This Portland Trail Blazers On the way to Route 111-87 at the hands of Indiana pacers in the late center, the two sides of the court struggled on Thursday looking sluggish and quite weak.
Following the recording performance outside the arc at night, Portland managed to shoot only 36% (only 300% from the cold) from the floor, and their points are 87 points by the lowest output of the season so far.
But the real collapse of the evening took place in the middle of the third quarter when Joseph Nourik was declared a fractured right wrist after he withdrew from the game, apparently suffering after taking a bad swipe on the ball on defense, although a certain moment still remains. Determined. Details about the extent of the break with any notion of recovery time will come out soon, but this is without a doubt a big blow for a team that expects to compete in the playoffs.
From the beginning, it should be clear that storm clouds were rising. Playing back-to-back the other night, and especially following the barn burner on Wednesday against the Kings where Damien Lillard and CJ McCollum had to fight teeth and nails for a combined 85 minutes, you’d be surprised if fatigue became a factor tonight. At first it didn’t seem that way, as both teams struggled to settle in the fist quarters, which was considered to be another stressful journey compared to the stressful journey from Ulcer Gulch.
It quickly became anything. Elected to rest his most valuable players, Terry Stots started a second term with a lineup of Efrney Simmons, Gary Trent Jr., Rodney Hood, Carmelo Anthony and Annes Carter, and left Lillard and McClum on the pine for about five minutes. In those five minutes, the Blazers were outscored 12-2 as D McG came out of the bench on fire for the Dermott pacers. The second unit found no offensive rhythm in the competitive Carmelo Anthony’s isolation and standing for Hale Mary’s three attempts. By the time McCullum and later Lillard checked back with 4:57 left in the half, Indiana had taken a 12-point lead and seemed to be in complete control.
From there, things got worse and worse. Portland, one of the league’s leaders in caring for the basketball, could not have taken care of the rock if it had been his mother, striking the pacer’s lead 7 times in the first half before the balloon went off and turning the ball over 10 times. As much as 25 points. Domantus Sabonis gave fans his father’s flashbacks, putting up a show in the post to move towards 23 points, 15 boards and 5 assistants.
The Blazers scored a few runs in the second half, so that at least things became respectable, and came close to 11 late in the third quarter, but yet another roaring comeback was just not in it.
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What’s next
The Blazers will have a day off before hosting the Atlanta Hawks in the Pacific on Saturday at 7 p.m.
