The Portland Trail Blazers haven’t won a home game since Nov. 18. With an injured Damian Lillard on the bench, they couldn’t muster nearly enough offense to put an end to that losing streak.
December is filled with tradition. Rip City has its own special one, although it’s fairly recent in origin.
The tradition: Watching a stumbling, bumbling Trail Blazers team stumble and bumble its way through the heart of a damp, cold and miserable basketball winter.
The Blazers were 7-10 in December 2015 and 4-11 in December 2016. This year, they’re 3-6 in December.
Make that 3-7.
Also, the Trail Blazers entered Friday’s tilt against the Denver Nuggets having lost two in a row (make that three) and seven of their last ten (um, eight of their last 11). They had also lost their last five home games.
Six.
Making matters worse: Damian Lillard was out with a strained right hamstring suffered in Wednesday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs. (He’ll also sit out Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers; he hopes to be ready by Thursday’s game against Philly.)
The Nuggets and Trail Blazers entered the game with identical 16-15 records. Portland’s been good against the Nuggets, though, having won 15 of the last 17 against them, including a 99-82 victory on Nov. 13.
Let’s see how they did Friday without their leading scorer on the floor. (Spoiler alert: Not good.)
First Quarter
Jake Layman made the second start of his career, joining CJ McCollum, Evan Turner, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jusuf Nurkic. It was the ninth different starting lineup head coach Terry Stotts has used this season.
Layman had a rough start. He committed his first foul barely a minute into the game and his first shot hit nothing but backboard. He would only play six minutes in the half.
Moe Harkless, who hadn’t played in the Trail Blazers’ previous four games, entered the game in the first quarter. He finished the game with four points and two rebounds in 19 minutes.
Nuggets spent the quarter – and the game – feasting in the paint. 26 of their first 28 points were in the paint. Also, their shooting percentage of 59% after one quarter reflected the easy access to the basket.
With 90 seconds left in the first quarter, the Trail Blazers were down 11 points, 28-17.
And after one: Nuggets 28, Trail Blazers 22. Nurkic had 6 points. Ed Davis helped keep Portland close with 4 rebounds.
Second Quarter
A swift 11-0 Trail Blazers run erased the Nuggets’ lead. A lot of it was thanks to the Davis, Zach Collins and Shabazz Napier show. Napier was especially effective, finishing the half with nine points. (Why didn’t he start, again?)
McCollum struggled early, starting off 1/5 and not hitting his first three-pointer until just under five minutes left in the half.
Denver is a good rebounding team, and that helped them go on a 9-0 run to take a 50-38 lead with under two minutes left in the half.
Bad omens for the second half:
Collins had four fouls.
The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic couldn’t be stopped. He had 18 points at the half and finished the game with 27.
The Trail Blazers were just 3/7 from the free throw line.
Nurkic had zero rebounds in the first half.
After the half: Nuggets 52, Trail Blazers 41. McCollum with 7 points and Nuggets shooting 50%.
Third Quarter
It was a good news/bad news kind of quarter.
Good news: Napier started the second half.
Bad news: Nurkic started the second half … with an offensive foul.
Jokic was still getting to the rim too easily, and the Nuggets opened up a 19-point lead.
Good news: Jokic picked up his fourth foul.
Bad news: Collins picked up his fifth.
The Nuggets really cranked up the defense in the third quarter, getting more physical and active against the Trail Blazers and winning the battle for loose balls.
End of three: Nuggets 80, Trail Blazers 66.
Fourth Quarter
Good news/bad news continues.
Good news: A Harkless bucket cuts the Nuggets’ lead early in the fourth quarter to ten points.
Bad news: Collins fouls out with 10:02 left in the fourth quarter. He played 18 minutes, finishing with ten points on 4/6 shooting.
With 6:40 to go, Nuggets open up their biggest lead of the game: 91-70.
Boos begin to rain down from the Moda Center faithful.
Aminu finishes 1 for 8 from three and 1 for 9 overall. 3 points. The Trail Blazers were 6 for 22 from three against Denver.
Stotts waves the white towel with 3:43 left. Enter Noah Vonleh, Caleb Swanigan and Layman.
Layman, you’ll remember, started the game. He played ten minutes and scored zero points.
Next: Blazers need to stay optimistic
What’s all too clear with these Blazers – even with Lillard playing – is that there is no offense.
Without Lillard, there is no hope.
Final Score: Nuggets 102, Trail Blazers 85.
Takeaways
Vonleh Hurt?
Vonleh left for the locker room with about a minute left. Looked like he jammed his finger against the backboard contesting a shot. He was later diagnosed with a dislocated right finger.
Connaughton’s Contribution
One of the lone bright spots for Portland was the play of Pat Connaughton, who finished 5/6 from the field for 12 points. He also snagged four boards.
Not Much From the Starters
McCollum struggled all night, finishing the game with 15 points on 7/18 shooting. The rest of the starters were dismal. Nurkic had ten points and just one rebound.
Nurkic, Turner, Aminu and Layman combined for just 20 points. If it wasn’t for the bench (50 points), the Trail Blazers would have hardly scored at all.