Blazers Transform into Sloppy, Slow Mess in Disturbing Clippers Loss

On this day, thousands of shoppers stood in customer service lines across the country, hoping to return Christmas presents that didn’t quite live up to expectations. It’s quite possible the Portland Trail

Blazers were among them. After all but dominating the Los Angeles Clippers for the first two quarters of Friday night’s matchup between the two, the Blazers played a second half that might go down in offensive infamy, falling to the Clippers 119-103 when the final horn sounded. As a 60%-shooting first half morphed into a 30% second, Portland coughed up the lead, the game, and half of their remaining dignity for the year. Perhaps 2026 will bring a sea change? If so, it can’t get here soon enough.

Here are some observations from the evening.

Clippers Slow

You can see why the Clippers are losing games. They have the best team in the universe, circa 2019. At this age, in this decade, they are slow. Painfully so. They can’t close distance defending the arc or keep up laterally. They’re not even that quick in a straight line down the floor. They dunk about as well as unc at the YMCA.

Ancient wisdom says the game slows down in the playoffs. Common sense says it doesn’t matter if you don’t get there in the first place. Even in a more moderately-placed postseason matchup, it’d be hard to envision these Clippers keeping up. Against a fleet Portland squad on a random Friday night? No chance. Portland’s awesome alley-oops and dunks in this game would have practically won it by themselves, let alone all the times Deni Avdija got free off the dribble.

Or at least that’s the way it appeared in the first two quarters.

Unfortunately, the Blazers appeared to flag in the second half. Their speed slowed to match that of Los Angeles. When that happened, superior stardom and experience told the tale…a horror story for Portland.

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that the Blazers looked like two different teams in this game. Before intermission they were a young, athletically-superior squad that the aging Clippers couldn’t touch. After that, they slouched, stood, and trotted their way through permissive defense and that truly miserable halfcourt offensive attack. (Seriously, it wouldn’t surprise me if more Blazer’s Edge Readers saw Santa in the flesh this Christmas than the Blazers hit shots in the second half of this game.)

Assuming that a large part of this is a lack of depth–and corresponding lack of stamina and staying power–these injuries are killing Portland. It’s tough to watch games that should be easy turn into near-impossible challenges. Yet here we are.

Deni-licious

Speaking of, Avdija had 17 points in the first half alone on his way to 29 for the game with 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Nobody was better able to take advantage of the Clippers’ lack of mobility than he. A futile near-double-double? Story of the year for Deni and the Blazers.

Brook Lopez Fills It Up

Not to be outdone, Brook Lopez–yes, THAT Brook Lopez–had 19 points in the first half and 31 for the game, largely by shooting 9-14 from the three-point arc. Donovan Clingan had a decent game in most ways, but he could not get out and cover the perimeter, particularly when Lopez went to the corner. The Blazers and Clingan opted to double Kawhi Leonard and James Harden as a matter of course. Lopez made them pay.

The Clippers did well as a whole shooting threes, splashing 20 of 40. Portland’s defense still hasn’t caught up to the challenge of defending the rim, rebounding, and guarding the arc all at once.

Wow. Just Wow.

And speaking of shooting, the Blazers must have gotten a visit from Cold Miser during the holiday season. They haven’t shot well beyond the arc since Pumpkins and Turkeys were en vogue. Tonight they reversed the trend. Portland went 16-39 from distance tonight, 41%. Even with that rate, it’s remarkable how badly the Blazers miss when they’re off. It’s like the rim is Dikembe Mutumbo, rejecting their shots harshly and wagging a finger. It’s truly a sight to behold…but not in a great way. This is not a team of shooters.

Tried and True

Despite all that, the Blazers did well in two familiar avenues. They forced 13 turnovers for 25 points–going +5 in that category–and they snagged 13 offensive rebounds against only 4 for the Clippers. Collectively this gave them 12 more field goal attempts than the Clippers. Portland’s approach is nothing if not predictable.

Foul Frenzy

It didn’t help that one of the Blazers’ big advantages this season–foul shots–was matched by the Clippers and then some. Portland finished the game with 22 free throw attempts, L.A. 31. James Harden and Kawhi Leonard had 12 attempts apiece. The Unc Squad knows the refs and the refs know them. That left the Blazers short one trick from their bag as they attempted to take over.

Blazers Use Picks Poorly

If you want to look at areas for the Blazers to improve, pick setting and utilization stands out. The Blazers aren’t the best at establishing screening position to begin with. Even when a solid pick-setter like Clingan provides the opportunity, the guards are terrible at using them. They go past at a relatively slow pace, often three feet behind the actual pick. The screen might as well not be there. It leaves the dribbler no better off, just extra inches behind where they should be when lining up a jumper or making a drive. In the first case, they can’t spare the extra distance with their already-poor outside shooting. In the second, it’s easy for defenders to compensate with extra steps and time needed before the action develops. It’s contagious too. You can watch picks get worse and worse as the game develops and those big setters realize their efforts aren’t going to be used.

Portland slips into lackadaisical mode far too often for a team looking to fight for the playoffs. It’d be nice to see them clean up some of these details and be less…unserious?

Love In

Caleb Love’s self-confidence can be a blessing or a curse. Tonight it served him and his team well. Love started the game strong and finished shooting 5-10 for 14 points with 3 made threes. Only Toumani Camara, with 5 threes, outdid him.

Prime Broadcast

This was the first extended chance I’ve had to watch an NBA broadcast on Amazon Prime. The announce team of Michael Grady and Jim Jackson was fine. Grady, in particular, has a great voice. The entire presentation was exactly what you’d expect from Amazon: an effectively-packaged delivery designed to appeal to the most people possible.

I’d also say the whole thing felt rather soulless. I’m not going to reflexively defend local broadcasts. They have plenty of foibles and flaws, including rampant homerism and incessant trope repetition. But most of those smaller-scale broadcasts feel real in the same sense your local mom and pop diner food feels more real (not necessarily better, but more authentic) than whatever you’re going to order at Applebee’s.

The nearest analogy I have is one I fall on often. The WWE feels much different–slicker packaging, overt ads, and shows running down well-defined and predictable lines–in its new TKO-owned era than it did back during its growth period from the 1980’s-2010’s. If you don’t like that one, the same thing applies generally to the Star Wars franchise before and after its purchase by Disney.

That doesn’t mean the new incarnation is worse. That’s a matter of taste. Plus, we have to admit that the day-to-day “reality” of those entertainment forms brought huge bungles alongside the massive successes we remember so well. You don’t have the massive lows as often with the much safer–and much bigger–national influence. It doesn’t feel like the potential for highs is there either. Maybe it’s not the point. Better to sell 20,000 Applebee’s burgers every day than a hundred gourmet-crafted local ones.

Still, I can’t help but think we’re losing something in the translation. The more particular an experience is, the more human it seems. It’s all too easy to lose touch with what a thing is by jumping straight into what it is supposed to mean and how we convey that meaning. I didn’t mind the Amazon experience, but League Pass with all its foibles will remain an important part of the NBA experience, at least to me.

I did like Amazon’s post-game show, however. The vibe is right and the knowledge tight with that crew. They talk WAY more basketball than the far-more-famous TNT crew did. It’s worth checking out.