The Portland Trail Blazers avoided a catastrophic collapse against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night to secure a 136-134 win and improve to 3-2 early in the 2025-26 NBA Season. A balanced Portland scoring
attack saw five players end with 17 or more points, led by Jrue Holiday’s 27-point performance.
The feisty Jazz rode a late 11-0 run to pull within striking distance of the Blazers late in the fourth quarter, but were unable to complete the comeback. They were led by 32 points from Lauri Markkanen and 29 points from Keyonte George.
Player of Note
Shaedon Sharpe played his first game this season that could be considered efficient. After struggling to find his rhythm early this season, Sharpe finished the game with 18 points on 6-14 shooting from the field and 4-8 from deep, his best overall shooting night from both areas of the floor.
Sharpe’s night was highlighted by a stretch of nine straight points in the second quarter coming on three straight made three-pointers. This run was a major factor in Portland flipping the momentum of the game and taking a lead into halftime.
He only played 24 minutes in the game due to foul trouble, but his offensive production was very important in those minutes.
Stat of the Night
The Blazers had 117 points after the first three quarters. That gaudy number is the second highest total through three frames in franchise history. That total was helped by 18 three-pointers from Portland through the first three frames.
The offense came back down to Earth in the final quarter as the Blazers were outscored 36-19, but the early outburst was enough to drag Portland across the finish line.
What We Noticed
Defense from the Blazers led to easy chances on the other end all night. A 14-steal performance from Portland led to 25 fastbreak points and 27 points off of turnovers. Matisse Thybulle helped set the tone early with two steals in just four minutes before leaving the game and being unable to return. Holiday, Jerami Grant, Blake Wesley and Rayan Rupert all finished the game with a pair of steals of their own, and Toumani Camara led the team with three steals.
The defensive effort from the entire lineup forced Utah off their offensive rhythm and kept them uncomfortable throughout the game.
Up Next
The Blazers are back at home on Friday, October 31 to face the Denver Nuggets at 7:00 p.m. PST.
