The losing streak ends at five! The Blazers complete a nine-point comeback against the Heat to improve to 14-13 on the season.
The last time Portland travelled to Miami, Damian Lillard dropped 49 points for a double-digit victory. It was CJ McCollum’s turn tonight. He finished with 28 points on 9/16 shooting and was the reason why the Blazers didn’t trail by 20 at half.
The Heat were without Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson, while the Blazers missed just Jusuf Nurkic with injury.
In spite of this, the two teams stack up very similarly statistically so far this year. Both are defending at a high rate but failing to score efficiently, therefore entering the game 13-13.
First Quarter
In his first career start, none other than Zach Collins opened up the scoring tonight. Collins continued his offensive mayhem by throwing up two post jumpers, one of which fell. In seven first quarter minutes, Collins finished with five points.
CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard contributed three three-pointers and 11 total points.
On the other end, the Blazers made numerous mistakes leading to easy baskets.
Kelly Olynyk crashed the boards for preventable second chance points and Goran Dragic blew by Dame leading to kick outs. These kick outs helped Josh Richardson and Wayne Ellington knock down a combined eight three-pointers on ten attempts.
After a quarter of outside wreckage, Portland trailed by 12.
Second Quarter
Following suit, the Blazers dug themselves an even deeper hole to start the second quarter. A few quick turnovers and missed shots expanded Miami’s lead to 16. Shabazz Napier attempted to spark a comeback with two straight steals, but Wayne Ellington simply couldn’t miss from deep. At half, he had 21 points in 17 minutes.
Once Ellington came out of the game, Portland couldn’t close the gap. Even with shots falling for them, the Blazers couldn’t contain Dion Waiters and the pick and roll. The Heat entered halftime ahead by ten.
Positive from the second quarter: CJ threw down a nasty dunk! Maybe the double-digit deficit fueled his angry finish.
🚨 CJ DUNK SIGHTING 🚨 pic.twitter.com/P188vka415
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 14, 2017
Third Quarter
Miami took the momentum and extended their lead back to 16 points. Every three was falling, and the Blazers looked tired – not hustling for rebounds and just standing around on offense.
Then, like the flip of a switch, Portland put together a 12-1 run to cut the deficit. Ed Davis protected the paint and Lillard became more aggressive on offense for easier baskets. The Heat went nearly six minutes without a bucket, getting the gap down to five.
But by the end of three, Miami had the lead back up to nine.
Fourth Quarter
Finally, finally! The Blazers start a quarter strong with five consecutive points. Miami attempted to make a run, but a three from Al-Farouq Aminu got Rip City right back in the game.
A big dunk from Dame plus an and-one from Davis gave the Blazers its first lead since early in the first quarter. Lillard’s penetration and missed free throws by Miami maintained this small lead through the final few minutes. He scored seven straight points down the stretch to close out Portland’s major comeback.
A 102-95 victory over Miami ends the five-game losing streak.
3 Takeaways:
Zach Collins gets the start
Zach Collins earned his first career start in the absence of Jusuf Nurkic and Meyers Leonard. He’s played over 19 minutes the previous two games, and racked up 21 tonight before leaving in the third with foul trouble and not returning.
In his minutes, Collins scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds. He ran the pick and roll with Dame just like Nurkic does. While he missed both three-point attempts, the rookie knocked down a contested midrange jumper.
Ed Davis performed great off the bench tonight, so Collins may lose his starting spot on Friday against the Orlando Magic.
Bench points
After the first quarter, Portland trailed Miami in bench scoring 15-0. Wayne Ellington lit it up from outside, hitting five threes in the first and seven total. By halftime, the Heat had 18 more bench points, contributing to the double-digit lead.
Next: Blazers taking applications for 6th man
At the final whistle, the Blazers had 14 less points from reserves. While this looks bad on paper, all 36 bench points for the Heat came from either Wayne Ellington or Bam Adebayo.
Rebounding without Nurkic
Portland is one of the best rebounding teams in the league. Without Jusuf Nurkic, however, those numbers drop. They were outrebounded 36-33 tonight, but most notably gave up ten offensive boards. These second chance opportunities helped Miami build its lead and kept them in the game down the stretch.