The Blazers held off a late game rally to beat a good opponent in the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. It was their first game without star shooting guard CJ McCollum, who is out for a at least a week with a knee injury, and the Blazers rose to the challenge, notching an important victory as the regular season enters the home stretch. Damian Lilliard dominated the game, scoring 30 points, and even more importantly, getting his teammates involved by dishing out 15 assists. Myles Turner was the high scorer for the Pacers, who nearly pulled off a comeback late in the fourth quarter, closing to with five points in the final minute after being down by as much as 21. The final tally was 106-98.
Oregon senator Ron Wyden met with new Blazer center Enes Kanter before the game in a show a of support over his high profile clash with the Turkish government. "Here in Rip City, we push back against bullies," said Wyden. Also of note was this crazy foot-block by Mo Harkless. No, that's not a legal play:
Ok, so here's four angles of Moe Harkless blocking a shot with his foot (including one I, uh, borrowed from the @trailblazers) pic.twitter.com/tYbT8yQALE
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 19, 2019
Former trailblazer favorite Wes Matthews received a huge cheer when his name was announced in the starting line-up for the Pacers. Former coach Nate McMillan also got some cheers, though they were not as loud. And Domatas Sabonis, son of former Trailblazer legend Arvydas, also got some ups from the crowd when he entered the game. Blazer's fans know their history!
The game started off poorly for the Blazers as they fell behind by double digits in the first quarter. Indiana is hot in the playoff race in the East and could have clinched a birth with a victory, so they weren't lacking in motivation. Jake Layman started in place of injured CJ McCollum, but he never really settled into his game. Rodney Hood ended up taking most of CJ's minutes and it was the second unit that sparked the Blazers comeback and eventual lead. This huge chase-down block by Zach Collins was the event that appeared to turn the tide:
BULL. DOG. pic.twitter.com/uIZxdEzn3L
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) March 19, 2019
The Blazers led by seven points at the half, and the crowd was feeling good. Let's have a look at some of the fashionable Rip City couples roaming the hallways during the break, shall we?
The Blazers opened the second half with a flurry of 3's from Lillard, Curry, and Aminu, and quickly saw their lead balloon to over 20 points. It appeared the game was well in hand, but the Pacers showed grit in the final quarter and made a run. They were aided by some sloppy play on the part of the Trailblazers who up until then had taken pretty good care of the ball. Jusuf Nurkic, who'd been having a great game, seemed to lose his focus in particular and ended up fouling out. Luckily the duo of Kanter and Collins did a pretty good job of filling up the middle in his absence. There were some tense moments as the Blazers appeared unable to score consistently in the final minutes, the time when perhaps they missed old CJ the most. But the Blazers righted the ship and iced the game at the free throw line.
With this win the Blazers held tight to 4th place in the western conference while dreaded OKC slipped into 6th. The Blazers host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, a game they should win, but will be far from a sure thing with rising Dallas superstar rookie Luka Doncic on the floor.
