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Portland Trail Blazers bested by New Orleans Pelicans again, 111-102

By Matt George Moore

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 17: Ian Clark
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 17: Ian Clark /
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The best-of-seven matchup now moves to New Orleans for a Thursday game at the Smoothie King Center. The Blazers are down 0-2, and Dame and CJ are getting outplayed by Rondo and Holiday.

Unable to contain either Jrue Holiday or Rajon Rondo (16 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists) — not to mention Anthony Davis — the Portland Trail Blazers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday, 111-102, in Game 2 of their Western Conference playoff series.

Now the Blazers must head to New Orleans down 0-2 in the series, wondering how they’re supposed to beat a team when Davis (22 points, 13 rebounds) is the third-biggest story of the series so far.

Damian Lillard (17 points on 7/18 shooting) and CJ McCollum (22 points on 9/21 shooting) have yet to display the kind of firepower necessary in this series to outplay their Pelicans counterparts.

Here’s a brief recap of the game, which included the return of Maurice Harkless (11 points on 5/5 shooting and five rebounds in 27 minutes) from injury.

Pelicans-Blazers First Half

Ugly start to the game for the Blazers as the Pelicans went up 9-2 early.

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It was obvious that Jusuf Nurkicwas trying to live up to his pledge to be more aggressive; he took eight shots in his first six minutes of play, and made three of them for six points.

Harkless returned to the court after a long absence with 4:53 left in the first quarter; he hadn’t played since March 25. He made his first shot — a sweet driving layup with his left hand. Not long after, he blocked a shot and then finished the ensuing fast break with a dunk.

McCollum— mired in a little shooting slump — started to warm up late in the first quarter, too. He scored eight points on 4/8 shooting in the first.

Unfortunately, Portland never had an answer for the Pelicans’ Holiday, who was 6/9 with 12 points in the first quarter. He would finish the game with 33 points on 14/24 shooting.

Lillard started to assert himself in the second quarter. And the Blazers went on a little run, helped in part by nifty passing around the basket.

Like this:

And this:

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/986442517326454784

Late in the second half, Al-Farouq Aminugot hot from deep; he would hit 4/5 from three in the first half.

And at the half, the Blazers had the lead, 59-54.

Pelicans-Blazers Second Half

Holiday scored the first seven points for the Pelicans in the third quarter, which seemed completely natural at this point. The Blazers still had no answer for him.

Portland also went a little cold. The third quarter was generally bad for the Blazers.

The Pelicans outscored Portland 33-19 in the third quarter.

The Blazers hung in there, but they turned the ball over far too often and were down by nine points heading into the fourth quarter.

The stats were ugly:

With 10:05 left, the Blazers were within five points 91-86.

And then Dame tied the game on an and-one three-point play.

But the Pelicans always had a response to any of the Blazers (limited) runs. They were up 97-93 with 5:12 left in the game.

And yet, and yet … the Blazers fought back and tied the game at 97 with 3:43 left to play.

Next: Coach’s Decision: Did Terry Stotts make the right call?

But the Blazers failed to secure a couple of crucial rebounds; Holiday nailed a three on one of the extra possessions, and Rondo made a three on another.

And just like that, New Orleans was up by eight, 108-100.

Game over.

Final score: Pelicans 111, Blazers 102.

Game 3 is Thursday in New Orleans. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. PDT.

Takeaways

No. 1!

The Blazers only shot two free throws (1/2 from Nurk) in the first half. (The Pelicans were 10/11 in the first half.) For the game, Portland was 8/10 from the free throw line; New Orleans was 13/19.

No. 2!

No. 3!

We’ll have to keep an eye out for Nurkic. He went to the locker room briefly with a noticeable limp. And we should also watch what happens with Nikola Mirotic, who was limping late in the fourth quarter.

No. 4!

Shabazz Napier never entered the game.

No. 5!

No excuses, but …