It’s most likely a case of too little, too late, but the Portland Trail Blazers played some of their best basketball in two months Wednesday night while winning 127-115 at the Utah Jazz.
The Blazers, without Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little, snapped a six-game losing streak while being led in part by the young duo of Shaedon Sharpe and Trendon Watford.
Sharpe started in place of Simons and had a career-high 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting while making 4 of 7 three-pointers. Watford started in place of Grant and put up 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Damian Lillard did his thing as well. He struggled from long distance, making just 2 of 10 threes, but still amassed 27 points to go along with 12 assists and seven rebounds.
“I liked everything from the team tonight,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. “We had a really good, focused shoot-around today and just talked about how we wanted to execute offensively and defensively. And the guys were just really, really locked in. So many great efforts from so many players in the game tonight.”
Lauri Markkanen led Utah with 40 points.
The Blazers led by as much as 15 but saw the Jazz rally back. The game stood at 94-94 early in the fourth quarter, but the Blazers responded with a 10-2 run to lead 104-96 with 8:32 to go. From there, the Blazers controlled the game. Sharpe hit a three to make the score 118-105 with 4:28 left. Later, Lillard iced the game with a step-back three that gave the Blazers a 127-112 lead with 1:41 on the clock.
Portland Trail Blazers forward Trendon Watford (2) drives against Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) in the first half during an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Jeff Swinger) APAP
Good ball movement defined the night for the Blazers, who put together 28 assists on 45 field goals.
“This is a tough environment,” Billups said. “This has always been one of the toughest places to play. That’s a good team over there. A really, really, really good offensive team and their coached very well. So, we had to be disciplined in this game. What stands out is Shaedon. His game was incredible. T-Wat continues to be consistent.”
WHAT IT MEANS
The Trail Blazers (32-40) entered the night trailing the 10th-place Utah Jazz (35-37) by four games. The victory trimmed that deficit to three with 10 games remaining for the 13th-place Blazers. While it’s unlikely that the Blazers have enough time to make a serious move toward securing a play-in berth, they do have three extremely winnable games coming up at home against Chicago (34-38), Oklahoma City (36-36) and New Orleans (35-37). Get healthy, win all three and the Blazers could be back in business. But that’s a tall order. The Blazers are 1-6 this season against those three teams and have won three consecutive games only once since early December.
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Bulls at 7 p.m. Friday.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
