The skid continues for the Portland Trail Blazers as they just could not stop the hot San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs beat the Blazers 103-90 on Wednesday night and looked like a very different team than the one the Blazers had beat twice earlier in the season. The Blazers drop to 42-23 on the season and are currently on their longest losing streak of the season at four. The Spurs improve to 48-16 and look to be up to their usual ways of silently holding the first seed in the Western Conference.
As if things couldn’t get worse for the Blazers, they not only are they in their biggest struggle of the season, but they now have to deal with the possibility of all-star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge being out yet again. LA, after jumping up to lay-in a bucket, came down extremely hard on his back and winced in pain on the court. He eventually had to be helped off the court and was seen later in a wheelchair. Reports say that it is a back contusion and that the X-rays were negative. Good news at that end, but what does this mean going forward? How much time will LA miss? Good question. Obviously this means going back to playing more small ball like Portland did recently where they did have some success. However, at this stage of the season, that is dangerous. What is most unfortunate was that LA looked to be getting his rhythm back in this game. He finished with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
At this point, the Blazers have to find anything that will work and go with it. Portland has been unable to beat an above .500 team since January. It is good to know that we can beat up on sub-par teams, but these are the kinds of games that need to be won if you want to be in the conversation of an upper echelon team in the Western Conference. There are no magic words you can say and no program you can run your players through. Tonight seemed to be a mixture of bad luck and fatigue. The Blazers could not hit any kind of shot tonight and it wasn’t because of the lack of trying. The Blazers would get multiple attempts at a basket, but the ball would somehow roll the wrong way or clunk off the back iron.
The Spurs, on the other hand, seemed to be hitting shot after shot. They finished shooting around 43%, but it felt like 60%. The Blazers could get enough consecutive stops and buckets to mount any sort of run. The Blazers did have the lead early in the first quarter when they led 22-21, but that was all they could muster. Once the Spurs got it going, the Blazers could not keep up. The Blazers’ defense showed up in the second half (typical) and gave them every chance to come back and make this a competitive game. However, the offensive woes were crippling all night.
Moving forward, the Blazers go back into survival mode. Mo Williams, who was out for tonight’s game, is probably going to be back sooner rather than later and after watching Patty Mills light up his former team, sooner would be ideal. LaMarcus Aldridge, on the other hand, is a different story. Luckily the team is familiar playing without him, but the schedule coming up is not as friendly as it was prior. Portland has to step it up in some big ways.
To throw a few stats your way, Portland shot an abysmal 4-for-21 from three point land. Most of that was great defense by the Spurs, but some of the three-point shots seemed off balance or rushed when they didn’t need to be. There was also a stretch where Portland fell into the trap of no ball movement and taking three-point shots three steps behind the line. The FT line is what is most shocking. The Blazers went 22-for-30 from the line and shot 73%. Wesley Matthews, who is usually so dependable at the line, went 2-for-6. Even the makes for Portland were hard to come by. The ball would bounce around a while before eventually falling in. One of those stretches.
There is good news, however, in that the TOs seem to be coming down. Portland tied the Spurs in the amount of turnovers at 12.
Damian Lillard did his best to put the team on his back, but it wasn’t enough. He finished with 23 points on 9-for-22 shooting, 2-for-7 from three, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Dorell Wright, with the possible absence of LaMarcus Aldridge for a while, had a solid game. He finished with 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting, but the big stat was that he provided six rebounds. If LA does miss time, there will be rebounds to grab.
The Blazers will have a day off before going to the last stop on this trip in New Orleans as they take on the Pelicans. Tip-off is at 5:00 p.m. PST at the Smoothie King Center (I am not joking that is really the arena’s name. Really?). Can the Blazers finally get back on course? Stay tuned!