As injured Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Deni Avdija looked on from the bench in a natty leather jacket, Portland squandered masterful performances from Toumani Camara and Jerami Grant, losing to the Houston Rockets by a score of 106-99. The game seemed as though it would tilt the Blazers way as late as four minutes into the fourth quarter. Then Amen Thompson took over and the Rockets ripped the game from the Blazers’ grasp.
FIRST HALF
SCOOT WAS DRAGGING
Playing in his twelfth game this season after missing
51 games due to a hamstring injury, Scoot Henderson made his third start of the year. It was a rough outing. On the game’s opening possession, Reed Shepard blocked Henderson at the cup. He went on to miss his first six shots. Henderson finished with four points.
HEADBAND CAMARA
In Portland’s Jan. 9 home victory over Houston, Toumani Camara led all Blazers with 25 points in 40 minutes. Tonight, the Blazers’ iron man picked up right where he left off in January. He made a steal early in the first quarter, ran the court and finished the possession by draining a three off a Jrue Holiday assist. In that opening period, Camara had three steals and shot four of five from behind the arc.
THE PAINTED AREA
Camara’s shot cooled, and Houston began to assert its will on Portland in the second quarter. Led by Alperen Sengun, the fifth-year 23-year-old from Turkey, the Rockets dissected the Blazers defense, playing a masterful pick-and-roll game that led to 38 first-half Houston points in the paint.
LOOSE CHANGE
Led by Camara’s three steals, the Blazers played with active hands, forcing nine turnovers in the half.
GENERAL GRANT
Jerami Grant led the Blazers’ first-half scoring with 16 points. He probed the paint with a slashing attack and was rewarded with a steady diet of free throws. He went six for seven from the stripe in the opening half.
FREE THROWS – YOU’VE GOTTA MAKE ‘EM
But, Grant’s success at the line was an outlier. With a Houston fan dressed as the Dunkstronaut exhorting the crowd to make some noise each time the Blazers went to the line, Portland missed ten free throws in the first half.
SCORE AT HALF
Houston 57 Portland 56
SECOND HALF
BACK TO BACK BLUES
The hangover of the Thursday night Rockets’ overtime loss to the Warriors began to show as the second half began. Through three periods, the Rockets shot 3 of 16 from the three-point line.
LOCKING UP THE LEGEND
After a quiet start to the game, the Rockets leader, Kevin Durant came out of the locker room and tried to assert himself. Camara didn’t give an inch. After three periods, Durant had scored 14 points and had four turnovers.
DC TALK
Every time the camera found Blazers’ center Donovan Clingan lined up to rebound a free throw, the man was talking up his Rockets’ opposite. Whether it was Durant or Dorian Finney-Smith, Clingan looked like he was hosting an NBA podcast. While he struggled to contain the agile Sengun on the defensive end, Clingan let his game do the talking on offense. Through the first three periods, he led all Blazers’ scorers with 18 points.
THE FINISHING KICK
The fourth quarter was a different story. It looked as though the Blazers had the momentum when Clingan drew a charge against Sengun with 8:27 left to play. The Rockets’ center went to the bench with his fifth foul. At the time, he led his team in scoring with 28 points, and Portland was up by two. But the Blazers did not capitalize.
Instead, the Rockets rattled off a 10-0 run to blow open the game. Led by the aggressive play of Amen Thompson, Houston closed the game with a mix of tenacious defense and a slashing offense. The Blazers were down just five in the final minutes when Thompson ripped a lob pass from Grant to Williams out of the air and ripped the heart out of the Blazers’ comeback attempt.
Up Next:
The Blazers return home for a Sunday matchup with the Indiana Pacers at Moda Center at 6pm Pacific.
