Trail Blazers fall flat in second half of 127-105 loss to Clippers, eliminated from NBA Cup

Published 9:37 pm Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The Portland Trail Blazers didn’t have enough gas for the second half to slow down the Los Angeles Clippers, falling 127-105 and were eliminated from NBA Cup contention with a 2-2 record in West Group A play.

Once again, Portland was down big men with Donovan Clingan out with a left knee sprain while Robert Williams III is still in the concussion protocol. Matisse Thybulle is yet to play this season with a right ankle sprain and Scoot Henderson missed with a left quad contusion.

The starting lineup came out asleep at the wheel with the Clippers going up 21-9 in the first quarter.

However, Deni Avdija came off the bench to spark the Blazers, hitting three 3-pointers in the first frame alone.

Portland needed those shots due to former Blazer Normal Powell coming out red hot, hitting three deep balls himself and scoring 14 points in the first. LA led 36-31 after one.

The shots kept falling for both sides in the second quarter as Portland scattered 27 points, including a couple putbacks from Dalano Banton and four more points from Avdija.

Another former Blazer in Derrick Jones Jr. started to carve Portland up from the dunker’s spot, scoring 11 in the second frame alone to keep LA in front at the break up 63-58.

The bench was the story of the first half for Portland, outscoring the Clippers’ 25-11 to win those minutes with ease.

The third quarter was another dud for Portland as it only scored 20 points and watched Harden hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it 91-78 going into the fourth.

Harden had 12 points in the third alone while Avdija’s hot night didn’t continue, held scoreless in six minutes in the third. Portland turned it over six times in the frame as well, leading to 12 points for the Clippers.

LA came out on an 8-0 run to start the fourth, opening up the lead to 99-78 and didn’t look back as the Clippers took care of business to close out the game.

Portland’s offense simply ran out of gas and had no answer as Harden and the rest of the Clippers offense continued to hit deep shots, nearly doubling up Portland with 19 made threes compared to the Blazers’ 10.

Simons went 0-for-6 from deep and finished with seven points as Portland went 10-for-29 overall from beyond the arc.

Portland’s loss drops it to 8-14 and finishes NBA Cup group play at 2-2. The Blazers will get two games added to their schedule out of the group of 21 other teams who aren’t advancing to the knockout stage. Those games will be either Dec. 12 or 13 and Dec. 15 or 16.

Advancing to the knockout stage from the West is group winners Houston (A), Oklahoma City (B) and Golden State (C), along with the wild card in Dallas out of Group C. For the East, it’ll be group winners in New York (A), Milwaukee (B) and Atlanta (C), plus the wild card in Group A’s Orlando.

Before then, the Blazers will be in action again at home next, hosting Utah at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6.

Final stats

Portland

Jerami Grant: 12 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds

Toumani Camara: 9 points, 4 rebounds

Deandre Ayton: 16 points, 3 rebounds

Anfernee Simons: 7 points, 6 assists

Shaedon Sharpe: 15 points, 4 rebounds

Deni Avdija: 15 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds

Dalano Banton: 14 points, 3 assists

Jabari Walker: 6 points, 5 rebounds

Rayan Rupert: 3 points, 4 assists

Kris Murray: 2 points

Duop Reath: 6 points

41-for-80 (51.3%) from the floor, 10-for-29 (34.5%) from 3-point, 13-for-16 from the line

LA Clippers

Derrick Jones Jr.: 15 points, 4 rebounds

Norman Powell: 30 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds

Ivica Zubac: 8 points, 10 rebounds

James Harden: 23 points, 7 assists

Kris Dunn: 7 points, 3 assists

Jordan Miller: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

Nicolas Batum: 3 assists, 3 rebounds

Amir Coffey: 19 points, 3 assists

Terance Mann: 5 points

Mo Bamba: 3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks

Bones Hyland: 3 points

47-for-85 from the floor (55.3%), 19-for-37 (51.4%) from 3-point, 14-for-17 from the line