This season, the Portland Trail Blazers have triumphed over top teams.
Indeed, on December 1, they came very close to defeating the Dallas Mavericks at home.
However, it has been difficult to play in Dallas in recent years. With a 132-108 loss at the American Airlines Center on Monday night, that pattern persisted.
The Blazers’ record versus the Mavericks is 12–14. On February 14, 2021, Portland defeated Dallas 121-118 in their most recent victory.
The two losses in Dallas last season totaled 65 points. The loss on Monday night fell into that category of humiliation.
The evening started out nicely. In the first half, the Blazers’ offense kept them in the game, but the Mavericks’ offense was too strong for them to handle. Dallas led 62-53 at the half, had five players score in double figures, and shot 55.8% from the field.
“To be honest with you, I thought we had a pretty good first half,” Blazerscoach Chauncey Billups told reporters. We performed well on the glass. We had excellent offensive rebounding, in my opinion. Although we didn’t actually make any shots, we did get the kind of shots we want.
The third quarter turned the game ugly. The Mavericks led 102-76 going into the fourth quarter after outscoring Portland 40-23.
In the third quarter, Portland had nine turnovers, negating a strong shooting effort (47.6%). The Mavericks scored 13 points off of the Blazers’ mistakes and shot 56%.
“To stay in the game against a team like this, you have to make some real shots,” Billups stated.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons (1) drives against Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Dallas. (Photo by AP/LM Otero)AP
That’s exactly what happened when the Blazers lost to Dallas at home earlier this month, 137-131. Portland made 58.1% long-range and 58.3% field goals.
On Monday night, Portland shot a decent 46.2% from the field but hit just 8 of 29 from three-point range (27.6%) and committed 19 turnovers.
With 19 points off the bench, Deni Avdija led the Blazers. Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe combined for 26 points on 12-of-33 shooting. Grant scored just three points.
Deandre Ayton might have been the Blazers’ best player on the floor. He scored 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and had nine rebounds in just over 25 minutes.
I thought DA was really good in this game, Billups said. His energy was amazing.
Luka Doncic led the Mavericks with 27 points and seven assists but went 1 of 7 on threes. Daniel Gafford added 23 points. Kyrie Irving scored 20.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (9-20) lost their sixth consecutive game to Dallas (19-10) and have now lost eight of their last nine games.
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Utah Jazz at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Jazz (7-21) won 141-99 at the Blazers on Dec. 6.
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— Aaron Fentress |[email protected]|@AaronJFentress(Twitter),@AaronJFentress(Instagram),@AaronFentress(Facebook)
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