The Portland Trail Blazers are now 6-6 on the season after losing to the Brooklyn Nets Friday night.
A 48-point win to kick off the season gave Portland Trail Blazers fans hope. Adrenaline from the biggest victory ever on opening night continued when they defeated the Indiana Pacers by 18.
Excitement soon turned to disappointment though when Portland blew a late game lead to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Fans didn’t realize this choke was one of many to appear in the next three weeks.
Of Portland’s six losses, only one was by more than ten points – the other five games came down to the final seconds.
The theme stays for two of their six wins as well. Crunch time heroics saved crucial games against the LA Lakers and OKC Thunder.
Let’s dissect those eight down-to-the-wire games and see what went right/wrong:
Milwaukee Bucks (Oct. 21)
The Blazers lost their first game of the season to the Milwaukee Bucks.
All 48 minutes involved back and forth action. Damian Lillard scored 16 points alone in the fourth quarter to keep Portland within striking distance.
Then, back-to-back turnovers from Dame and CJ McCollum gave Milwaukee the chance to close out the game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo reached around McCollum to poke the ball loose, resulting in a fast break dunk for the Greek Freak.
The game ended 113-110, and the Blazers moved to 2-1 on the season.
Los Angeles Clippers (Oct. 26)
A ten-point win over the New Orleans Pelicans buffered the disappointing loss to Milwaukee.
Just as fans had recovered, Blake Griffin hit a buzzer beater three to plunge everyone back into frustration.
CJ needed to knockdown both sets of free throws on consecutive possessions to end the Clippers’ late game surge. He split each pair, keeping LA down by two with seconds remaining.
Blake Griffin caught the ball with just enough time to dribble once and shoot. But apparently Portland’s defense didn’t recognize how much time was left.
Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless watched as Griffin hoisted up an uncontested three. It dropped and the Blazers moved to 3-2 on the season.
Utah Jazz (Nov. 1)
Noah Vonleh is back!
His return unfortunately changed nothing about how Portland played down the stretch.
Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio dueled the Blazer backcourt until one possession remained.
Lillard threw up a floater as time expired, but was denied by Rudy Gobert and the game went to overtime.
In OT, Mitchell and Rubio outperformed Dame and CJ. No one else on Portland compensated for the guards and Utah pulled out a nine-point victory.
Los Angeles Lakers (Nov. 2)
One day after Portland’s OT-loss to Utah, they faced the LA Lakers. Hopefully both LA teams wouldn’t break our hearts.
An 18-point first half lead didn’t last as the game followed character of the previous three listed above.
Locked at 110, Portland had the ball and the chance to win again. This time, Dame took his signature stepback three over the outstretched arm of Brandon Ingram.
The shot fell, and Mr. Clutch pointed to his wrist – we all knew what time it was.
But in the back of everyone’s mind was, “Why didn’t he take that shot against the Jazz?”
Oklahoma City Thunder (Nov. 5)
The Blazers captured momentum after Carmelo Anthony was controversially ejected. They jumped to a 16-point lead, which dwindled to 11 entering the fourth.
A scoring drought returned the lead to OKC midway through the final quarter.
McCollum and Russell Westbrook traded baskets, but Westbrook failed to drop three straight free throws with 20 seconds left.
Lillard knocked his down and the Blazers achieved their second straight crunch time victory by a score of 103-99.
Things were looking up for a team often in these anxious fourth quarter battles.
Memphis Grizzlies (Nov. 7)
But good things don’t last forever.
A heroic steal by Shabazz Napier after McCollum’s three-pointer gave Portland the ball back with 12.1 seconds remaining, down one.
That three put CJ at 36 points on the night, compared to Dame’s 12. Terry Stotts honored the hot hand and gave him the chance to play hero with the final shot.
Driving and pulling up on Dillon Brooks, McCollum short-armed the 17-foot game winner. Despite grabbing his own rebound, CJ couldn’t get another shot off and time ran out.
Portland lost 98-97 and fell to 6-5.
Brooklyn Nets (Nov. 10)
Allen Crabbe’s homecoming! He scored 12 points on 5/11 shooting, helping Brooklyn defeat his old club.
The story of nearly every Blazer loss this season repeats itself against Brooklyn. But losing to the Nets is a little more heartbreaking.
D’Angelo Russell penetrated with ease and pushed them ahead with little time to play. Jusuf Nurkic played just one minute in the fourth quarter, making way for Russell to score at will in the paint.
Portland couldn’t recover and lost 101-97, falling even on the season and seventh in the Western Conference.
Next: Jusuf Nurkic benched in 4th vs. Nets
Damian Lillard realizes the team’s struggles. Dame was quoted by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian acknowledging how close the Blazers are to a much better record:
"“Walking off the court, I was thinking about it. I think what makes it so frustrating is that we could be 10-2. We could very easily be 10-2. It makes losses like this hurt even more because you’ve already let some slip, games that [we] should’ve won…We had a five-point lead at a point where we could have taken control of the game. Let that slip and you lose another one and you find yourself at 6-6…We’ve had our chances.”"
It’s time for Portland players and fans to stop saying “what if” and start focusing on crunch time mechanics to avoid these heartbreaks.
Plus, I have no more nails to chew off after watching those nine games be within three points for the final 90 seconds.