The Portland Trail Blazers rallied back from 21 down in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night, only to fall to Nikola Vucevic’s buzzer-beating three-pointer as the Chicago Bulls handed them a 122-121 loss in a stunner.
To say the Blazers were shorthanded would be a severe understatement. Shaedon Sharpe and Robert Williams III were the latest additions to the rapidly expanding injury report which already included Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson, Damian Lillard, and Blake Wesley. This forced Portland’s Tiago Splitter to do some coaching on the fly.
After a back-and-forth first half, Chicago seized control late in the third quarter and it looked like the game was heading to garbage time. A late fourth-quarter run turned that notion on its head. The Blazers were in position to steal a win but were thwarted by Vucevic’s dagger.
Deni Avdija notched his third career triple-double, finishing the night with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. With anybody resembling an experienced point guard watching from the sidelines in street clothes, Avdija assumed the primary playmaker role and excelled.
Donovan Clingan had his best game of the season so far, absolutely dominating the glass (game-high 21 boards, 10 offensive) to go along with 17 points, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Down the stretch he seemed to be in the middle of every big play, including a go-ahead and-1 reverse with under a minute to go.
Jerami Grant provided a heck of a third billing, turning in perhaps his best game of the season on his signature glass night with a game-high 33 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
60-20 bench scoring: Adv. Chicago. While the Blazers are frantically trying to patch holes with Two-Ways and G-Leaguers, you couldn’t throw a basketball towards the Bulls’ bench without hitting a productive backup. Portland’s starters actually managed well in their opening half stints, but Chicago’s second unit led by the recently activated Coby White ran the Blazers straight out of the building.
The Bulls almost tauntingly play a style that is not unlike what Portland wants to do when at full strength: Deep, unselfish and fast. Many early predictions had Chicago headed back to the lottery after the DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine trades, but Billy Donovan has the team playing hard and competing.
The Blazers will get a day off before heading down to take on the Golden State Warriors Friday night at 7 p.m. Pacific to begin a three game road trip.
