The Blazers are waiting for better days
In the midst of a three-game winning streak, Portland is back on track entering the playoffs. Except two consecutive home losses have dampened the momentum: Blazers slipped to 12-18, narrow margin to stay 10th in West ahead of Mavericks which are gaining momentum again.
The scenario is all the more frustrating as the season was expected to extend last year’s good finish. Instead, the team is sailing out of sight, rocked by absences and a difficult non-sports context since the arrest Chauncey Billups of October, which triggered Thiago Splitter on the bench in temporary mode.
And power-ups are slow: Jrue Holiday (calf), Matisse Thibulle (thumb) and Scott Henderson (hamstring) doesn’t look close to coming back.
Already 11 defeats in the clutch
As a result, Portland is holding on… but shooting too often when possession weighs a ton. After the loss to Orlando (110-106), the Blazers are already at 11 “clutch” losses (a game with five points or less in the last five minutes), which is one of the league’s worst records in close games.
Faced with difficulties, Tiago Splitter comes up with a slogan: stay together and above all don’t be divided.
“We have a great group”, explains Danny Avdija. “They’re very mentally strong. Our camaraderie is really good. We get along great. We communicate. Our chemistry is amazing. This is one of the most united teams I’ve played on in a long time. And, as you can see, we just keep fighting. We’re not going to give up. And that’s our identity. We believe in each other, we believe in each other.
All this remains to be poured out in the last five minutes. Still in the Western ranking.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | That | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Ft | Pts |
| Danny Avdia | 29 | 34:50 | 46.7 | 36.8 | 80.5 | 1.1 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 25.5 |
| Shaedon Sharpe | 25 | 29:14 | 46.3 | 32.0 | 77.0 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 22.1 |
| Jerami Grant | 26 | 30:21 | 43.6 | 38.9 | 86.6 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 20.0 |
| Jrue Holiday | 12 | 33:25 | 44.6 | 36.5 | 84.0 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 8.3 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 16.7 |
| Toumani Camara | 29 | 33:08 | 41.3 | 34.1 | 71.1 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 12.4 |
| Donovan Clingan | 25 | 26:02 | 51.3 | 28.8 | 66.7 | 4.5 | 5.7 | 10.2 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 10.5 |
| Caleb Love | 21 | 17:03 | 33.0 | 25.2 | 78.9 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 7.5 |
| Robert Williams III | 19 | 15:44 | 69.3 | 11.1 | 66.7 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 6.1 |
| Blake Wesley | 6 | 16:20 | 41.2 | 20.0 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 6.0 |
| Sidi Cissoko | 24 | 20:23 | 39.5 | 30.0 | 70.6 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 5.8 |
| Chris Murray | 27 | 25:11 | 44.4 | 25.9 | 66.7 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 5.7 |
| Matisse Thibulle | 4 | 12:15 | 60.0 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 5.0 |
| Duo Reath | 23 | 7:57 | 48.2 | 46.3 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 3.3 |
| Yang Hansen | 13 | 7:42 | 30.0 | 6.3 | 90.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.6 |
| Ryan Rupert | 22 | 8:14 | 34.1 | 28.6 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| Javonte Cooke | 5 | 6:12 | 25.0 | 20.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.4 |
2025-12-24 16:53:00
