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Portland had a poor first three quarters against New Orleans Monday night. The fourth quarter was all they needed.
Portland overcame a 16-point third quarter deficit, and 15-point fourth quarter hole, to stun the Pelicans, 102-93 at Moda Center.
Portland started the game hot with an 8-0 run, but the Pelicans responded with a 9-1 run of their own to keep the game close. Once again, turnovers stopped the Blazers momentum, with Portland committing six in the first quarter alone. LaMarcus Aldridge and Anthony Davis had a good back-and-forth shooting display, and Chris Kaman provided an immediate punch off the bench, but the turnovers allowed New Orleans to stay within one after one.
The turnovers continued in the second, and this time the defense was unable to put a stop to Ryan Anderson. Portland committed six more turnovers, two offensive fouls, and despite shooting 50% for the period found the Pelicans gaining and expanding a lead. Anderson had 10 in the second for New Orleans, and the Blazers found themselves down by seven at halftime.
The Pelicans put on a shooting clinic in the third, hitting 15 of their 19 shots. Davis was 7-of-7 from the field, and proved nearly unmovable on defense. The Blazers committed four more turnovers, and found themselves down by 12 after three.
Finally in the fourth quarter, the Blazers broke on through. Aldridge was 3-of-5 shooting in the period, and timely shots made by Steve Blake and C.J. McCollum cut the New Orleans lead down. On defense, every Pelican not named Anthony Davis was forced into bad passes and bad shots. Down 91-88, Damian Lillard missed a three, but Robin Lopez snared the rebound and fed it to Matthews who tied the game. After Davis missed a shot on the other end, Blake found Lopez down low for the Blazers first lead of the second half. Jrue Holliday tied the game with foul shots, but Lillard drained a three on the next possession for a 96-93 lead. Lopez sealed the lead with foul shots.
The Blazers comeback hinged on a combined 0-for-12 shooting by Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holliday in the fourth. Aldridge had 23, Lillard had 22, and Chris Kaman had 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Gameday Thread Comments of the Night
During the third quarter:
Strikes me as a game where NO is playing their best and cannot pull away and we can get hot in the 4th and win by like 7.
by Carthage
Earlier today, regarding whether Damian Lillard gets an award for winning Player of the Week:
It's a racket.
The NBA charges the players 25k each time they win a Player of the Week award (40k for Player of the Month), and they claim it’s for "processing fees" caused by tabulating the stats and algorithms used in determining who wins the award.
All the player gets, besides a lighter wallet, is a sticker they can put on a league-issued Sticker Page. The first sticker page you get as a rookie is free, but if you’re a really good player and earn enough stickers to need an extra page, the league charges you 5k for one. They nickle and dime the players!
I remember back when Clyde won Player of the Month, he had to mortgage his house in Lake Oswego just to accept the award. It’s ridiculous.
by Mortimer
Post-Game Reaction
Robin Lopez said he only showed up for 25 percent of the game. He picked the right quarter.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) November 18, 2014
RoLo also said close friend Ryan Anderson is much more "huggable" than his twin brother Brook.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) November 18, 2014
Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews both mentioned the Spurs unprompted as a model of winning with depth/versatility.
— Mike Richman (@mikegrich) November 18, 2014
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) November 18, 2014
Chris Kaman finished with is 1st double-double of the season (15 pts, 10 rebs). It was Kaman's 173rd double-double of his career. #Blazers
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
LA finished with 6 pts in 1st half, but bounced back for 16 pts in the 2nd, ..here's his 2nd half chart #Blazers pic.twitter.com/zw1WIG8A40
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
Robin Lopez had the same amount of rebs (4) in the 4th qtr that Anthony Davis had.... #Pelicans #Blazers
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
#Blazers also held Davis to 6 pts on 2/5 shooting in the 4th pic.twitter.com/fL5B3JXSfH
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
Dame on Lopez in the fourth: "I could see it on his face that he was locked in."
— Erik Gundersen (@blazerbanter) November 18, 2014
Way to grind that out #ripcity
— Wesley Matthews (@wessywes2) November 18, 2014
"He's not as dirty as Brook… I can't help but smile when I see that guy, that ruffian, that ragamuffin." — @rolopez42 on Ryan Anderson
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) November 18, 2014
Meanwhile, Jrue Holiday finished 0/9 in the 4th qtr...that didn't help #Pelicans #Blazers pic.twitter.com/ZUo0Uqrb2E
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
Anthony Davis was 2-for-5 in the fourth. Tyreke and Jrue Holiday went 0-for-14.
— Erik Gundersen (@blazerbanter) November 18, 2014
Should he have gotten the ball more, Davis said "No ...Whoever gets the ball, as long as it goes in the bucket then that's all that matters"
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
Asked to describe the win over the #Pelicans tonight, LaMarcus said: "Gutsy. I like it. It shows that we have growth." #Blazers
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
More LaMarcus: "I think good teams have to learn how to win games like that and we did tonight." #Blazers
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) November 18, 2014
See video highlights of the shocking victory amidst Davis' dominant performance at NBA.com!