Portland Trail Blazers trampled by Milwaukee Bucks
By David MacKay
The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Milwaukee Bucks, 88-95, and have now lost eight of their last 10 games. This includes all three of their Eastern Conference road trip.
Recap
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This one began as one might expect—Rough. The Bucks’ swarming defense and early double-teams threw the Trail Blazers offense completely out of sync. Hurried Portland passes were often picked off (seven turnovers in the quarter), so the Trail Blazers stopped moving the ball, which was exactly what the Bucks wanted. Heavily contested, low percentage shots resulted in a season-low 15 first quarter points for the Trail Blazers. The Bucks led by 12.
However; Portland turned things around in the second quarter. It became clear rather quickly that Damian Lillard was not happy. A thunderous dunk on an otherwise broken play shifted the momentum in the Trail Blazers’ favor. The team would go on a 17-5 run to end the quarter, entering the half down just three.
Unfortunately, Milwaukee went on the offensive in the third quarter. At times, it seemed as if the Bucks capitalized on every stop they got, which may not be far from the truth. They shot 50 percent in the period to the Trail Blazers’ 30 percent. The Blazers tried to make a push toward the end, but the Bucks went on a 9-2 run, taking a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter.
Their lead continued to grow up to 20 points. Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts let the starters run until about a minute left, but the game was over long before that. Something is wrong when Jared Dudley looks like an All-Star. The Trail Blazers were smothered into defeat.
Players
LaMarcus Aldridge played well, but not exceedingly so. Then again, he shouldn’t necessarily have to carry a team this talented to begin with. He finished with 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. He was less involved on offense than usual because the Trail Blazers had so much difficulty moving the ball within the arc.
Damian Lillard looked bad once again, but it would not be fair to say it was entirely self inflicted. He was constantly subjected to double-teams and occasionally triple teams. He couldn’t get to the hoop without being collapsed upon, so he took a myriad of 3-point shots that went only halfway down. He had 19 points and nine assists, but an eye-popping six turnovers while shooting 1-10 from deep.
Wesley Matthews probably looked the best of any player in red and black. He burned the Bucks in the post a few times and from the perimeter a few times more. He finished the game with 19 points, like Lillard, but nailed nearly half of his shots. He was, however, undersized against the Bucks’ wonky lineup, which was sometimes a problem on the defensive end.
Meyers Leonard drew the start so that Chris Kaman could return to the bench, but it was actually Thomas Robinson who ended up with the most minutes in the frontcourt. This worked well some of the time, as Robinson forced a few turnover and even blocked what would have been a monster dunk from Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Blazers paid for his presence in awareness around the rim.
Notes
- LaMarcus Aldridge scored his 1,000th point of the season. This is now his eighth consecutive season of reaching 1,000+ points. According to Trail Blazers Public Relations, LeBron James is the only other player to accomplish the same feat.
The Trail Blazers now get a few much needed days to recuperate before hosting the Utah Jazz at 7:00 p.m. PST on February 3rd.
Video by the Portland Trail Blazers
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