BLAZERS GRADED: Dallas 111, Portland 101 (OT)

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Saturday, February 07, 2015

Andrew R Tonry, GoLocalPDX Contributor

With just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter the Blazers led by 11.

And yet, the Mavericks forced overtime.

They did it with a 13-2 run. And with the crowd at their backs, the Mavericks took that momentum into the extra period, where they blew out the Blazers. 

In five minutes of added time, Dallas outscored Portland a whopping 15 to 5. Indeed, they won going away.

Together--the final two minutes of the fourth quarter along with the overtime--the Mavericks ended the contest on a 27-8 run.

The Blazers were left, dazed and confused.

And though Portland did indeed make a few mistakes down the stretch--bad passes, rushed and poor shots--credit for that final scoring imbalance goes more to Dallas' tenacity.

The Mavericks forced turnovers and played stout defense. They scored quickly on fast breaks, made a myriad of threes and pounded the offensive glass.

Portland, meanwhile, will be left staring at the stat sheets, wondering what went wrong and a certain statistic will pop out: 23 turnovers. And while those certainly didn't help, the Blazers were turning the ball over all game long. 

Indeed, it's worth noting: in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, where Dallas erased Portland's 11 point lead, the Blazers had just one turnover.

It's hardly any consolation though--Saturday's collapse was every bit as brutal as it was swift.

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LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE: A-
Scoring just seven points in the first half, Aldridge started slow. Coming out of the break the Blazers established him immediately, as Aldridge took and made Portland's first three shots of the quarter. He scored 13 points in the quarter and finished with 25 as well as a game-high 14 rebounds. Unfortunately for Portland, none of those rebounds came on the critical plays when Dallas got their critical second-chance points.

NICOLAS BATUM: D+
Had Batum made a shot from the field Saturday, the Blazers might have won. Instead, he missed all five attempts from behind-the-arc and eight overall. He finished with only two points, and would surely have earned the 'F' if it wasn't for 10 rebounds and four assists. (Saturday's performance also supports the idea that Batum's previous 20-point performance against the Suns was not a slump-buster, but an anomoly, as his three best scoring games of the season have come against Phoenix.)

ROBIN LOPEZ: C
Lopez was solid patrolling the paint, but also managed five turnovers and five fouls. He finished with 11 points and eight boards.

DAMIAN LILLARD: B-
It looked like it was going to be Lillard's slump-busting night. After a string up missing 17-straight three's, he made his first four, Saturday. He went on, though, to miss his final six--including a would-be game-winner that he would've been better off driving. To his 26 points he added seven rebounds and seven assists and four steals, but gave away five turnovers.

WESLEY MATTHEWS: B
With four steals and eight rebounds, Matthews was a pest on defense. He hit 3-of-8 from distance to finish with 17 points.

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