The Portland Trail Blazers toppled the Miami Heat 123-107 Thursday evening after riding a strong third quarter into a fourth quarter with Portland keeping Miami at arms’ length throughout.
The Blazers were
led in scoring by Shaedon Sharpe who had 27 points in the contest. Deni Avdija and Caleb Love added 20 points each.
Avdija left the game early in the third quarter due to a back injury and did not return to the contest. There has been no news so far about whether this will cause him to miss any more time.
The Heat got a 32-point performance from Bam Adebayo to lead them in scoring.
Player of the Game
Shaedon Sharpe was quiet in the first half as he scored just three points. He then exploded in the second half to help Portland pull way ahead late in the game. He finished the game with 27 points.
Stat of the Night
The Blazers made 10 of their first 11 shots from the field in the third quarter. After earning a one-point advantage in the first half, Portland blew the game wide open to start the second and didn’t look back.
What We Noticed
The Blazers took 50 three-pointers in the game. They hit 20 of them for 40%. That combination of hot shooting and volume was just too much for the Heat to keep up with, especially when Miami made just 20% of their own threes.
Portland has been a poor shooting team this season, yet they’ve still earned a .500 record throughout. Performances like this turn a good team into a great team and can quickly turn ordinary games into blowouts.
Up Next
The Blazers are staying in town to take on the Toronto Raptors tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. PST.
