The Portland Trail Blazers had lost five in a row and were 8-8 since the All-Star break. The Utah Jazz were 12-5 since the break, and had found their identity as a defensive-minded club following the trade of Enes Kanter and the move of Rudy Gobert into the starting lineup.
The Trai Blazers scored a season-low 12 points in the first quarter. LaMarcus Aldridge was playing noticeably hurt, and had 10 points through three quarters. Nicolas Batum (back) was out, as was Chris Kaman (shoulder). The Trail Blazers were playing on the road, shooting under 25% from deep. They were down by double-digits early.
They had every excuse to pack this one in.
But, through it all, they never gave up, and more than tripled their first-quarter production in the final period to scream ahead and defeat the Utah Jazz, 92-89 in what was the mother of must-win games.
The Trail Blazers schedule now offers them somewhat of a reprieve: eight of their last 12 games come against teams not currently in the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean they’re pushovers. Teams like the Suns, the Nets, and (as we saw tonight) the Jazz can give the Trail Blazers trouble. But if they can string together a few wins and correct their tailspin, we might look to tonight as the turning point in what has been a very interest season to say the least.
Quasi-recap
Ignore the 12-point first quarter and just know this: Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for six halftime points. That’s unacceptable, and the Trail Blazers were lucky to be down just 39-37… which looks more like a college halftime score than one from the NBA.
They fell behind by double-digits in the third quarter, and the goose truly looked cooked. There wasn’t any glimmer of hope in the mess of the game that was unfolding, but the Trail Blazers were again lucky to be down by “only” 10 heading into the fourth.
That’s when Lillardbot2000 and LTrain-O-Matic got an eery glow in their eyes, jerked their heads up, and went to work. Aldridge checked in more than halfway through the fourth and got to it. Drive into Gobert. Draw a foul. O-board. More free throws. Lillard was just as ruthless. Drives, drives, and more drives right into the teeth of the defense, and he was finally drawing some of the fouls that have eluded him earlier.
Aldridge scored nine of his 19 in the final period, Lillard 13 of his 23 en route to a 37-point Trail Blazers quarter that more than tripled their first-quarter effort.
The Jazz tried. They really did. But the Blazers played really good basketball for about nine minutes, and tonight that’s what it took.
You would hope that this was the light switch flipping on for a more sustained effort for the rest of the season; not a desperate lash-out to avoid a 6-game slide. Whatever trends this game precedes, it’s safe to say that the Trail Blazers can find success without Wesley Matthews (and, tonight, without Nicolas Batum and Chris Kaman) against a quality team, on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back. That means something.
Players
The only player besides Lillard (who tied a career-high with 12 assists) and Aldridge worth giving noteworthy shine to is Dorell Wright: he was 3-7 from deep and 6-14 overall off the bench for 15 points, five boards, and two dimes. A very nice performance from a player still looking to find his role on a team he’s played with for nearly two seasons. Wright would be an indispensable weapon come playoff time if he can keep this up. Unfortunately, he hasn’t shown that consistency is his strong suit, nor has he received consistent minutes to prove otherwise.
…and, okay, we should mention that Allen Crabbe started tonight and looked very good on defense, and pretty good in other areas en route to eight points (shooting 2-4 from range) and five boards in 30 minutes. Having a 3-and-D guy on your team not named “Matthews” would also be gold in the postseason, but even if he doesn’t get a chance this year, he has stretches that make you hopeful for the years to come.
…and we’d be remiss not to give a shout to C.J. McCollum, who shot 50% for his seven points and four boards. He didn’t have the game he had yesterday when he dropped a career-high 23, but it was a controlled, sustained effort.
…Okay, one more: the British Bulldog himself, Joel Freeland, was perfect from the field for six points and five boards with a block in just 19 minutes. Rounding him into game shape would be yet another bright spot on this injury-harrassed team.
The Blazers are now winners of one in a row… which sounds awfully unimpressive, until you realize they were about 30 seconds away from being losers of six in a row. So we’ll take it.