The Portland Trail Blazers lose yet another heartbreaker in very similar fashion Sunday night. The Houston Rockets pull one out at home by beating the Trail Blazers 118-113. Portland falls to 42-21 on the season and the Rockets continue soaring with a record of 44-19.
After tonight’s loss, it is hard to imagine that Portland’s confidence hasn’t taken a bit of a blow. In Dallas, the Blazers almost pulled off the impossible, but you could almost be okay with it as Portland had no right being in a position to win that game. On the other hand, the Blazers did have a seven-point lead in Dallas at one point and looked to be in control of the game. We all know how that ended.
Flash forward to tonight in Houston. This was an important game that if the Blazers had won would have evened the season series and inched a full game closer to Houston in the standings. It looked good for most of the game. Portland was scoring well and ball movement was impressive. Robin Lopez defended Dwight Howard well enough to give Portland second-change opportunities. Mo Williams started the game off hot coming off the bench and Portland looked to be on the path to an impressive road victory. Not so fast.
Portland was outscored by Houston 33-21 in the fourth and suffered yet another intense cold spell that lasted about four minutes this time around. The Blazers led by as many as 11 with 6:35 remaining in the game and couldn’t put the cap on it. Similar to the Dallas game, Portland fouled repeatedly on the defensive end and was forced to deal with free-throws the rest of the way for Houston with quite a bit of time still remaining in the fourth. That is never a good sign for any team, but especially against James Harden who practically lives at the FT line. This has happened twice now. I understand that the Blazers are trying to play aggressive defense, but maybe cut back just a little bit?
After a C.J McCollum driving lay-up with 7:31 remaining, it seemed that Portland would just ride out the Houston run. Well, then James Harden started making three-pointers. The Blazers didn’t help themselves as LaMarcus Aldridge split two pairs of free throws in a row and only had a three-point lead with 3:04 remaining. This is where the other elephant comes into play. Those meddling turnovers. Portland had a whopping 20 of them with Nicolas Batum and Damian Lillard providing seven each. With a turnover and split at the line from Harden, the Blazers held just a one-point lead. In normal circumstances, you still think that the Blazers will pull this out, but watching that fourth quarter was like watching the wheels on the wagon explode. Wesley makes a pair to extend the lead to three, but Jeremy Lin, who was money tonight, made a driving lay-up to cut it back to one.
Portland and Houston went back and forth and Houston even split another pair of free throws to allow Portland to have a two-point lead with 0:16 remaining. Wesley was obviously fouled and went to the line. Keep in mind, Wesley had made all of his free throws attempts up to this point. He missed his second free throw, which would have made it a two-possession game. James Harden, who had just exploded in the fourth quarter, swished a three-pointer right in front of the Blazer bench, but the Portland still had 0:08 left to run a play and get a good look.
This is where I have to disagree with Stotts on the play. In what you expect to be a Lillard isolation play or a simple pass into LA, it turns out that the Blazers wanted to attempt a similar lob like what happened in the Laker game. Batum, having turned the ball over many times, threw a lob that was too high for Lillard to catch and was stolen by Patrick Beverley, the Houston point guard. Beverley almost banked in a three and forced the game into overtime. I would have preferred to have run the clock out a little bit to see if you can attempt a game winning shot. Even if Portland had made the lob, there was still a good seven seconds left on the clock. It was puzzling to say the least.
In overtime is when everything crumbled. Lillard swished a three-pointer to start OT, but he fouled out on the next possession forcing him to sit down. That is when the wheels came off. Looking at past games and history, if Lillard hadn’t fouled out, my guess is that he would have gone off. He swished his first shot and is normally insane in overtime. Unfortunately, that was not the case in this game.
What to take away from this game. The Blazers have lost two heartbreakers obviously and are now 0-2 on this road trip. The Blazers are struggling with turnovers. In their past two games they have a combined 39 turnovers. Not to mention that the fourth quarter cold spells seem to be biting Portland right where it hurts. Not being able to score for more than two minutes is troubling, especially if you talk about playoff series. Portland has been unable to score in the latter halves of the fourth quarter for no apparent reason. I do not know if it is mental or just tightness, but it is cause for alarm if it keeps up. Defensively, Portland has actually been doing well. The only thing I can say is to maybe not be as aggressive defensively in the fourth quarter. That is two games in a row that the Blazers have been in foul trouble and had to fight the FT line the rest of the way. Imagine those games if the Blazers didn’t have to fight that. They could play aggressive defense when they needed to and gotten crucial stops.
Portland needs to take a deep breath and just play basketball.
Portland, defensively, did what they set out to do. Houston only shot 31% from three as they went 9-for-29. However, Houston went to the line and had an extra 12 shots. Portland, on the other hand, shot 36% from three and went 9-for-25. Portland took care of the glass for most of this game, but in the latter half of the fourth quarter and into overtime, second chance opportunities for the Rockets were rampant.
James Harden, after starting the game cold, finished with 41 points on 12-for-28 shooting, 7-for-12 from three, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals. Very impressive line and was really the backbreaker for Portland. The player that got Houston back into the game was Jeremy Lin. He finished with 26 points on 7-for-17 shooting off the bench.
Portland had some impressive stats individually yet again. Wesley Matthews continues his offensive streak by finishing with 26 points on 5-for-15 shooting, 4-for-11 from three and 12-for-13 from the line (bet he wishes he had that free throw back).
Damian Lillard was efficient despite being in foul trouble all night. He finished with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting, 3-for-5 from three and 4 assists. Despite having seven turnovers, Lillard played great tonight.
LaMarcus Aldridge, struggled offensively, but finished with 28 points on 10-for-27 shooting and had 12 rebounds. The only thing I can say here is that LA has had a couple intense cold spells as of late. You can maybe say that is rust, but at this point he just needs to settle into a groove. It seems like he rushes some shots at times and doesn’t look comfortable.
On to the next one and it doesn’t get any easier. The Blazers will make their first visit to Memphis as they take on the Grizzlies Tuesday night at 5:00 p.m. PST. You may have forgotten, but the Blazers have played Memphis once already this year in Portland, but suffered their worst defeat of this season. Memphis has been on a roll ever since Marc Gasol came back. Time to put your hard hats on. Stay tuned!