The Trail Blazers’ woes continue as they lost to the Orlando Magic, who had a nine-game losing streak going into the game, 95-85. The Trail Blazers fall to 45-27 on the season and the Magic improve (?) to 20-52. Portland is currently on a three-game losing streak and need help badly. They are only 2 ½ games ahead of Phoenix and Dallas. Not to say the Trail Blazers will not fall out of the playoffs, but it is certainly something that is creeping up in everyone’s minds.
This game was the same script as the Miami game. Unfortunately, that is not a good thing. Portland is slowly but surely falling apart offensively without LaMarcus Aldridge. When LA was out for his first stint with injury, Portland could survive as teams just could not figure out how to defend them. Now, you are starting to see the effects of scouting and adjustments, which are tearing the Blazers up.
Portland started off in another hole as they were down 9-2 with eight minutes remaining in the first. The Blazers, however, fought back with lay-ups and played the passing lanes as Lillard and Batum both got steals. The Blazers had a three-point lead and looked to be steady. Unfortunately, that would not last. The Magic hit the Blazers in the throat in the second quarter, outscoring them 27-16. The Blazers only made six field goals in the second quarter alone and didn’t make a bucket for about six minutes. Again, these massive cold spells are killing them. The Blazers defense was good enough to help them get back into the game. In the second quarter, Orlando had spots where they couldn’t hit a bucket. The Blazers just could not capitalize once again on opportunities that were staring them in the face.
The third quarter, however, started off very promising. The Blazers scored five points in just a little under a minute and only had a two-point deficit. However, the offense sputtered out as Portland was missing from everywhere. Lillard missed a 12-footer while Batum missed a 10-footer. Orlando’s offense was there all quarter and slowly just built the lead from there ending with Portland staring at a 14-point deficit. After Lopez had made a bucket with 3:30 remaining, the Blazers were only able to muster up two points from then to the end of the quarter. Not a good offensive stretch for the Blazers to say the least.
The fourth quarter was more of the same. However, one possession that comes to mind was when the Magic got four – count them, four – opportunities on the same possession that ended in the three-pointer. Portland had the rebound twice and let it slip away. Just tells you how bad the game really was at that point.
The frustration is probably evident in this writing, but everyone is frustrated. This team had so much promise early on in the season that Blazer fans probably figured that games like these were auto-wins and for a while they were. However, I do not think they imagined the Blazers hobbling into the postseason and having a slight chance to not make it altogether. The Blazers are 3-7 in their last 10 games and are just a ½ game ahead of sixth seed Golden State. This is do or die time for the Blazers and games against these kinds of teams need to be won.
What is most alarming is the way they are losing them. The aggressiveness seems to be hit or miss and there are times where the feeling seems to be that you just chuck up a three-pointer and see what happens. Now, I will say that this team should not stop shooting the three-pointer. In fact, I advocate for continuing to take those shots, but when it is obvious that the ball isn’t going in and you are taking three-pointers when you are being swarmed, you might want to question what you are going to do next. The Blazers and the Magic tied for rebounding at 50, but Portland could not convert on consecutive offensive possessions, once again.
The three-pointer was non-existent as Portland finished going 7-for-26 and shot just 27% from behind the arc. Portland also only shot 37% from the field. Orlando was shooting above 50% for a lot of this game, but finished shooting 44%.
Finally, the other elephant in the room is the turnovers. Portland had 15 and Nicolas Batum provided six. Batum has had 11 turnovers in his past two games.
Individually, Robin Lopez earns the reward for best stat line. Lopez single-handedly kept this game from becoming laughable early on as he finished with a season-high 20 points on 9-for-13 shooting, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks. Without Lopez, Blazer fans might have exited the game in the second quarter.
Wesley Matthews sported a decent line as he finished with 18 points on 5-for-13 shooting, 4-for-8 from three.
Damian Lillard finished with 17 points, but on 5-for-17 shooting and did not make a single three. This screams not having LA in the line-up. There will hopefully be a collective sigh of relief when LA does make his return.
Speaking of LA, the next matchup against Atlanta in two days looks to be a promising return game for the All-Star. The Blazers would love to have him back as soon as possible as their offense has dried up and Portland is looking for answers. Which LA will they be getting, though? Either way, he will command respect from defenders and help get back into the old offense once again.
What else is there to say about this game? This was a bad loss. Portland needs to come out and hit the ground running and keep running. The Blazers need to find a way to get through these cold spells without giving up 10-12 points in those stretches. If not, the Blazers will be hard-pressed to win a lot of games from here on out. Finally, the Blazers need to take care of the basketball. Make simple, good passes, while not trying to be too fancy. The hero ball is slowly starting to return as well as there were a few offensive possessions where it felt like Portland just gave up and threw the ball up. Not what you want see close to the postseason.
Portland will get a day off before taking on the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night at 4:30 p.m. PST. The Blazers can still salvage this road trip, but they have to do it now. Portland is on some shaky, shaky ground. Can they right the ship in time for the postseason? Stay tuned!