Blazers Suffer Worst Loss of the Season

Friday, February 20, 2015

Andrew R Tonry, GoLocalPDX Contributor

From top to bottom, the Blazers were simply awful in Utah, Friday, where they fell 92-76 to the Jazz. Portland were off-target, out-of-sync, and lacking in effort.

It was, by far, their worst loss of the year.

The margin of defeat--16 points--was the Blazers' most lopsided of the season. Their output--76 points--was a season-low. In each of the last three quarters the Blazers failed to score more than 20 points.

For the most part, Portland just couldn't buy a bucket. They shot 36% from the field, and made a scant 4-of-22 attempts from beyond the arc.

And yet, as the teams entered the fourth quarter, the Blazers were down only six.

Finally, after matching much of Portland's futility for three quarters, the Jazz took control. Utah opened the final period with a 15-0 run. During that span that Jazz made their first seven shots while the Blazers missed their first six.

Regardless of the atrocious manor in which they fell, losing to one of the few pushovers in the Western Conference is especially dispiriting for the Blazers, who play their next three games--and five of their next six--against Western Conference Playoff teams.

Arron Afflalo, who the Blazers acquired in a trade a day earlier, was not in uniform.

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D-	LaMarcus Aldridge Scoring eight points in the game's opening minutes, Aldridge got off to a fine start. He also drew early fouls on Utah's Rudy Gobert, forcing to the bench one of the few players in the NBA big enough to challenge Aldridge's shot. (And on two occasions, Gobert swatted Aldridge. The first time, Aldridge chuckled to himself, seemingly surprised and awed by Gobert's length and ability.) After the hot start, though, Aldridge fell off a cliff, at one point missing eight consecutive shots from the field. Aldridge finished with 14 points and eight boards, while making just 5-of-16 from the field.
C-	Nicolas Batum While getting time to rest during the All-Star break afforded Batum the ability to remove the wrap/brace from his injured wrist, his tentative offensive play remains. He took only six shots, of which he made three. He missed his only attempt from distance. He finished with eight points, five boards and three assists.
C-	Robin Lopez Against Utah's big front line, Lopez was rather ineffective. He managed eight points, but only four rebounds. As a team, the Blazers were able to grab only three offensive boards. And while Lopez had two of those, he needs to throw his weight around underneath.
C	Wesley Matthews While Matthews was able to help the Blazers out on the boards (he grabbed seven) he was unable to give them a lift from beyond the arc. Matthews made 1-of-5 from downtown and finished with 13 points.
C-	Damian Lillard Lillard made his first two three-point attempts, which was a rather welcome sign as he'd been struggling before the break. Overall, he accounted for three of Portland's four makes from distance, but finished just 3-of-9 from deep. He was Portland's only reliable scorer, Friday, and finished with a team-high 19 points but didn't captain the offense, and gave away five turnovers.