Well, now is the time to worry.
The loss of two hypotheses of the Portland Trail Blazers in Denver last week was the product of new defensive plans, the integration of new players, a short training camp and any hope that Star L-Star Damien Lillard lost in one of two games on Wednesday. At night.
Portland ably played worse than the argument against Utah in the late center to open Tu, dropping 120-100 in the game to stop being competitive in the second quarter.
And all this after Portland (0-1) had dialed on some new defensive plans, three extra practices were held and Lillard was for the whole game.
Speaking of Lillard, he went scoreless in the first half and finished with just nine points.
“It was just a tough night for our team, both aggressively and defensively,” Lillard said. “But it’s a long season, as we always say, and the reason we lose a game doesn’t let us lose two or three.”
What it means
It is too early to flip completely. The players on this roster have performed better than this throughout their careers, and it’s been a long season. Still, Portland has a lot of work to do, and a rough road trip will await next week. This team should be better than last summer when the Blazers were talking about the NBA bubble.
Whenever it was …
Too much by halftime. The Blazers got off to a strong start with a 17-1 lead in the first quarter. Then the jazz just took off. Utah took a 28-20 lead with 17-3 to 2:11 in the quarter. Bojan Bogdanovich, J Ing Ingles and Donovan Mitchell all hit hits during the run. Jordan Clarks scored two.
It got worse from there. Utah entered the second quarter 32-25 and advanced 54-35 from the 4:55 mark.
Portland scored -0-0 to draw within 54-40. But it only angered Jazz, who responded 11-2 to open the game at 65-22. The score at halftime was 65-44.
Portland shot 35 35.6% in the first half, while Utah shot 48.1% from a three point range.
Portland never threatened to make the game interesting in the second half.
Utah led 94-68 at the end of the third quarter.
Shown and shown
Portland Guard C.J. McCallum was the only starter who had the right night. He led Blazer with 23 points in 7-of-19 shooting. The Center Annex came out of the bench to produce 14 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes. He made seven attempts on his area.
Utah finished with seven players in the double figure. Center Rudy Gobert had 20 points and 17 rebounds while 8 out of 10 shot attempts. Jazz defender Donovan Mitchell also scored 20 points.
Utah finished 50 out of 19 (38%) on a three-point effort after cooling down a bit in the second half.
Shown and Fitzgerald
Lillard made just 4 shots out of 12, including 7 of 1 in the three-point range. Uta often tried hard to get the ball out of his hands by sending two defenders in his direction.
“They didn’t really do anything we didn’t see,” Blazers coach Terry Stots said. “But we need a dam to be aggressive, and when the ball comes out we have guys ready to make shots and take shots. And to a degree, we didn’t finish around the basket as we should. “
Aside from Cantor, other key bench players – Carmelo Anthony, Rodney Hood and Gary Trent Jr. – combined for 9 of 27 shots. Anthony scored 15 and Trent 11, but his points were largely empty calories.
Blazers Irregular School
Portland will host Houston on Saturday night. However, the game of rockets has been postponed to Wednesday due to COVID-19 precaution. Some players test positive, came back with inconclusive tests, or contracted with those who tested positive.
Next week, the Blazers will embark on a four-game road trip in two games at the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State.
– Aaron Fantress | [email protected] | ન AaronJefentress (Twitter), @AronJefantress (Instagram), @AronFantress (Facebook).
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