The Trail Blazers defeat the Indiana Pacers 114-110, refusing to let the victory slip away.
With 5.5 seconds remaining, Portland Trail Blazers guard Malcolm Brogdon made a short jumper in the lane to give the team a 114-110 lead over the Indiana Pacers. The Blazers managed to hold on to win by the same margin the previous night, after blowing a sizable lead against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road, Portland lost 108-102 at the Bucks on Sunday despite blowing a 26-point lead in the third quarter. However, in the final minutes of the game, Portland made the plays needed to win at the Pacers.
The majority of the time, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was impressed by the difference in poise shown from one night to the next.
At Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Billups told reporters, “It was awesome.” We got to talk about a few instances in the latter part of the game, in my opinion, where we lost our composure. Overall though, I believe we knew what we had to do to have any chance against such an outstanding offensive team as theirs in this game.
With 34 points on 12 of 18 shooting and seven rebounds, Jerami Grant led the Blazers. He consistently came up with huge baskets to keep the Pacers at bay, including 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Brogdon finished with seven assists and 24 points. Deandre Ayton contributed 22 points and 13 rebounds.
According to Billups, “We had some guys step up and be special.” For us, Jeremy was and still is amazing. Malcolm and his existence. For the entire game, DA was unstoppable.
Because of Brogdon’s track record of making the right play with the ball when the game was on the line, Billups claimed he went to him on that crucial play.
There aren’t many players on our team who have experienced that, according to Billups. Malcolm possesses. Jerami possesses. with their hands holding the ball. This means that if he gets fouled, he can make the free throws; if not, he can go get the shot for you. That’s why we need to get it to the guy who was there. So that’s what we did. Malcolm did a fantastic job utilizing his strength and body to get where he needed to be in order to make the shot, and we were successful.
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Tyrese Haliburton scored 33 points to lead the Pacers, but they also made 20 mistakes and only made 8 of 33 three-pointers (24.2%). Portland made nine threes while only taking eighteen.
It wasn’t easy keeping the Pacers to 110 points. The Pacers led the NBA in both offensive rating (123.7) and points per game (128.8) going into the evening.
Billups stated that “not many teams in the league can do what we did today.” following such a heartbreaking defeat the previous evening, where they led 26 points but eventually came back to win that game. And then coming here and coming out on top in a game like this—I’m so proud of my guys.
WHAT IT CONTAINS
The Blazers (5-12) defeated a team with a winning record to earn their first win of the season. The Blazers triumphed against Detroit (2-15), Toronto (8-9), Memphis (3-13), and Utah (6-11) in their remaining four games.
HENDERSON’S SHOT FALLING SCOOT
In just under 22 minutes of play, the rookie made two of three three-pointers and scored 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting. After making just two of his first 24 attempts, he has now made five of his last seven threes. Henderson is 7 of 31 (22.6%) for the season.
