Oof! Well, that was a disappointing game on a number of levels. The Portland Trail Blazers looked to finish up a four games in five nights road trip by sweeping the trip, but they’ll have to take the 3-1 instead as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-109 in a game that had promise in the first quarter, but then just looked silly at halftime. The Blazers made a furious rally in the second half, but with such a massive hole to dig out of, the Blazers simply ran out of time.
Again, you figured this team had to lose again at some point. Playing the fourth game in five nights is brutal, especially when you going against Minnesota who has a chip on their shoulder. Tonight featured Kevin and Nikola Pekovic slicing the Blazers’ defense and pouring it on. Kevin Love ended the night with 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting, 4-for-7 from three, 15 rebounds, and 9 assists. While Pekovic ended the night with 30 points on 14-for-19 shooting and 9 rebounds. Pekovic abused Lopez down low and was hitting hook shot after hook shot. Kevin Love seemed to be getting wide open threes and then was just able to close to the basket for easy finishes.
Like I said above, this game seemed like it had promise when the Blazers were up 9-8 with 8:25 remaining in the first quarter. Both teams were trading buckets and seemed to be like it was going to come down to the wire. Unfortunately, that same quarter ended with the Timberwolves up by 9, but it gets better. The Timberwolves outscored the Blazers 38-21 in the second quarter and at one point led by as many as 32. Ouch. The Timberwolves got way too many easy buckets. Here is a telling stat: the Timberwolves got 20 fast break points. Yes, 20. In the second quarter, it seemed like every other possession was a Blazer turnover into a fast break. Not a great night on that front. Also another stat, 72 points in the paint, that is ridiculous. Pekovic was working magic in the paint tonight and Minnesota abused that matchup all night long. Funny thing too is that Pekovic only played 29 minutes. He did get into some slight foul trouble and had to sit down a couple of times. Those were usually the times the Blazers made their runs, but we’ll get to that.
Some telling stats on the Blazer end. The Blazers had 19 assists to Minnesota’s 27. That is very unusual for this unselfish team. Tonight, the Blazers got caught in the trap of one-on-four ball and really were not thinking team ball. However, just when you think the game is over, the Blazers make it interesting by outscoring Minnesota in the third quarter 35-29 to reduce the deficit to 20. Then the Blazers outscored the Timberwolves 31-22 in the fourth quarter and at one point even got the deficit down to 5. They just simply ran out of time. It’s funny to say this, but if the Blazers just got into a 15-point deficit then they would have won this game most likely. The mere fact that they dug themselves into a 32-point deficit so fast was astounding and something that I would wager will not happen very often.
Tonight’s game featured yet another slow start on both ends of the floor. Missed shots followed by sluggish and sometimes just flat out embarrassing defensive possessions or lazy passes made it extremely difficult for the Blazers in the long run. Minnesota was pumped from the middle of the first quarter on and can you blame them? This was the best team in the West coming in and not to mention the matchup between the two best power-forwards in the game, Minnesota was ready to make a statement and they did. The Blazers are falling into the trap of relying too much on their offense and only playing defense in the second half. The defense in the second half of this game was a lot better and really affected the Timberwolves as you can see from the scoring of each quarter. The Blazers just need to figure out a way to get that kind of energy in the first quarter. The last three games the Blazers have had to dig out of a little hole early on and normally it is not a big deal. However, I would like to see the Blazers be able to set the tone early on in the game and not give team confidence going forward, especially on the road.
In the second half, the offense or really just Damian Lillard was dazzling again. This game reminded me of one of the Golden State games last year where Lillard could not miss from three and it was simply a matter of running out of time. I will get to individual stats in a second, but Lillard had yet another fantastic night. Unfortunately, he was the only one really going on offense besides Batum and to some extent LA. The Blazers finally got energetic and nasty on defense and weren’t just standing around watching lay-up after lay-up and allowed themselves to try and mount a rally. Again, if this defense had occurred in the second quarter, we might be talking about something entirely different right now. It is still mighty impressive that the Blazers were able to get it within 5 with :46 remaining in the fourth, but you feel as if this game was a missed opportunity.
LaMarcus Aldridge really could not find his shot tonight as he finished with just 15 points on 7-for-22 shooting and 14 rebounds. The rebounding number is impressive, but his offense was the coldest I have seen this season. Kevin Love was pushing LA out to almost the three point line and was forcing him to make long shots. I am wondering if we will see that kind of defense more against LA. Whatever the case, LA just struggled tonight, but I figure you could chalk that up to tired legs or just an off night. I do not expect these games to occur very often going forward.
Damian Lillard, holy moley. He is continuing his HOT streak and ended the night with another 36 points on 13-for-24 shooting, 7-for-14 from three, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Lillard was on fire in the second half and it looked as if the Blazers were going to mount an incredible comeback that ended with another Lillard game-winner. Lillard was hitting threes from everywhere and made Minnesota fans twitchy towards the end. Lillard is on another level right now and it so much fun to watch. When his three point shot is falling, get out of the way. It is just flat out disgusting.
Nicolas Batum had another solid offensive night finishing with 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting, 3-for-8 from three, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Batum is continuing to flash is shooting stroke and even his driving game. I wish he would stop shooting his fade away while moving sideways mid-range shot. It seems like sometimes that move is very unnecessary as nobody is around him and he doesn’t seem to be hitting a lot of them. He had 5 TOs on the night and contributed to couple of the many fast breaks that Minnesota ran in the second quarter. All that to say, I like the scoring that Batum is bringing he seems to be finding a nice groove in that part of his game. The Blazers need that from him and it is nice to see consistency in that area.
Well, you figured that had to lose another game at some point. The Blazers now have two days off to rest and recharge and then they will take on the New Orleans Pelicans (I’m sorry that name still makes me laugh) at the Moda Center on Saturday at 7:00 PM PST. This’ll be a nice bounce-back game for the Blazers as the Pelicans have been struggling so far on this current road trip of theirs and this game will be in the friendly confines of Moda Center. Should be a good one. Stay tuned!