The next piece in our series examining the Trail Blazers’ best victories of the season takes us back East for a wild, wonderful win against the Wizards.
It was a helluva holiday-slash-birthday weekend for Trail Blazers’ head coach Terry Stotts.
One night after beating the Nets in a old-school offensive shootout (Best of the Season, Part III), Portland found itself in the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Wizards.
It was the second game of a back-to-back and the fourth game of a five-game, Thanksgiving-week, Eastern road swing.
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And it just happened to be Stotts’ 60th birthday.
Well, happy birthday to you, Coach Stotts.
Blazers-Wizards
It didn’t start off all that well for Portland.
The Wizards, playing without John Wall, who would be on the inactive list for eight consecutive games with “discomfort and inflammation in his left knee” thrashed the Blazers in the first half — and for most of the second.
The Blazers were still without Al-Farouq Aminu, who was nursing a bad ankle. And they started the game with Pat Connaughton (12 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals) and Noah Vonleh (eight points, 10 rebounds).
Jusuf Nurkic never really got on track in this one; he would finish with a fairly pedestrian 17 points and five rebounds. (He did have three blocks, though — and he dished out four assists.)
Maurice Harkless (three points) and Evan Turner (also just three points) came off the bench and were largely ineffective on offense.
Portland’s makeshift crew and its lack of reserve firepower meant they faced a 52-41 halftime deficit.
And it didn’t get much better for the bulk of the second half. With 8:53 left in the fourth quarter, the Wizards had extended their lead to 17 points, 92-75.
In what would become an obvious — and worrisome — trend for these Blazers, Damian Lillard (29 points, six rebounds and six assists) and CJ McCollum (26 points; 4/7 from three) had to be heroes in order for the Blazers to win.
Comeback
And then — just like that … !
McCollum led the Blazers’ charge, scoring 24 of his 26 points in the second half, helping the Blazers close the game on an 18-4 run.
Portland was still down by six points, 105-99, with just 90 seconds left to play.
But then the Wizards’ Bradley Beal (26 points) went ice cold, and his team would not score again.
McCollum would, though.
Next: Lillard recovers from playoff loss, plans to stick around
Quick recap:
CJ hits a three.
Wizards 105, Blazers 102.
Beal misses a shot. CJ makes one.
Wizards 105, Blazers 104. Fifty-seven seconds left.
Beal misses another shot.
CJ makes another one.
Blazers take the lead, 106-105.
Beal misses yet another shot.
Connaughton is fouled and makes two free throws.
Blazers 108, Wizards 105.
Beal misses a three-point attempt.
Game over.
Comeback secured.
Blazers improve to 12-8 on the young season.
"While the Blazers have had an up-and-down season, wins like this, on the road, after being down major double-digits late to a good team (albeit one missing their best player) are a huge confidence boost."
One of the best wins of the season, in fact.
Happy birthday, coach.