The Portland Trail Blazers had their chances Tuesday night versus the Charlotte Hornets at the Moda Center.
They came out hot and built a lead as large as 19 in the second quarter. They fought to fend off the Hornets for much of the night and then traded punches in a back-and-forth dogfight in crunch time. In the end, the Blazers found themselves on the wrong side of a frustrating 103-101 loss that had coaches, players and fans thinking about turnovers, rebounding, missed layups and faulty late-game
execution.
“Everything was under our control,” Blazers forward Toumani Camara said. “I feel like we had some stupid turnovers, couldn’t make shots, but you know that happens. [We could’ve] controlled the pace a little bit better. I feel like we let them kinda creep up on us a little too easily. I feel like we didn’t really put up a fight like we should’ve. All the little things, with those rebounds, turnovers and making the easy play, easy read.”
With the score hanging in the balance of one or two possessions during winning time, the Blazers missed three agonizing layups. Two of those came in the final two minutes when Portland had chances to create a 3-point cushion. The blown opportunities were compounded by three consecutive turnovers with less than a minute and a half left. On one crucial miscue, Blazers forward Jerami Grant barreled into Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel for a charge while driving baseline with 12.8 seconds left — a bang-bang call as Portland trailed 99-98.
“I pump-faked, went in, looked at the shot clock,” Grant said about the play. “I probably rushed it, probably should’ve took a [midrange jumper], make it a little easier.”
The third and fatal turnover came on the next play. After two Charlotte free throws made the score 101-98, the Blazers called timeout with a chance to tie the game with nine seconds on the clock. Inbounding from side-out, Camara threw the pass to Blazers All-Star Deni Avdija, fending off Charlotte forward Miles Bridges on the near-baseline. But Camara led Avdija too far, and the ball flew out of bounds as Avdija tumbled to the ground. The Blazers and the home crowd were looking for a whistle on Bridges for possibly pulling on Avdija, but it didn’t come.
“It’s so marginal” Avdija said about the contact on the play. “It’s a close game. It’s intense. I’m not gonna sit here and cry about that call. I’ve gotta take responsibility. I’ve gotta do a better job of getting open.”
Two Charlotte free throws on the next possession iced it, and the ending undid what had been shaping up to be a rousing performance by Portland— on Blazer’s Edge Night, no less! Outside of that late turnover, Grant played lights out on offense, scoring a game-high 24 points and three 3s on 7-10 shooting. Avdija looked like his All-Star self for the second straight game after returning from injury, producing 18 points and seven assists. Portland guard Scoot Henderson also played well for the second consecutive game, registering 17 points and five 3-pointers off the bench (although he played only 19 minutes).
The Blazers contained the Hornets offensive attack, holding Charlotte to below 40% shooting from the field and the 3-point line. But Charlotte forward Brandon Miller broke loose for 23 points, guard LaMelo Ball scored 12 of his 14 in the fourth, and the Hornets beat Portland 16-10 on the offensive glass. That production, plus the late-game miscues, proved too much for the Blazers to overcome.
“The effort was there,” Blazers head coach Tiago Splitter said. “We played hard … Sometimes little details, you lose the game. They won in the margins.”
While the Hornets now stand at just .500 on the season, they’ve been one of the hottest teams in the NBA since New Year’s, and they clocked Portland by double digits when the teams met two weeks ago. So, Tuesday’s matchup represented a great opportunity for the Blazers to notch a win against a quality opponent, a feat they haven’t accomplished much since their head-turning hot streak in January. Looking bigger picture, post-All-Star break was supposed to be the Blazers’ time. Playing one of the league’s cushiest remaining schedules with important Play-In positioning within reach, a surge in the standings seemed almost certain. Instead, even with the rarity of a relatively healthy roster on Tuesday, it amounted to another disappointment as Portland has stumbled to a 4-6 record since the break — done in by the same issues that have plagued them all season: turnovers, defensive rebounding, 3-point shooting, late-game inbound plays.
“There’s a lot of things that we need to focus on,” Camara said. “There’s little details that kind of slip away from us. I feel like our intensity on going to the offensive glass or boxing out, all the things like that. It’s been hurting us all year. It’s nothing new. So, as long as we don’t change those things, we’re not gonna win games at a higher rate.”
The loss dropped the Blazers to a 31-35 record as they remain in the 10th spot in the Western Conference standings. They’re still just 1.5 games behind the 9th-place Golden State Warriors and two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers in that all-important 8th spot. Even though things haven’t gone according to plan lately, with 16 games left, the Blazers still have time to make that late-season push.
“We’ve got the players to do it. We’ve just gotta come together,” Grant said. “Now that mostly everybody’s healthy, we should be able to string together some wins in these upcoming weeks.”
Avdija admitted losses like this one sting more considering the late stage of the season and the postseason race. But he also took encouragement from elements of the team’s showing and didn’t feel a need to overreact to a loss against a hot team that could’ve gone either way. If you’re a fan stressed about Play-In positioning and scouring the league standings every morning, just know Portland’s All-Star isn’t.
“I know it’s important to finish ninth or eighth or seventh,” Avdija said. “But at the end of the day, I believe in us. Even if we’re 10th, and we gotta play two games and win two games, I believe in us. Obviously, you want to have an easier path, but I don’t look at my phone and be like …‘Oh, are we gonna play seven or eight?’ It doesn’t matter. I believe in the team. I believe in us. And whatever challenges we’re gonna have ahead, we’re gonna beat ‘em.”
