The Portland Trail Blazers’ struggles continue. The Portland Trail Blazers could not find the basket as they lose to the scorching Memphis Grizzlies 109-99 Tuesday night. The Blazers drop to 42-22 and are now on a three-game losing streak. Memphis on the other hand improves to 37-26 and is crawling up the bottom of the Western Conference.
What can you say that hasn’t already been said a thousand times? The Blazers are struggling yet again. This time, however, it seems that there are multiple issues surrounding this slide. Offensively, LaMarcus Aldridge has not been himself and has not been as dependable down the stretch of these last three games than you usually is. Free throws have been an extremely painful thorn in the Blazers’ side these past few weeks. Tonight demonstrated that yet again as they missed seven and shot 76% from the line. Now, you are probably expecting me to talk about turnovers. Well, Portland only had eight turnovers on the night. Normally, that is good and is something you want to see. However, the Blazers never really had opportunities to turn the ball over. There were a lot of one-and-done possessions followed by one-on-one basketball that ended with a brick.
Despite all that the Trail Blazers did wrong, Memphis was ready. They shot the lights out the whole game and finished the game shooting 56% from the field, while shooting 50% from three. Memphis dissected the Blazers’ defense and were able to get high-quality looks with ease. A lot of mid-range jumpers followed by Zach Randolph doing whatever he wants. Marc Gasol could not miss from range either. That is usually a sign that you are in for a long night. The surprise of the night was Courtney Lee, who only had 16 points, but it felt like a lot more. Courtney Lee went 6-for-8 in the third quarter and scored 13 of his 16. He was lethal. Give credit to Memphis’ defense. The Blazers were definitely off tonight from an offensive standpoint, but Memphis made it extremely tough. Memphis also set some of the toughest screens I have seen this year. Allowing their cutting and driving guards to work their magic.
I could sit here and hound on the Blazers yet again and how they need to improve, but really there comes a time when you need to put up or shut up. This is one of those times. I am pretty sure fans are getting tired of hearing about the moral victories and how Portland is pissed and how they just need to play harder. Not that those things are bad, but at this point of the season, it is time to just play basketball. In the tough Western Conference, long losing streaks at this point can be fatal. The Blazers currently sit (at the time of this blog post) in the 5th seed, but with a hot Golden State and Memphis right behind. The Blazers need to get out of this funk quick; otherwise they may be looking at a 7th or 8th seed.
There is an argument out there that says that there should not be cause for panic and that it would be okay for the Blazers to get a low seed to play a better matchup and that home-court advantage isn’t that big of a deal. While I agree with the notion that home-court advantage is a little hyped in some regard, Portland has shown to be a very good team in stretches and clearly deserves at least a first round home-court advantage. I would rather face the Clippers or Houston and get home-court than roll the dice on a lower seed and hope that we get hot against OKC and San Antonio.
In terms of individual statistics for Portland, Lillard had a fantastic game and really tried his best to give Portland a shot in this game. He finished with 32 points on 8-for-21 shooting, 4-for-8 from three and 7 assists. He also went 12-for-13 from the line, which was a sight to see considering he had missed a bit more from the line than normal.
LaMarcus Aldridge contributed to this game, but he was very inefficient. He finished with 19 points on 8-for-23 shooting and had 10 rebounds. LA is one of those players that just has to find his stride and quickly. The Blazers look out of sorts whenever he struggles and tonight was no different.
The Blazers have no time to wallow as they fly to San Antonio to take on the Spurs in their final meeting of the season. Portland currently leads the season series 2-1, but comes into San Antonio tired and beat up. This will be another test for Portland to see if they can get up for this game as it will be very important. Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. PST. Stay tuned!