Trail Blazers: Post-game analysis from loss vs Philadelphia

The Portland Trail Blazers lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night, as they blew a 21 point lead and fell to a last second 76ers three.

An absolute heartbreaker. After leading for the entire game, the Portland Trail Blazers ran out of steam late, and were downed by a Furkan Korkmaz (?!) three with 0.4 seconds remaining. The fact that seconds before, Anfernee Simons had hit his dagger to put the Blazers ahead, makes it all the more difficult. Here’s a breakdown of the 129-128 loss.

The Trail Blazers started Lillard, McCollum, Hood, Hezonja and Tolliver in what was an unorthodox and untested starting five. With Skal Labissiere the only Blazers big man who wasn’t injured, Terry Stotts moved Tolliver to the center position, and handed Mario Hezonja a start.

1st Quarter

The Blazers raced out to a quick start, and had it going from three; lots of threes was clearly the game plan to deal with the lack of size. Mario Hezonja proved his worth early, recording 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in his first 7 minutes of action. Portland moved the ball well, and capitalized on a few early turnovers from the 76ers. Anfernee Simons also started well; this was typified by a bouncy block on Korkmaz, followed by a three in transition with 13 seconds remaining in the quarter.

2nd Quarter

Leading 32-27, the Blazers ramped up the pressure in the second, with Rodney Hood now taking over on the offensive end. Hood had a couple of smooth looking mid-range buckets to start the second, and Simons also stayed hot, working his way up to eight points. The Sixers were struggling for rhythm offensively, which was strange, as the Blazers were playing without a recognized center in some stages.

Hezonja continued his nice display with some good defense on Ben Simmons, he then grabbed the rebound and found Labissiere with a bounce pass to give the Blazers a 51-45 lead with 4:54 to go in the half. Rodney Hood then took over, hitting two threes in a row in the midst of a 15-0 Blazers run. Hood had 20 points at the half, shooting 7-9 and 4-6 from three-point range. The Blazers went into the half leading 68-57, and shooting 10-20 from three.

3rd Quarter

Portland looked dangerous in the third quarter, and Lillard really started to come alive. They started the second half shooting 6-8 from the field, with Dame taking Philly on his own 6-0 run, a tough and one was followed by a signature deep three-ball. The Blazers stayed with the hot hand, and Dame then hit an even deeper three over the 6,10 Ben Simmons, to stretch the lead to 88-71.

In recent games the pick and roll between Lillard and Labissiere looked unconvincing, but they experienced something of a breakthrough tonight. Skal started screening high, and Dame’s third three of the quarter was a result of this. Portland got a stop, then ran the same play at the top of the key, but Skal rolled this time, got the pass from Dame and finished a wide open dunk.

Portland led by as many as 21 at one point in the third, but a spirited Philadelphia bench, led by Kyle O’Quinn and Raul Neto, shaved the lead to 10 by the end of it.

4th Quarter

With the score 102-92, the 76ers started the quarter on a 6-0 run, and for the first time this evening, the game looked interesting. A pair of Hood free throws stopped the momentum momentarily, but the Sixers kept on coming. Al Horford was starting to have his way in the restricted area.

Lillard leads all players in 4th quarter scoring so far this season, and this trend continued tonight, with Dame hitting a huge step back three to get Portland going again. Dame then split a double and kicked to Bazemore in the corner, the guard drained the three to put the Blazers up 118-111.

This was Dame’s eighth three of the game, the most of any player this season in the NBA, and at this point, it looked as if Portland had regained control of the game. But this Sixers team is tough, and they’d seemed to finally work out Portland were playing without a center. Simmons began to take control, he played good defense on Lillard on two occasions, one leading to a breakaway dunk.

With one minute to play, Dame turned the ball over in a crucial moment, and this led to Horford finding an open lane, and slamming home to make it a one point game. CJ then missed a contested three, and Simmons was fouled on the other end. Stotts challenged the call, but the decision was ruled correct, and Simmons nailed two free throws to hand Philly the lead for the first time of the night.

The Blazers had not scored for the last 3 minutes, and had allowed an 8-0 76ers run. With 10 seconds to play, the ball was in Lillard’s hands. The point guard escaped the double team, drove to the basket and found young Anfernee Simons in the corner, who proceeded to bring the house down by nailing the corner three. The Blazers had the lead with 2 seconds to play, but were left with nothing to show for it, as Furkan Korkmaz was left open off the inbound, and nailed the three with 0.4 seconds on the clock.

Dame managed to get a shot off, but it was no good, and the Blazers fell short. Portland are now 3-3, and will next play at Golden State on Monday night. The Trail Blazers will hope to get some key players back from injury soon, as they look to move ahead of the pack in the tough Western Conference.