Something is shifting for the Portland Trail Blazers. The group’s latest feat, an inspiring 103-102 win over the Houston Rockets Wednesday night at the Moda Center, made it clear.
You could hear it in the
M-V-P chants in the fourth quarter that serenaded Portland forward Deni Avdija, prompted by a season-high 41 points. You could see it in the bloodstained teeth and perseverance of Blazers defensive stalwart Toumani Camara, who finished the game with half a tooth missing. And you could see it in the on-court celebration after the Blazers escaped with the win in a photo finish.
Upon replay review, the refs ruled Rockets forward Tari Eason’s potential game-winning tip-in was still on his fingertips when the buzzer sounded. The ruling reversed the call on the floor and cured the heartbreak that had spread throughout the building. The Blazers had landed on the right side of an instant classic.
“I think the drama there was at the maximum,” Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter said about the ending.
Just a few weeks ago, the Blazers seemed to be gasping for wins as injuries threatened to derail their season. Suddenly, with the same key players still missing, the Blazers have won four in a row and six of their last seven. The hot stretch has included double-digit wins over the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz. It’s also featured clutch-time wins over quality opponents like the Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, and now the Kevin Durant-led Rockets. This latest win further legitimized Portland’s improvement and put them just two games below .500.
“To compete like that with a team like the Rockets, a team that is put together to win a championship — you gotta be proud,” Splitter said. “It’s not like we are satisfied, a lot of season to go, but we’ve gotta be proud of what the guys are doing.”
“With all the injuries coming in, beating this team, I don’t take it for granted,” Avdija added. “We’re fighting our asses off every game, and I don’t think people need to take those wins for granted.”
Avdija is right. This win shouldn’t be taken for granted or overlooked. What the Blazers are doing lately with Jrue Holiday, Jerami Grant and Scoot Henderson out of the lineup is impressive.
All of it revolves around the ascension of Avdija.
The 6-foot-8 forward’s powers seem to be growing nightly as he continues to flourish as the primary engine of Portland’s offense. Avdija has reached a new level of mastery with his bruising, turbo-speed drives, helping him infiltrate the paint in a myriad of ways and draw fouls at a prodigious rate. That downhill force has helped him become a legitimate facilitator and lob thrower. He can shoot the 3. He’s developing a midrange game. He’s delivering in the clutch and when the defense is stacked against him. He’s carrying the Blazers on his back, and he looks almost unstoppable.
That was the case on Wednesday night. Avdija bashed and knifed his way through Houston’s physical defense to get his 41 points on 13-24 shooting from the field and 13-15 from the free throw line. With under four minutes left and the game hanging in the balance, he powered his way to three and-1 finishes in the paint. On that third bucket, a finish through Durant with 48.9 seconds left, Avdija flexed and roared to the crowd before he went to the free throw line. That’s when the M-V-P chants rained down from the stands.
In the postgame locker room, Avdija poked some fun at himself for missing the free throw amidst the chants. Then he talked about how much the support meant.
“That’s some stuff you hear in 2K when you drop 60 points. It’s just fun to see it in real life and see how much Portland loves you,” Avdija said. “I play so hard every game. I’m sacrificing my body through injuries, no sleep. And to see the fans love and welcome me, it’s amazing for any player.”
As Avdija is quick to point out, his teammates are stepping up around him to help spark this recent success. Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe scored an important 20 points against Houston. On this night, Portland’s two-way contract brigade was headlined by guard Caleb Love, who produced 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Donovan Clingan provided 12 points and seven rebounds, continuing his 3-point revolution by going 2-6 from deep.
The heart and grit of the supporting cast was typified by Camara — and the tooth he sacrificed on the hardwood. With 4:11 remaining in the third quarter, Camara tried to swipe at the ball when Rockets forward Dorian Finney-Smith came down with a defensive rebound. A turning Finney-Smith incidentally smacked his head into Camara’s face, sending him to the ground for an offensive foul.
During a brief stoppage, Camara bent down to pick up a piece of his lower front tooth that landed in the paint. He handed it to Blazers Director of Health and Player Performance Courtney Watson on the sideline. She briefly applied a towel to Camara’s bleeding lip. Then he kept playing, choosing not to sit out a second of game time to attend to his mouth.
“It’s basketball, man, I love it too much,” Camara said about his decision to stay in the game. “I need way more than that if you want me to get off the floor.”
Camara scored on driving layups on Portland’s next two offensive possessions. He hit a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. He also had a clutch block with about two minutes left as he delivered one of his finest defensive performances of the season.
“He was amazing,” Splitter said about Camara, who finished with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. “He had 11 deflections. I don’t know how many turnovers [he forced]. He lost a tooth. The tooth is gonna be in The Box now they say.”
“I told Toumani he’s lucky because it’s the bottom teeth,” Avdija added. “I lost the big tooth in the front. So I told him he got lucky, and now he’s gonna be even prettier.”
It no longer feels like Avdija and the Blazers are stuck waiting for injured players to (hopefully) return and save their season from certain death. They’ve figured something out. They’re trending upward again.
