Blazers at Magic Reaction: Sorcery at the Buzzer
Orlando needed some actual magic in the final two seconds to steal this one, a game-winning shot by Desmond Bane with just 1.9 left on the clock. Bane’s only made three of the night came at the buzzer, giving Orlando a 115–112 win.
It seemed like it just wasn’t Portland’s night until the final few minutes, when they stormed back to briefly take the lead on a perfectly executed out-of-bounds play — Toumani to Jerami Grant for an and-1 with 10.6 seconds left. After Paolo missed a pair of free throws, a Jrue Holiday turnover gave Bane just enough time to launch a prayer, and it was answered.
This is the second loss in a row for Portland, starting off their road trip 0–2 with three more games to play before returning to the Pacific Northwest. In a matchup of two fast-paced teams, the Magic managed to slow things down and drag Portland into a half-court battle, but we finally got the version of Shaedon Sharpe we know he can be. This was fun to watch, and gives some promise that just maybe he can find some consistency and do it more often. Sharpe led the squad in points with 31, followed by Deni Avdija with 27 and JG dropping another 17. Paolo Banchero led Orlando in scoring with 28, Bane providing 22, and Wendell Carter Jr and Franz Wagner both giving 19 a piece.
Let’s talk a bit more about Shaedon’s banger of a game, and what ultimately went wrong in this one.
What I Liked
There were plenty of bright spots for the Blazers in this one, even if the result didn’t reflect it. Between Sharpe’s breakout performance, encouraging progress from RWIII, and signs of coach Splitter doing some scheming, there are still things to feel good about here.
Shaedon Sharpe was in his bag tonight, which was very welcomed after an underwhelming start to the season for one of the more electrifying players in the league. Sharpe shot 66% from the field and 60% from three, finishing with 31 points. We saw him confidently shooting threes, hitting turnaround mid-range jumpers, and getting to the cup and finishing at will. We’ve seen him do these things before, we know what he’s capable of, if he can do this on a more consistent basis it will be a huge asset on the offensive side of the ball. It’s worth mentioning this is the first game in a while that he’s played more than low-20’s minutes. In pre-game, coach Splitter mentioned Sharpe is coming off of a minutes restriction, which is the first confirmation that his minutes have been capped as he deals with a nagging calf injury. He sure looked healthy tonight, cooking the defense in whatever way he wanted. Here’s to hoping we get this version of Shae more often than not this season.
Speaking of health, Time Lord (Robert Williams III) logged 14 minutes and looked good — moving well, throwing down a couple rim-rocking dunks, and even hitting the second three of his career. For someone whose career has been riddled with knee injuries, watching him out there tonight gave us confidence his recovery is going well, and it’s hard not to get a little excited about where he could be a couple months from now.
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After the turnover-fest in Miami, the Blazers only coughed it up eight times, though six of those came in the fourth quarter, when it hurt most. It’s hard to call this much of a positive considering the timing of the turnovers, but cutting the turnovers in half from the last game is the right direction. Game script also played a role here, as Orlando dictated a much slower pace than we were expecting (more on that later).
An honorable mention: I like the half-court matchup zone the Blazers have been sprinkling in lately. They tried this a bit against the Heat as well, and while they ultimately lost both of those games, I think the zone can help give them structure as they learn to defend at a slower pace when opponents drag them into half-court sets. When it went well it looked like guys knew where they were supposed to be, less scrambling and missing assignments. This is probably also in-part because the Magic were not having a good shooting night, and I don’t expect to see much of this zone against teams that are more accustomed to lighting it up from deep.
What was Tough
Even with some positives, this was still a frustrating one to lose. The Blazers showed fight and resilience, but a few key issues like pace control, turnovers at critical moments, and defensive lapses kept them from closing it out.
Orlando very clearly dictated the pace of this game, and the Blazers weren’t able to turn it into the track meet style of game they’d prefer to play. After their game against the Heat, I had said I think the Blazers got a taste of their own medicine with the fast pace, and both can be true — they prefer to play fast, but still got punched back by Miami a little harder than they expected.
In this game, the Magic averaged 19 seconds per possession in the first half, which is significantly slower than what they’ve been doing this season leading up to this game. Orlando settled comfortably into their offense, moving and sharing the ball with purpose. Portland wants to force teams to play to their strengths and run up and down the court, but Orlando didn’t take the bait tonight.
Post-Game Thoughts
Coach Tiago Splitter said it best in the post-game: “This one hurts.” Even with another tally in the loss column, we saw Shaedon shine and Deni lead yet another fourth-quarter comeback. This Trail Blazers group keeps proving they’re never out of a game, now it’s just about cleaning up the little things so they’re not always playing from behind.
Let’s hope the Blazers get back on track with a W in New Orleans on Wednesday night. The Pelicans are one of the less good teams in the league, so I’m predicting a redemption game that gets their confidence back to where it should be. Our Blazers fall in heartbreaking fashion tonight, but the young core keeps showing flashes. On to New Orleans.
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