With 117 points on the scoreboard and a 20-point lead after three quarters, the Portland Trail Blazers were set to cruise to another victory Wednesday night. Their fans could relax, their best players could rest, and the guys at the end of the bench could get some run.
But games last four quarters and the Utah Jazz had other ideas, staging a furious fourth-quarter comeback that eventually came up just short. The Blazers held on for a 136-134 victory, improving to 3-2 on the season.
Here are a few key observations from the game.
Several Sparks Off the Bench
The Blazers made just one of their first six shots from the field and quickly found themselves down 13-4. Things started to turn when Jerami Grant entered the game and almost immediately hit back-to-back right corner 3’s. He finished the quarter with 11 points to keep the Blazers close.
On the defensive side of the ball, Matisse Thybulle and Blake Wesley continue to make an impact every time they check in. Utah made it more than 11 minutes into the game without a turnover but Thybulle changed the momentum, recording two steals in the final minute of the quarter. After the second steal, he set up Caleb Love for a spectacular alley-oop, but injured his left thumb on the play and did not return.
Blake Wesley picked up where Thybulle left off, putting relentless pressure on Utah’s ballhandlers. After forcing just two turnovers in the first quarter, the Blazers defense, sparked by Wesley, forced nine Utah turnovers in the second quarter, helping the Blazers turn a 10-point deficit into a 6-point halftime lead.
And then there was Duop Reath.
Reath saw the bulk of the backup center minutes. He made them count. After playing only four total minutes in the first four games of the season, Reath surprisingly checked in with 8:07 to play in the second quarter. In 12 minutes of action, he had 9 points, cashing in on three of his six three-point shots.
Yang Hansen looked shaky in his only stint, which lasted less than four minutes in the first quarter. He tallied two points, but also had a turnover and two fouls.
How Head Coach Tiago Splitter handles the center minutes when starter Donovan Clingan rests will continue to be interesting. The Blazers didn’t play many minutes without a center against a huge Utah team Wednesday night, but it will be interesting to see how playing time gets divided up among Hansen, Reath, and Robert Williams III, who should be back in the lineup soon.
Mixed Signals From Shaedon Sharpe
Shaedon Sharpe’s early season shooting woes have been concerning, but he exploded at a critical moment in the second quarter, burying three straight three-pointers during a pivotal time in the game. He finished with 18 points on 6-14 shooting, including 4-8 from distance. He also took much better care of the ball against Utah, turning it over only one time. Outside of the big second quarter surge, Sharpe was mostly quiet.
Through five games, the Blazers have only played a few close games. Against Utah, the crunch time execution, at least on offense, was not encouraging. The Blazers took a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter but managed to score only 19 in the final frame.
In the final five minutes, the Blazers had more shot clock violations (2) and live ball turnovers (2) than made field goals (1).
Jrue Holiday’s veteran presence stood out. He finished with a team-high 27 points, to go along with 8 assists. He was the steadiest Blazer down the stretch, making four clutch free throws in the final ten seconds, and grabbing the game-sealing rebound on Kyle Filipowski’s intentionally-missed free throw with 3.9 seconds remaining.
Outside of Holiday’s timely play, the fourth quarter was ugly, and the Blazers were fortunate to escape Salt Lake City with the win.
There will be many more close contests, though. Blazers fans got their first look at how Coach Splitter will approach late-game situations. He took full advantage of his team’s depth and versatility, subbing Toumani Camara out for a critical offensive possession in the final minute, then pulling Clingan for faster defenders when Utah desperately needed a three.
And with that three point lead in the final minute, Splitter successfully employed a strategy of intentionally fouling the Jazz, so that they couldn’t attempt any 3-point shots. With Holiday making his free throws, the strategy worked, and Blazers fans could breathe a sigh of relief.
The Blazers return home to face the Denver Nuggets at 7:00 PM, Pacific on Friday night. David Adelman, a Jesuit High School graduate and the son of former Blazers coach Rick Adelman, will make his first visit to Portland since taking over as Denver’s head coach.
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