember the two game-winners LaMarcus Aldridge has had against this team? Now it was Dallas’ turn tonight.

This felt like a night where the Hershey bar or the pot of gold was just one more step away and the Blazers were never able to quite take that last step. Not for lack of trying as the Blazers refused to go away in the second half. Some stats to tell how this was a weird night and really shows you how good Dallas played and how good the Blazers really are, Dallas shot 50% from three tonight going 8-for-16. They shot 53% from the field. Dallas also had a staggering 54 points in the paint. The last stat especially hurt the Blazers and is one that has constantly been an issue. On the Blazers’ side of stats, they shot only 30% from three going 9-for-30. They out rebounded the Mavs 50-36. They also were 19-for-24 from the line while Dallas was just 8-for-11. I’ll get to explaining these in a minute.

Is was like watching your own offense tear you up as the Mavericks were passing the ball as well as I have seen anybody pass the ball this season and they were taking away LaMarcus Aldridge in the first half by rushing double-teams from the baseline, which resulted in a lot of turnovers. The Blazers had a total of 16 TOs on the night. Ugh. The Blazers were struggling with sloppy play. Multiple bad passes into the hands of Maverick players, multiple possessions with bad shot selection, and just the mere fact that the three-pointers were just not falling tonight made this night very frustrating as you could see how the Blazers could win if they just made that one three or got that one stop. The Mavericks were able to tear apart the defense of the Blazers in stretches as Jose Calderon was able to freeze the defense multiple times for many of the easier lay-ups of the game. That hurt us tremendously in that we would be down by 1 after some hard-fought buckets and then the Mavs would run straight for an easy lay-up. It was the two steps forward, one step back problem for the Blazers tonight.

Now, after everything I have just said, the Blazers still had a chance to win this game and were in great position to do so. The biggest deficit was 10 points. The Blazers were never truly out of this game, it just felt like it was going to be a little harder tonight than other games. The Blazers shot horrendously from three like I mentioned above and the Mavericks had to make some ridiculous shots to stay with it. If that has to happen for the Blazers to have a chance at losing, I’ll take it. To Dallas’ credit, they answered when they needed to. Whether it be from Dirk, Vince Carter, or speedy Monta Ellis (*shiver*) the Mavericks always made a critical bucket when they needed to. All credit to them on that front.

LaMarcus Aldridge was able to get some rhythm going in the second half as the offense adjusted to the Dallas double-teams and was able to open up the floor a bit more, but I would not be surprised if I see that same strategy appear in more and more games, especially in the upcoming game against Utah.  Nicolas Batum and Damian Lillard tried to will the Blazers to a victory and they darn near did. Batum got hot in the third quarter and did just about everything during that stretch. In what was a 10 point deficit, by the end of the quarter it was 3. Then Brandon R- I’m sorry Damian Lillard got ridiculous hot. You know how I say he has about one freak three a game? He had two tonight. One to reduce the Dallas lead to three with 4:26 remaining as it looked like Dallas might be started to take the game away. Then Lillard hit another 26-foot three pointer to tie the game up. They had chances and Lillard was making some stupid shots.

Then, with :45 remaining in the fourth with Dallas up by 6, Batum hit a three-pointer to cut it to 3 with :38 remaining. Then after some very familiar out-of-bounds reviews and calls Lillard made a 26-foot three pointer while falling over to tie the game up. Now there was 1.9 seconds left on the clock for OT and it felt like if this would just go to OT that the Blazers would take off. Lillard was red hot at the time and Batum was probably still feeling it to some degree. Dallas was also making some sup-optimal plays on the offensive end. Unfortunately, Monta Ellis got the last word as he made a 21-foot jumper to seal the game. Not many times has a team hit a game winner in the Moda Center and it always hurts whenever it does occur. Fortunately, I take the silver-lining approach and see that the Blazers played pretty badly tonight all things considered. Their defense was really suspect, the three-point shooting was not there until Damian Lillard started making threes like crazy in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, LA basically was being defended so hard in the first half that he didn’t have a huge effect, and just bad turnovers, but the Blazers still had as good a chance as any to win this ballgame. Keep your head up fans.

Some stat lines on the night. LA finished with 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting and 13 rebounds. LA finally got going in the second half and was able to hit some of his trademark shots, but the way Dallas was guarding him in the first was scary good and really kept him out of the game for the entire half.

Damian Lillard, wow, he finished the night with 32 points on 9-for-18 shooting, 5-for-9 from three, and 5 assists. Lillard was on fire in the fourth and if the Blazers had won, he would have been the absolute hero of the game. Down 6 with 45 seconds left in the fourth, you think it is pretty much done. Then Lillard hits two quick threes and all of sudden you’re back in it. It was really amazing to watch and the emotion he showed was the most I have seen from him all season long.

Nicolas Batum finished the night with 22 points on 8-for-17 shooting, 4-for-10 from three, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. What a stat line! Batum was Mr. Third Quarter tonight and was the first Blazer to really start showing consistent signs of life from the offensive end. Again, look at his three point stat. I would guess that he missed about 3 wide open three pointers, just that kind of night.

The player that I know will not be happy with his play tonight is Wesley Matthews. He finished the night with 4 points on 2-for-10 shooting, 0-for-4 from three, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. If Wesley was a factor in the offense tonight, I think we would have won the game. Rarely does Wes miss all of three pointers and rarely does he make only two shots on the night. From watching Matthews in interviews and in games, he will be very unhappy tonight and will come out against Utah with an energy that will be evident.

Well, this was a very tough loss; however, you knew losses were coming. It is easy to get caught up in the winning and think that your team will roll over everybody, but even teams who are playing at the level we are have issues and little losing streaks. Next game is against the familiar Utah Jazz in Utah and what a perfect game to bounce back in. I would not want to be Utah right now. The Blazers tip-off on Monday in Utah at 6:00 PM PST and look to get back on the winning track. Keep your heads up Blazer fans; this was still one heck of a week. Stay tuned!