This was not the ending we’d hoped for.
After battling back from a 12-point deficit and surviving sub-30% shooting in the first quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers were up one point with 25 seconds left and failed to use their final timeout, instead turning the ball over which led to a Klay Thompson bucket. The Trail Blazers then threw an unwise inbound pass to LaMarcus Aldridge, turning the ball over again and allowing 2 free throws. With the Golden State Warriors now up three with four seconds left, the Trail Blazers turned it over one more time, and fouled, falling 95-90 at home and dropping to 1-2 on the season.
Recap
Billy Madison speaks volumes. The Trail Blazers blew it. But, to be fair, there was a lot to like about this game: the Trail Blazers didn’t give up. Thomas Robinson finally got some non-garbage time and excelled in the 2nd quarter, Aldridge went pure beast mode in the fourth, scoring 10 consecutive Portland points when they needed them badly. and Steve Blake provided a few nice shots off the bench.
…and, of course, there was also plenty to dislike: Damian Lillard continued to slump (shooting 4-18), Kaman had his first less-than-stellar game as a Trail Blazer, and Portland dug themselves an early hole that they spent all night trying to crawl out of, only to suffer from lapses of judgement when they had no room for error. These errors are not befitting of an elite team priming itself for a deep playoff run.
Once the dust had settled from that atrocious first quarter (the only positive from which may have been that Aldridge passed Clyde Drexler for 6th all-time in Trail Blazers blocks), the home team got the jump they needed from Robinson, whose infectious energy was capped by throwing down a lob from Wes Matthews. The Trail Blazers improved their shooting to 36% at the half, and trailed just 48-51 as Thompson lit it up for the Warriors and already had 20 points to lead all scorers.
The Trail Blazers kept pushing, and took their first lead since 2-0 with about a minute left in the third quarter, and the game was knotted 68-all heading into the fourth.
The only thing that can make a slow, grindy game even slower and grindier is overzealous officiating, which is exactly what fans got to start the fourth quarter. TWEET! Foul. TWEET! Foul. TWEET! Foul. There were more whistles than grains of sand on a beach, and the Blazers may have been running uphill in that sand trying to get ahead, but it was working. They took their biggest lead (three whole points!) with about five minutes to go. After Andre Iguodala missed one of two free throws for the Warriors, the Blazers were up 90-89, with the ball, with 25 seconds left. All they needed to do was avoid disaster, and they had a very good chance of winning.
Unfortunately, dumping the ball to Matthews on the baseline did not pan out. He was quickly trapped and flustered. The ball squirted out of bounds, originally called to Portland but upon review was overturned. The Warriors then gave it to Thompson who, despite having a quiet second half, did not shy away from shooting, With Matthews in his grill, he canned a runner to put the Warriors up one, which led to the sequence of poor decisions described previously. My fingers, heart, soul, and brain will bleed if I have to type that out again. Game, Warriors.
Players
Lillard continued to struggle, and is now averaging fewer than 15 points a game on less than 30% shooting. He’ll break out of it, but I think all of Portland would like to see it happen right about… now.
Matthews had 18 points and shot 3-9 from distance. He also clamped down on Thompson in the third quarter, allowing him just a single shot before taking a seat. Blake took over and Thompson got off five quick ones in the remainder of the period.
Nicolas Batum had 9 rebounds and 4 assists, but just 5 points. The Blazers need him to take more than 7 shots a game, even if they are not falling.
Aldridge was the lone starter to shine without an asterisk. He played better than his 26 points and 13 rebounds, especially down the stretch when the Trail Blazers needed him most. It was his first double-digit rebounding game of the year, and the Trail Blazers will expect more of the same going forward. Isn’t that the rub of being a star? Even when you play very well, it’s not a big deal. It’s just expected. Anything short of greatness appears as failure.
Robin Lopez had a double-double, and the dunk of the Trail Blazers’ young year, posterizing Warriors center Andrew Bogut. It was a great dunk by a guy who can’t jump all that high, but has so much mass it’s pretty much impossible to stop him once he’s in the air. Unfortunately, his time on the court was limited by early foul trouble.
Blake played solidly, contributing 8 points and 5 assists in 22 minutes. His shot mechanics look a little weird, though. Maybe I never noticed it before, but it seems to take every ounce of his energy to hoist a long-range shot. Maybe he does not use his legs as much as he used to.
Robinson provided that nice 2nd-quarter spark as mentioned earlier. He had 4 points and 6 rebounds with a steal and a block in 14 minutes.
The Trail Blazers will need to rediscover their identity, and pronto. They face LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving… and Kevin Love… oh, and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. PST at the Moda Center. November 4th is also my birthday. They’d better win. And it’s election day, too, so if you haven’t done it already, get out and vote!