Portland Trail Blazers lose to Utah Jazz in overtime heartbreaker
By Nate Mann
The Portland Trail Blazers drop their second straight, losing to the Utah Jazz in overtime 112-103.
For their first losing streak of the season, the Portland Trail Blazers fall in overtime to the Utah Jazz. They are now 4-4 on the season, and slide in the Northwest Divisional race.
First Quarter:
The first quarter almost kicked off with back-to-back highlight plays.
Maurice Harkless nearly finished a huge dunk over Rudy Gobert. On the other end, Jusuf Nurkic swatted a Gobert layup off the glass, which led to the game-opening score by Nurk.
He had Portland’s first six points in a sloppy, defensive first few minutes.
Three straight three-pointers by Utah gave them the lead with four minutes left in the quarter. To stop the 9-0 run, Terry Stotts subbed in Noah Vonleh for his debut.
The quarter ended 22-20, Portland trailing.
Second Quarter:
The Portland Trail Blazers are not a second quarter team (hint: Raptors game).
With just one bucket through five minutes, it looked like the Blazers might repeat the dreadful performance.
Consequently, they fell behind by eight early on. A three-pointer from Al-Farouq Aminu and baskets from the reserves got Portland back in the game.
In a low-scoring half, Portland and Utah went to the locker room tied at 39.
Third Quarter:
Both offenses hit their rhythm heading into the second half. The first half totals were nearly doubled through the third.
Down-low fouls and finishes boosted Portland to a late lead.
But back-and-forth baskets kept the gap at just five points heading into the final 12 minutes.
Two notes of an otherwise bland third quarter: First, Jusuf Nurkic was thriving off pick-and-rolls with CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard. He tied his season-high for points in the first three quarters, and eventually passed it. Second, Aminu hurt his wrist after a defensive play. The trainers taped it and he shortly re-entered, but later exited the game due to a twisted ankle.
Fourth Quarter:
After being fouled on his first two dunk attempts, Noah Vonleh finally got his first basket since returning from injury.
Utah quickly stole back the momentum after the big Vonleh dunk behind Ricky Rubio’s consecutive makes.
Feeling the stroke, Rubio continued to throw up threes. They no longer fell for him in the final minutes, and the Big Three extended the lead to six.
Like with all leads in this game, it faded and the teams locked up at 94 with 29 seconds remaining.
A Rubio travel and two Dame misses sent the game to overtime.
Overtime:
In his first NBA overtime game, Donovan Mitchell scored the first five points for Utah.
Between him and Rubio, Utah’s guard play outdid Portland’s. Then…NOT NATURAL BASKETBALL MOVEMENT.
Thabo Sefolosha kneed Nurk in the groin, resulting in a technical foul (not flagrant though).
The Blazers fail to capitalize on the extra possession, and all momentum shifts to the Jazz.
They complete the overtime win, 112-103.
Three Takeaways:
Wearing Dame 4’s makes you play like Dame
Donovan Mitchell has worn Damian Lillard’s signature Adidas shoes since his college days. Dame’s taken notice and the two are known to text occasionally.
Tonight, he wore the new Dame 4’s in a yellow Jazz colorway.
Filling in for Rodney Hood, who shot 0-11 and sat most of the fourth and OT, Mitchell posted a career-high 28 points on four three-pointers.
Bench points
Portland’s bench has been notoriously bad the past few years.
Hot starts from Evan Turner, Ed Davis and Pat Connaughton made that theme go away.
Tonight, however, the bench was completed dominated by Utah’s.
Donovan Mitchell led the reserves with 28, and Sefolosha added 15. Overall, they outscored Portland’s bench 54-20, crucial to the overtime victory.
Evan Turner at point guard
ET sometimes handles point guard duties for the bench unit, even with CJ or Dame on the court.
Tonight, he looked too caught up in the offensive scheme. The Jazz pressured him at halfcourt, and instead of dribbling through, Turner picked his dribble and looked for a pass.
This led to two turnovers for ET, and many more risky passes that wasted the shot clock.
Next game:
The Portland Trail Blazers return home to face the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. PT.