On the momentum of a series of three victories, portland was back on track for the play-in. Except that two consecutive losses at home dampened the momentum: the Blazers slip to 12 wins for 18 losses, with the margin becoming minimal to maintain 10th place in the West in front of the Mavericks who are regaining momentum.
The scenario is all the more frustrating as the season was expected to extend the good end of last year. Instead,the team is sailing by sight,shaken by absences and a heavy extra-sporting context since the arrest of Chauncey Billups in October,which propelled Tiago splitter on the bench in interim mode.
And the reinforcements are slow: Jrue holiday (calf), Matisse Thybulle (thumb) and Scoot Henderson (hamstring) don’t seem close to a return.
Already 11 defeats in the clutch
Consequently, Portland hangs on… but cracks too often when possessions weigh a ton. After the defeat against Orlando (110-106), the Blazers are already at 11 defeats in the “clutch” (game with five points or less in the last five minutes), one of the worst records in the league in tight ends of matches.
Faced with difficulties, Tiago Splitter hammers out a slogan: stay together and above all not disunite.
“We have a great group”explains Deni Avdija. “They are very mentally strong. Our camaraderie is really good. We get along very well. We communicate. Our chemistry is amazing. This is one of the most united teams I’ve played on in a long time. And, as you can see, we just keep fighting. We are not going to back down. And that is our identity. We believe in each other, we believe in ourselves as a team. It can only make us better. »
It remains for all this to translate into the last five minutes. and by extension in the Western rankings.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | To | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Deni avdija | 29 | 34:50 | 46.7 | 36.8 | 80.5 | 1.1 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 25.5 |
| Shaedon Sharpe | 25 | 29:14 | 46.3 | 32.0 | 77.0 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 22.1 |
| Jerami Grant | 26 | 30:21 | 43.6 | 38.9 | 86.6 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 20.0 |
| Jrue Holiday | 12 | 33:25 | 44.6 | 36.5 | 84.0 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 8.3 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 16.7 |
| Toumani Camara | 29 | 33:08 | 41.3 | 34.1 | 71.1 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 12.4 |
| Donovan Clingan | 25 | 26:02 | 51.3 | 28.8 | 66.7 | 4.5 | 5.7 | 10.2 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 10.5 |
| caleb Love | 21 | 17:03 | 33.0 | 25.2 | 78.9 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 7.5 |
| Robert Williams Iii | 19 | 15:44 | 69.3 | 11.1 | 66.7 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 6.1 |
| Blake Wesley | 2.6 | 5.8 | ||||||||||||
| Kris Murray | 27 | 25:11 | 44.4 | 25.9 | 66.7 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 5.7 |
| Matisse Thybulle | 4 | 12:15 | 60.0 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 5.0 |
| Duop Reath | 23 | 7:57 | 48.2 | 46.3 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 3.3 |
| Yang Hansen | 13 | 7:42 | 30.0 | 6.3 | 90.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.6 |
| Rayan Rupert | 22 | 8:14 | 34.1 | 28.6 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| Javonte Cooke | 5 | 6:12 | 25.0 | 20.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.4 |