Dwyane Wade tallies 15 in fourth quarter to stop Trail Blazers
104. 34. 108. 110. Final
The Portland Trail Blazers built a lead, lost it, then were in position to snatch the victory anyway, but failed to take care of business down the stretch as a revitalized Dwyane Wade scored 32 to help the Miami Heat overcome the Trail Blazers 108-104.
Recap
The Trail Blazers started the game shooting over 80%, but were unable to take advantage. With neither team committing to defense, scoring was plentiful and the Trail Blazers took a coin flip 32-27 lead into the second quarter.
As the first half came to a close, a theme emerged for Portland: “LaMarcus Aldridge is good. Let’s feed him.” The lunchmeat was served in heaping portions, and Aldridge was 7-11 for 15 points by halftime, with Damian Lillard kicking up 10 points of his own. The Trail Blazers were content with a 57-48 halftime advantage.
It was looking like theywere going to pack the Heat away, but Goran Dragic, Luol Deng, and Wade were having none of it. The Heat went on a run, and a Mario Chalmers three knotted it up at 70 apiece. The idea of extending a double-digit lead giving way to the notion of just staying alive, the Trail Blazers were up just 81-79 after three.
They went ice cold in the fourth quarter, allowing an 11-0 Heat run and falling behind by as many as eight as the clock ran down. Copious amounts of offensive rebounding kept the Trail Blazers’ heads above water, and with less than a minute left, an Aldridge putback had the Trail Blazers up two.
Wade slipped back into the hot tub time machine, scoring 15 of his team’s last 17 points, and a jumper tied the game, then another put the Heat up two after the Trail Blazers were unable to score at the other end.
After failing to inbound the ball once and now with no timeouts, Portland needed to get a shot to tie or win. The inbounds pass intended for C.J. McCollum was reached for and tipped by Aldridge, and the ball sailed into the backcourt for a Trail Blazers turnover. And that was pretty much the game. They fell 108-104 to the Heat, and are now sporting a 2-game losing streak.
Players
The Trail Blazers rode LaMarcus Aldridge like a Clydesdale: what else is new? 34 and 12 with two dimes, a steal, and a block. This is the kind of individual game Aldridge delayed surgery for, but he would have been much happier to be held scoreless and get the win.
Damian Lillard shot 7-13, but only got three free throws and missed two of them for “just” 17 points, three assists, and three rebounds. It seems like the games when we’d yell “Lillard Time!” every fourth quarter were a mighty long time ago.
Nicolas Batum hit a very clutch three late, but otherwise wasn’t as much of a factor as he’s been lately, with 8-4-6. There is no reason to believe this is the start of a slump, but his early struggles this season will follow him in the form of scrutiny.
Robin Lopez was also quiet: six and six with a block, but still had a lot of the seals and box-outs that help the team but don’t show in the stats.
Arron Afflalo had another 15-point game, but it took him 13 shots to get there… but he was 4-6 from deep!… but had just three boards and one assist… but no turnovers! We have a feeling there will be a lot of games like this for him moving forward.
Chris Kaman‘s beard has been ruffled lately, and it’s helping his play: nine and 13 with a few dimes is a great line from your backup big man, but the lone turnover might be even more encouraging.
Speaking of turnovers, Steve Blake had four of them, one more turnover than he had points. He did have six assists.
Next up
After such a nice string of games, and considering how close some of these losses have been, it’s not hard to see the Trail Blazers being able to right the ship against the 21-49 Orlando Magic on Friday. Plus they get to stay in Florida, and the less a team has to travel, the better.