Bucks Shoot Down Blazers, 103-91

After a promising road trip, the Blazers come home to a harsh greeting by the Milwaukee Bucks with a resounding loss. Let’s recap the essentials.

The Blazers Lost Because:

Another poor start. You can’t play the New York Knicks every night. Once again the Blazers got off to a poor start and trailed by 12 after one quarter and 15 at the half. It didn’t get any better after that. The Blazers need to find a way to get off to better starts. Good teams won’t allow you to get back into games, as we saw tonight.

The Offensive Blahs. This will not be a fun film session tomorrow. The Blazers couldn’t even make a decent post-entry pass. Unforced turnovers, isolation plays and a stagnant offense are not the usual traits of a Terry Stotts-led offense we are used to, but it has been a theme too many times this season. Luckily, an improved defense and an easy schedule have covered up most of those blemishes so far this season. Not tonight. As the schedule gets tougher, this will be more of a concern, as will the poor starts.

The Bucks’ Length. Speaking of post-entry passes, the Blazers were bothered by the Bucks’ defense all night. The Bucks are long and athletic, and everyone knows it, which is why it was amazing the Blazers kept sending in lazy pass after lazy pass. Milwaukee feasted on Portland turnovers to the tune of 29 points.

The Blazers lost despite:

Al-Farouq Aminu’s return. Aminu looked good in the limited minutes he played and he can only help the Blazers going forward as he gets back into game shape

Those new uniforms...?

Leaders

The Blazers were led by Jusuf Nurkic with 25 points 10 rebounds (and one amazing block that didn’t count), Damian Lillard had 18 points with 7 assists and 7 rebounds, and CJ McCollum had 15 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assist.

The Bucks were led by Eric Bledsoe with 25 points and 4 assists, Khris Middleton had 26 points and 7 rebounds, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 20 points with 9 rebounds, 5 assist, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

Highlights:

Box Score

What's Next

the Blazers take on the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night at the Moda Center. Tip off is at 7pm. Stay tuned to Blazer's Edge tonight, for extended analysis of this game from Dave Deckard.