The Portland Trail Blazers blinked in the first quarter and then never got back into it. The Houston Rockets stopped the Blazers’ from sweeping the Texas triangle as they beat Portland 126-113 on Monday night. You can tell from the score that this was a typical Rockets game. No defense and high-flying offense. A couple of things contributed to this loss for the Blazers, but ultimately it was just the insane shooting by the Rockets that did them in.
The first half tells the whole story in a nutshell. Houston came out swinging outscoring Portland 71-56 in the first half and never looked back. Portland made it interesting, like they always do, by cutting the deficit to nine in the third quarter, but Houston had plenty of answers for any kind of run that Portland would mount. Let’s jump straight into stats as that will give a better sense of how this game got away.
Houston went 16-for-33 from three to shoot a blistering 49%. Anytime a team shoots that well from three, and people from Portland have seen this a few times, then there is really nothing you can do. The Blazers’ defense is not taking the whole blame for this game. The Rockets are very similar to Portland in that they have plenty of three-point shooters and it was just a matter of getting one of them free. The Rockets as a team went 45-for-86 shooting 52%. Again, the Rockets weren’t missing. Chandler Parsons finished the night with 31 points on 12-for-19 shooting, 3-for-5 from three, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. Omri Casspi provided 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting, 3-for-5 from three, 8 rebounds and 2 assists off the bench. It was just one of those nights.
You can try and point the finger at Portland and say that their defense wasn’t good enough or we should run these plays more or that they need to be ready. Tonight was an aberration. The fact is that the Blazers are currently 31-10 and it seems that the only way they can really be beaten is through freak shooting nights or by extremely cold nights on Portland’s part. Portland didn’t shoot terribly tonight. They finished the game going 44-for-97 and shooting 45% overall while recording 8-for-25 and shooting 32% from three. The Rockets, like the Suns, just present a matchup problem. Those are the only two teams in this league that truly seem to give the Blazers trouble. Stotts was smart to wave the white flag and not try for a ridiculous comeback. Portland has a tough matchup against OKC tomorrow and the starters need all the rest they can get. Portland may also be a man short as according to reports, Batum’s middle finger swelled up in this game after being bumped. If the team cannot find a splint big enough for him then he will not play tomorrow. This OKC game is going to be hard enough as it is and the Thunder probably smell blood in the water. Portland needs to take a deep breath, be grateful that there is a game tomorrow to get their minds of this one and play as hard as they can.
Tonight was not without good performances from Portland’s all-stars. LaMarcus Aldridge finished the night with 27 points on 11-for-26 shooting and 20 rebounds. LA had a poor shooting night, but made up for it in hustle and grabbing rebounds. For some reason, playing Houston makes LA rebound like an animal. In the last game against Houston, LA had an MVP-worthy night as he recorded 31 points and 25 rebounds. Houston might be giving Portland grief this year, but I think that it might not be that hard to adjust. If LA continues to play this way against Houston, the Blazers have a great shot.
Damian Lillard had no big heroics tonight, but did end up with 24 points on 7-for-17 shooting, 3-for-8 from three and 5 assists. Blazer fans probably didn’t feel like either of these players did very much, but you have to respect the fact that they still showed up. Most fans probably turned this game off after the first quarter, but keep in the mind that this team still scored 113 points. You take away Houston shooting almost 89% to start the game; this would have been a hell of a dog fight.
This is just a classic case of taking a deep breath and moving on. The Portland Trail Blazers have a tough matchup as they will, once again, face the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Tuesday Night at 5:00 p.m. PST. Durant has been on fire. No, he has been a flamethrower. I am sure that the Thunder are not too thrilled that the Blazers hold a 2-0 series lead on them. The Thunder and their extremely loud jumbo-tron will be ready. With or without Batum, the Blazers need to forget about this game and focus on OKC. Stay tuned!