The Portland Trail Blazers failed to comeback against the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, losing 122-114. Utah was able to build a huge lead in the third quarter and, despite a great fourth quarter, the Blazers were too far behind to make up the difference.
The Blazers were led by two career-high performances from rookies, with Scoot Henderson scoring 23 points and Toumani Camara adding 18 points of his own. Henderson also posted a career-high 10 assists, marking the first double-double of his career.
The Jazz were led by Collin Sexton's 27 points. Utah also got 24 points from Simone Fontecchio and 23 from Talen Horton Tucker. Walker Kessler also recorded a career-high seven blocks in the game.
First quarter
Kessler opened the game with a dunk after an alley-oop from Sexton. This set the stage for a strong paint attack by the Jazz early in the contest. Utah's first ten points came in the paint or from the free throw line. On the other hand, Deandre Ayton was a focal point of attack, scoring six early points on his first three shots of the game.
The Blazers offense was humming, scoring easy baskets almost every time they were on the court. However, the defense was unable to stop the Jazz from shooting over 70% from the field nearly nine minutes into the game. With three minutes left in the quarter, the Blazers trailed 29-20 despite hitting a respectable 47% of their shots.
The bench gave Portland a much-needed breath of fresh air late in the first game. Two assists from Henderson to three-point shooters, the first to Camara and the second to Malcolm Brogdon, brought the Blazers within four points. Henderson followed the impressive buildup with a huge dunk after a pair of Jazz baskets to rebuild the lead. At the end of the first quarter, Utah led Portland 38-30.
Second quarter
Early in the second quarter, the Blazers tried a different strategy to cut the lead: They simply outscored the Jazz. While the defense continued to falter, Portland managed to cut Utah's lead from three three-pointers back to three points in the first two minutes of the quarter.
Unfortunately for the Blazers, their defense didn't get any better. When the shooting stopped, the deficit continued to grow. With a 9-1 run, the Jazz took a double-digit lead thanks to sharp shooting from distance and the ability to put the ball on target. The only positive thing on offense was Camara making his second and third three-pointers. He was the only player who kept Portland in the game. With five minutes left in the second quarter, Camara scored 14 points through efficient shooting, including all three shots from long range. However, the Blazers still trailed 62-48.
Another strong attack from the Jazz, particularly from Fontecchio, continued the Jazz's scoring streak. Portland ended the first half in a 15-point hole with a score of 69-54. The two leaders, both from Utah, were Fontecchio and Sexton, who both finished the half with 16 points.
Third quarter
Neither the Blazers nor the Jazz were able to reach the bottom of the basket early in the second half. This hurt Portland much more, as Utah's lead grew rather than shrunk, albeit slowly. The Blazers were only able to score two points in the first three minutes of the quarter.
About three minutes into the third quarter, Camara scored his 16th point of the game, setting a new career high. His efforts were not matched by the rest of the team as Portland's defense continued to falter. They gave up points to the Jazz almost every time. The lead grew to more than 20 points on a fastbreak layup by Horton-Tucker seven minutes before the end of the third quarter.
Utah continued to showcase a very poor Blazers defense as a 15-0 run put Portland behind 92-60. Portland lost the third quarter 23-6 with just over four minutes left. The run was finally ended by a layup from Henderson, but it did little to stop the bleeding.
As the period came to a close, Henderson was still the only Blazer able to put the ball in the basket, followed by a massive dunk, an and-1 layup and a three-pointer in about a minute and a half. However, the Blazers still trailed 103-76 at the end of three games.
Fourth quarter
The fourth quarter started with more of the same. A Portland highlight, this time a Shaedon Sharpe putback dunk, briefly interrupted the Jazz's 10-4 run that began the quarter.
With both benches closed, the Blazers finally showed signs of life. Jabari Walker and Kris Murray helped Portland go on a 10-0 run, cutting the lead to 23 points with six minutes left. Henderson threw down his third dunk of the game and was fouled on a shot on the next possession, giving him 20 points, a new career high.
The strong fourth quarter helped the Blazers cut the lead to a more respectable final score. A 15-2 run late in the contest brought Portland within 11 points, but it was too late to truly challenge. Duop Reath scored 15 points in the fourth quarter alone, fueling the massive push. Portland outscored the Jazz 38-19 in the fourth quarter.
Next
Stay tuned for a detailed recap coming soon.
Box score
The Blazers face the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, December 16th at 6:00 p.m