The Portland Trail Blazers made it interesting against the Dallas Mavericks, as all the games with these two teams has been. Unfortunately, the Blazers just ran out of gas as they lost 103-98 on Friday night. The Blazers fall to 42-20 on the season and Dallas improves to 37-26.
The first quarter, much like the Laker game, ended up being the story of the whole game. Portland was only able to muster 10 points, while Dallas poured in 33. This was unlike the Mavericks that Portland faced in their previous matchup. With playoff positioning on the line for Dallas, they played with extra urgency and played probably the best defense I have seen Dallas play, at least in the first quarter. At one point Dallas was up 22-4. Tells you how that quarter went. Dallas shot the lights out. Jose Calderon went 5-for-6 including two three-pointers. Portland made a total of four shots in the entire first quarter.
The catalyst was really the second foul on Robin Lopez. With just a little under four minutes into the game, Lopez was called for an offensive foul. The Blazers were only down by seven. Not great, but manageable. Once Lopez had to be taken out of the game, the floodgates opened. Dallas went on a spree and the Blazers just could not get anything to fall. Three-pointers, going to the rim and everything in between nothing was working.
The Blazers’ offense started waking up as they were able to start trading buckets, but still had a massive 23-point hole to dig out of. Portland outscored the Mavericks by four in the second quarter. If you know how these games usually go, this was textbook. One team goes up by a huge margin, then the other team makes a seemingly impossible comeback that eventually ends in either a heartbreaking game winner or a fantastic win. The Blazers made a fantastic comeback. Riding momentum into the third quarter, the Blazers outscored the Mavericks 36-18 in a dazzling display of offense and defense. Wesley Matthews and LaMarcus Aldridge led the charge. LA finally got into his first zone after coming back from injury and it looked good. After struggling to find his shot for a couple of games, he finally found it and swished plenty. Wesley Matthews finally got out of his offensive slump and was hitting corner threes and posting up and swishing easier shots.
The defense also cranked up. Shots that were swishing for Dallas were now clanking off the backboard. Fouls that were getting called were now getting ignored. The entire feel of the game shifted and the Blazers took just a 1-point deficit into the fourth quarter. The mere fact that the Blazers got it there was incredible. Being down 30 is quite a hole; in fact, it is more like a canyon. The offense kept rolling into the fourth quarter as Mo Williams joined in on the action nailing a lay-up and a 17-foot jumper. At one point, the Blazers were up by seven with nine minutes remaining in fourth.
I would like to sit here and say that this ended well, but unfortunately Dallas got back into gear and Portland just ran out of gas. It started with Thomas Robinson getting a technical and fouling out. T-Rob, playing a great game and generally good defense on his man, could not handle Dirk Nowitzki and fouled him almost every time down the floor. Once he got called for his fifth foul, he chucked his mouthpiece and got called for a technical. Now that seven-point lead is down to four. The Blazers fought back and were able to go up by six after an LA make. After that, the Blazers were unable to score in the last 4:26 of the game.
Give the Blazers a lot of credit. Being down 30 to being up by seven is impressive. The Mavericks have a knack for blowing massive leads, but this time they were able to hold on just long enough. I do not know what it is about these two teams. Is it the matching styles of play? Each game is like a boxing match that leaves both fans on the floor afterwards. Luckily, this was the final game against the Mavericks this season, so you can put those heart pills back, for now.
This is a heart-breaking loss, but it seems as if LA is finally finding is groove, while Wes found his offense. Not the way you want to start a road trip, especially with the red hot Houston Rockets coming up, but the fact that I can sit here and say that the Blazers had a legitimate shot of winning this game is an achievement in it of itself.
The three-point shot was not a friend to Portland tonight. They finished going 7-for-26 and shot just 27%. The biggest stat of the night was the turnovers. Portland had a whopping 19 to Dallas’ 9. Dallas was able to grab 23 extra points off of those turnovers. Not good. Portland out-rebounded Dallas 49-38. Both teams almost shot identically from the field and from the line. Portland finished shooting 46% while Dallas finished shooting 47%. Portland finished shooting 71% from the line, which is pretty terrible if you think about how good the Blazers are from the line. Dallas finished shooting 74%. Scary how similar these teams were tonight.
Individually, it was all LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews. LA finished with 30 points on 13-for-28 shooting and 17 rebounds. He played hard all night and struggled in the first half. He dominated the second half until the final four minutes of regulation. The Dallas defense ran, and I mean ran, at LA whenever he had the ball and forced into taking extremely tough shots that didn’t connect. However, this signals that LA is back.
Wesley Matthews, after being in a shooting slump for the past couple of weeks, exploded for 26 points on 11-for-19 shooting, 4-for-8 from three and had 6 rebounds. It was good to see Wes contribute as the past couple of weeks have been rough on him. Hopefully this is a sign that he has found his shooting stroke once again.
Moving on, the Blazers face an even tougher opponent in the Houston Rockets on Sunday night. Houston absolutely obliterated Indiana and continues to climb up the Western conference. Tip- off is at 4:00 p.m. PST as the Blazers look to bounce back from a heartbreaker. Stay tuned!