Portland Trail Blazers: the good, bad, and ugly from their slugfest against the Wizards

The ugly:

Nik Stauskas in a closing lineup isn’t necessarily ugly, so much as it is the opposite of sexy. When I dreamed about this upcoming season, I didn’t expect him to be part of clutch game situations into overtime. But hey, Stauskas earned those minutes, fair and square. He is the greatest player of all time, after all.

Jusuf Nurkic was burned by Markieff Morris for three how many times? I don’t know the actual amount, but I know it was too many.

After Morris knocked down a couple threes against Nurkic at the end of regulation, Wizards’ Coach Scott Brooks maintained a small-ball lineup into overtime while Stotts matched up with it by having Aminu and Harkless in as the big men. However, as overtime was ending, Stotts put Nurkic back in. Here’s what happened:

Nurkic just did not have the foot-speed to contend with Washington’s small-ball groups, and Morris had the hot hand to punish him for it.

And so, in a classic Damian Lillard-Markieff Morris shootout, Morris was the victor. The whole thing was very sad.

It was frustrating. It was heartbreaking. It made me feel ugly.

So, I’m going to take a shower to wash the stink of defeat off me and look forward to the Blazers’ next game against the Orlando Magic on October 25 at 4:00 P.S.T.