Miami benefited from Portland’s sales and inexperience.
The Portland Trail Blazers lost 104-78 to the Miami Heat in their last game of the Summer League. The game’s top scorer was Heat star Orlando Robinson with 27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. The Blazers were led by Doup Reath with 18 points but received strong contributions from Michael Devoe, who had 16 points and 5 assists, and Kris Murray, who had 12 points.
The first quarter was dominated by hot three-pointers by the Blazers and everywhere else by the Heat. Portland shot 40% of the archway in that quarter. Miami kept them in check by scoring 52.4% of hits from the field themselves, despite only 27.3% of three-pointers. Kris Murray and Jabari Walker combined for 10 of the Blazers’ first 13 points, battling Miami’s Orlando Robinson, who finished the quarter with 9 points. The Heat held a 26-22 lead after one game.
The Heat took a 32-23 lead in the second quarter before giving the Blazers a 13-0 run. This put Portland in the lead with 36:32. The Blazers held their four-point lead through halftime after a strong performance by Devoe. He ended the half with 15 points and 5 assists, including a couple of notable passes that led to easy hoops in the game.
Miami immediately erased Portland’s lead with an 8-0 run early in the third quarter. The Blazers remained scoreless for more than three minutes while the Heat blocked, stole and then scored, including two wide-open fast-break dunks on back-to-back possession plays.
The Heat went on an extended run to a 12-point lead before Portland attempted a full five-man swap to change the momentum. The new line for the blazers didn’t have much more success. Miami won the quarter 28-7 and took a 76-59 lead in the final frame. Orlando Robinson had 10 points in that quarter, giving him 25 points for the game.
In the fourth quarter, the Heat and Blazers traded blows, with neither team gaining much ground over the other. Unfortunately for the Blazers, this meant they were about 20 points behind. One of the bright spots for Portland was Doup Reath’s massive dunk early in the quarter. Despite the clear defeat, Reath had his best game of the Summer League.
The Blazers suffered from an excess of turnovers and the Heat consistently capitalized on those mistakes. Portland ended the game with 24 turnovers, leading to easy baskets in transition for the Heat. The turning point of the game revolved around turnovers early in the second half as the Blazers lost a lead they were never able to regain.
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Portland finishes the Las Vegas tournament with a 3-2 record. Star draftee Scoot Henderson only played once, in his first game against the Houston Rockets. Guard Shaedon Sharpe didn’t play against the Heat. He finished Summer League averaging 17.0 ppg in four appearances and had a 34.8% shot rate from the field and 27.3% from three-point arc. He averaged 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 turnovers in 27.9 minutes per game.
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