In the first day of post-Mason Plumlee era in Rip City, not much has changed.
The evening after completing a trade to send starting center Mason Plumlee to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for a first-round draft pick and Jusuf Nurkic. The Portland Trail Blazers looked a lot like they have all season. Good enough to hang with nearly every team in the league, but not quite good enough to close the deal.
For the fourth straight game, the Blazers had a game come down to crunch time and for the third time in their last four outings, Portland let a winnable game slip away.
The Blazers lost to the Atlanta Hawks 109-104 on Monday night at the Moda Center.
Hawks forward Paul Millsap pushed the game to overtime when his finger roll from the right block crawled over the rim just before the fourth quarter buzzer.
Portland opened overtime quarter on a 7-0, seemingly seizing control in the opening minutes of the extra session. But Atlanta worked its way back, taking a one-point lead with 40.1 seconds left.
The Blazers had their chances. Al-Farouq Aminu missed a jumper, Moe Harkless had layup attempt blocked and CJ McCollum missed a point-blank putback attempt. And yet, the Blazers still found themselves with one more chance with 12.2 seconds remaining.
But Damian Lillard slipped on his drive to the rim, losing the ball as he slid on his stomach in the middle of the lane. Millsap added two free throws and the Blazers’ never got a chance for a desperation heave after a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass.
The Blazers, who were playing their league high sixth overtime, dropped to 3-3 in games that extend past the fourth quarter while dropping to 8-18 in games that are within five points in the final five minutes of regulation.
CJ McCollum scored 15 of his team-high 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Moe Harkless added 17 points and nine rebounds, Al-Farouq Aminu added 14 points and 15 rebounds and Ed Davis chipped in 11 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. But the Blazers went scoreless in the final 3:14 of overtime.
Damian Lillard finished with 21 points, struggling through 6-for-21 shooting night and came up empty on the Blazers’ final possession of the game.
Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Hawks with 25 points, Millsap finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks and Dwight Howard added 19 points and 17 rebounds.
Missing Plumlee wasn’t the reason the Blazers loss and the addition of Nurkic could help strengthen the frontline, but if the loss to the Hawks demonstrated anything it’s that even a roster shakeup won’t change much for this year’s Blazers.
The Blazers couldn’t control Russell Westbrook late in a loss to Oklahoma City. They got outhustled by the Celtics in the final quarter of a home loss on Friday. On Monday the offense went cold in the final minutes of overtime.
Without a buzzer-beating floater from McCollum in Dallas, Portland is staring at four-game losing streak in four games that came down to the final minutes.
Portland has regularly come up short in crunch time and in close games. There likely isn’t a trade or magic formula available that can quickly fix a team that has found a variety of ways to lose games in the clutch.
Next up
The Blazers play their final game before the week-long All-Star break at Utah on Wednesday. Following that game, the Blazers have eight days of before beginning a three-game trip in Orlando on Feb. 23.
–Mike Richman
mrichman@oregonian.com
@mikegrich
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