The Portland Trail Blazers started out their six-game road trip on a sour note, falling to the injury-ravaged Philadelphia 76ers 109 to 103. The game had all of the features typical to a 2026 Blazers loss, including poor shooting from both the three point line and the charity stripe, and serving up more careless turnovers than a defunct bakery.
Here are some of the things we noticed. Be forewarned, they’re not very nice.
Grimy Offense
This header conveys two meanings: First, you could smell the Blazers’ offense
through the screen (in a bad way); second, Quentin Grimes had himself a night. The two squads drastically differed in their offensive philosophies. Whereas the Blazers are keen to fire as many three pointers as possible, regardless of their players’ ability to make them, the 76ers recognized the shooting deficiencies of their limited roster, opting to operate in the long midrange and at the rim. The Blazers attempted 53 three pointers in this contest, converting on 17 – good for 32%. The 76ers attempted less than half that amount, converting on only 7 of their 25 casts. It makes sense, but is difficult to see on paper, that the Blazers attempted only 39 shots inside the arc. It’s even more shocking when you realize they only made 17 two-point shots. Especially on a poor shooting night against a shorthanded, vertically-challenged opponent, the Blazers have to realize when to stop taking threes. Their steadfast approach to maximizing their three-point output likely cost them this game.
From a watchability standpoint, it’s getting difficult to stomach multiple missed three point attempts on a single possession, multiple times a game. This Blazers team certainly won’t find itself in aesthetic throwback basketball edits 15 years from now. In the moments that the ball pops, such as Toumani Camara’s first-quarter baseline dunk, you can trick yourself into believing in the long-term prospect of the Blazers’ offense. However, louder than his jam were Camara’s six missed three pointers. Louder than those six missed three pointers were Deni Avdija’s 10 missed three pointers. Against a team whose only notable players of size are Adem Bona and Andre Drummond, the Blazers should not be getting outscored 36 to 60 in the paint.
Clutch-Time Clanker
The Blazers, as they have many times throughout the season, rallied late, but failed to fully realize their comeback aspirations. The dying moments oscillated between high-energy defense generating timely stops, and turnovers and missed free throws erasing the energy built from the previous defensive play. Though they are still a young team, the Blazers’ crunch time execution has not improved in the manner fans may have hoped. Much of this is due to the fact that the Blazers are often entering crunchtime at a deficit, a more difficult position to win from. However, the team that far and away leads the league in raw turnovers and turnover percentage, shockingly, does not magically improve their ball security in high pressure situations. The same flaws that perturb the Blazers’ winning chances during the first three quarters continue into the fourth.
Deni Avdija’s Left Hand
As Blazers color commentator Lamar Hurd pointed out on the broadcast, the 76ers came in with a very specific, nuanced gameplan: force Deni Avdija to his weak hand and clog the lane. In a select few instances, this resulted in a weak-side cut and jam for the Blazers. In most every other instance, it resulted in a skip to the three point line. The Blazers, as discussed previously, were keen to take those attempts from deep, and the 76ers were undoubtedly even more keen to see them attempted. Philadelphia allowed the Blazers to fully lean into their analytics-first offensive approach – barely even contesting from beyond the arc in favor of limiting Deni Avdija’s ability to go to his right hand – and it paid off.
Positive Notes
Brooke is back! To come away from this contest with some positives, we have to look off-court: Blazers sideline reporter Brooke Olzendam is once again travelling with the team following a health scare in early March. During the broadcast, she gave thanks to the Blazers community for their ongoing support through her recovery.
Vit Brings the Heat. Vit Krejci showed Blazers fans that his three-point highlights from previous seasons were, in fact, not AI-generated. Despite getting off to a slow shooting start in Portland, Krejci has remained unafraid to get them up, and cashed in on 3 of his 6 attempts tonight. I continue to be convinced that Krejci has more to offer as a three-level scorer, and hope the Blazers will look to get him more involved in offensive actions as the season winds down.
Up Next
The Blazers suit up against the Brooklyn Nets tomorrow at 4:30pm Pacific time, rounding out their second-to-last back to back of the season.
