The Portland Trail Blazers Slow and kinda blank on Thursday, he was struggling on both ends of the field on his way to a 111-87 defeat at the hands of Indiana Pacers In Moda Center.
The night after a record performance from behind the arc, Portland only managed to shoot 36% of the ground (along with only 30% of depth), and their 87 points were by far the team’s lowest production for the season.
But the real disappointment in the evening occurred in the middle of the third quarter when Yusef Norkich knocked out the match as it was It was later announced that he had a broken right wrist, Apparently he struggled after making a bad pass on defense, although the exact moment was still undetermined. Details on the extent of the respite will appear along with any idea of recovery time soon, but this undoubtedly represents a huge blow for the team that has expectations to compete deep in the qualifiers.
From the start, it should have been clear that the storm clouds were brewing. Playing on the second night of a game in a row, and especially the follow-up to the barn burner Wednesday against Kings where Damien Lillard and CJ McCollum had to fight teeth and nails for 85 minutes combined, you must wonder if fatigue will happen Be a factor tonight. Early on at least, that was not the case, as the two teams battled to a dead end in a quarter of a fist, leading to what appeared to be another tense journey down the sore.
Soon it became anything but. Terry Stuts was elected to give his best players a rest, and he opened his second term with a lineup of Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. And Rodney Hood, Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter, letting Lillard and McCollum ride together for about five minutes. In those five minutes, the Blazers won 12-2 when Doug McDermott knocked off the bench on fire for the Pacers. The second unit did not find an offensive tempo at all, and settled on isolating the disputed Carmelo Anthony and three Hill Mary attempts. By the time McCollum and later Lillard came back with 4:57 left in the game, Indiana maintained a 12-point lead and appeared to be in full control.
From there, things went from bad to worse. Portland, who was among the league leaders in sponsoring basketball, couldn’t take care of the rock if it was their mother, stripping them 7 times in the first half and turning the ball more than 10 times with the progress inflated smoothly. As much as 25 points. Domantas Sabonis gave fans flashbacks about his father, showing in the post on his way to 23 points, 15 boards and 5 assists.
The Blazers did a few rounds in the second half to make things look respectable at least, and ended up nearly 11 times late in the third quarter, but another tumultuous comeback was not there.
What’s Next
The Blazers will have a day off before hosting Atlanta Hawks Saturday evening 7 pm PST.
