The Portland Trail Blazers played a hard-fought, but ultimately ineffective, game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, coming up on the short end of a 122-111 score. The Blazers put six players in double figures but shot only 40% in doing so. That wasn’t enough to overcome 54.5% shooting from Cleveland, who played without All-Star Donovan Mitchell. Darius Garland led the Cavs with 27 points, Ty Jerome adding 25. No Trail Blazers player topped 18, with Shaedon Sharpe, Donovan Clingan, and Scoot Henderson all reaching that mark.
The loss drops the Blazers to 32-41 on the season, marking the end of their hopes for a winning 2024-25 campaign. Portland is now 3.5 games behind the 10th-place Phoenix Suns in the race for the Western Conference Play-In Tournament. Only 9 games remain on Portland’s schedule. The Suns own the tiebreaker over the Blazers.
Here are some of the factors that influenced the outcome of tonight’s game. Note that I attended this one in person, watching live, and did not record notes. This is from memory only, with some augmenting stats. It’s the recap equivalent of walking a tightrope over alligator-infested swamps with Jimmy Butler as your spotter. If I miss something important, add it in the comments section, please.
Opportunity Points
The Blazers played to form, both energetic and persistent. The hallmark of their evening was 19 offensive rebounds leading to 23 second-chance points. They topped the Cavaliers by 10 in that category.
Just as inspiring, while they lasted, were Portland’s 9 steals. Those came in huge spurts. The points after helped Portland keep close. Toumani Camara was responsible for 3, Shaedon Sharpe 2.
Energy play functioned almost like a magic trick, allowing the Blazers the illusion of competitiveness with a Cavaliers team that was clearly out-executing them. It almost worked too.
Basic Failings
While Portland played opportunistically, the Cavaliers played basic percentage basketball. They feasted on the interior, particularly when Donovan Clingan wasn’t in. During the first half, they sent their bigs inside. In the second half, their guards penetrated. The latter confounded even Clingan, as his teammates abandoned ship, repeatedly leaving him alone trying to stop dribblers with a full head of steam. That did not turn out well. Cleveland ended up with 64 points in the paint...a big reason for their ultra-high shooting percentage.
Coupled with that, the Blazers failed to close out effectively at the arc, allowing the opponent to shoot 44.4% from distance. Excellent marksmanship for Cleveland spread the floor further, leaving the interior even wider open, creating a spiral of doom for Portland’s defense.
The Cavaliers’ experienced, steady, high-quality attack ended up better than Portland’s bursts of frenetic excellence. In the end, Cleveland scored 30 points per quarter. The Blazers couldn’t keep up that pace. That was the ballgame in a nutshell.
Simons Fizzles (with Company)
True to form, Anfernee Simons tried to rescue the Blazers in the fourth period with on3 or his patented 14-point quarters. He didn’t quite make it, converting only one bucket in the frame, shooting just 2-12 overall. It was like someone called for more cowbell, but Simons forgot the drumstick.
Next man up was Deni Avdija, who took the ball iso and tried to do same. He went 1-6 in the fourth.
Shaedon Sharpe shot 1-4 in the final period himself, also going into isolation play.
If you sense a theme here, you’re correct. When the Blazers got nervous, their team approach went out the window. Multiple players tried to be the hero. None of them succeeded. Portland misses fed the ever-increasing Cavaliers lead until launching comical threes on a prayer became the only hope. Surprise! It didn’t work.
Matisse Masterpiece
Matisse Thybulle was a bastion of sanity amid the chaos. His veteran mojo played well as his young teammates were losing it. Thybulle played stiff defense, channeling his inner Toumani Camara. He hit catch-and-shoot threes, going 5-6 in the game for 15 points. He knew when to push, when to drive and dish, and when to lay back. Head Coach Chauncey Billups pulling Thybulle from the game after he put up a great second-half run may have put the nail in the Blazers’ fourth-quarter coffin. The sure could have used some Zen veteran calmness out there.
The Yingin and Yangin of Clingan
Donovan Clingan had a really good game, shooting 6-10 from the field for his 18 points, adding 8 offensive rebounds (wow!) and 3 blocks. As we’ve said repeatedly, Portland’s interior defense is practically non-existent without him. But Clingan’s lack of lateral quickness also showed against the Cavaliers. Whenever Cleveland moved him sideways, he couldn’t recover to protect the rim. The utter lack of help from his friends—mentioned earlier—exposed this weakness severely.
Long story short, if the Blazers don’t operate as a team on defense, they don’t have a back-up plan to save them. Clingan can only do so much. In tandem with wings, he’s a monster. Left as the only solution, he isn’t adequate.
Sharpe Going Backwards
Shaedon Sharpe tried to be aggressive tonight. He had some good defensive moments. Despite his 18 points, his offense wasn’t clicking. He attempted to get to the hoop but found himself thwarted by quick-footed defenders. His next moves came in the mid-range, but the direction was inverted.
You may recall we’ve suggested that Sharpe has a powerful weapon in his pull-up jumper. He can get a couple dribbles forward, make his defender retreat towards the hoop, then pull up with a jumper release so high that nobody’s going to get to it.
Tonight Sharpe often started the offense with his back to the bucket in the midrange. He is taller than most defenders and can still out-leap them, but the stationary nature of the back-to-the-basket game leaves a defender right in his grill nonetheless. Worse, when he goes up, Sharpe jumps backwards, fading away from the defender and the rim. His success rate on these shots was dismal.
ThIs is another example of Sharpe learning what works for him and what doesn’t. All the evidence seems to point to Shaedon going towards the hoop being a good thing, standing still or going away from it bad.
Scoot Does It
Scoot Henderson, on the other hand, made good on his midrange game with just the kind of shots we’re advocating for Sharpe to adopt. He also did well in the drive and dish game. Henderson shot 6-12 with 6 assists, only 2 turnovers. It’s nice to see him providing the steady hand.
Thank You All
Tonight was Blazer’s Edge Night at the Moda Center. 1900 children, youth, and chaperones filled the upper bowl of the arena thanks to tickets donated by you. When we looked around, the house was pretty full! That’s a huge credit to everyone who donated. Thanks for making this event possible. Thanks also to all the participants who came to the game. We’ll do it again next year!
Up Next
Boxscore
The Blazers will face the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night with a 7:00 PM, Pacific start time.