The Portland Trail Blazers had a terrific first half, but languished after halftime in a 122-103 defeat to first-place Utah Jazz Thursday night in Salt Lake City. Excited by the return of Jusuf Nurkic and leading by three at halftime, they were outscored 69-47 in the second half on their way to the blowout defeat.
Donovan Mitchell was the leader with 37 points for the Jazz, who also got a great performance from Rudy Gobert, who finished with 18 points and 21 rebounds. Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 23 points but struggled to find a rhythm in the second half and finished just 3-12 from three points.
Consult our Instant Recap for a detailed overview of the action.
Box count
Here was the main take-away from tonight’s match:
The Beast is Back
Jusuf Nurkic returned to the Portland series after an absence of one game due to an inflammation in his knee and had a great performance in the first half – especially on the defensive side. The big man looked healthy and energetic early on, and provided sturdy skin protection and adjusted his teammates offensively well.
Bad problems limited his efficiency in the second half, although he was able to inflict most of his point damage after the break. Nurk reportedly finished with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal in 22 minutes of action, and went 4-8 off the field while making five errors.
Start strong
After Tuesday’s nightmare against the Los Angeles Clippers, in which they conceded only 47 points in the first quarter, the Blazers came out of the gates with a noticeably different intensity and focused on the Jazz. Utah’s poor distance shooting certainly helped – they were just 5-20 from outside the arc in the first half – but Portland got the credit for playing with active hands and shooting defensively.
In addition, Portland generally made the correct reading offensive with few forced shots. They regularly attack the edge and were able to achieve success despite Gobert’s impressive presence in the paint. Along with Nurkic, Nassir gave Little a big boost off the bench, albeit in limited action. He scored four points in four minutes and on the other hand provided excellent defensive energy. Despite the production, he was mostly put down for garbage in the second half.
Second half of misery
Unfortunately, the good times did not pass after the break. The Blazers were outscored 40-19 in an important third quarter in which virtually nothing went right. The turning point came when Nurkic was left for an offensive offense with 6:41 left, his fourth personal. With the big man on the bench, the wind was removed from Portland’s sails as the Jazz took a 25-7 run to end the frame and never looked back.
Utah could find enough of the distance, and also benefited from a favorable game against Enes Kanter. They also had 14 offensive setbacks, which turned them into 19 second chances. Offensively, Portland got stuck when their shots stopped falling. Carmelo Anthony had a particularly cruel night, with 2-8 from the field and 1-5 from three. Lillard and CJ McCollum came off the field together 16-42, with the most damage in the first half.
Following
The Blazers host the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night in the first game of a rugby player. Tips are scheduled for 7pm PT.