The Portland Trail Blazers and Deni Avdija played one of their best games of the season Sunday afternoon against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They just didn’t leave Ohio with a win, falling 133-129 in an overtime heartbreaker.
The Blazers rode spirited defense and swagger to a lead as large 18 in the third quarter. Avdija produced a 30-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double on 8-13 shooting. But the East-leading Cavs — playing without star guard Donovan Mitchell — closed in on the Trail Blazers with a 3-point attack and then outlasted them in overtime.
With seven seconds left in OT and Portland trailing by two, Avdija concluded a frantic scramble sequence by going for the jugular, but his pull-up 3 hit off the back-end. The miss dashed Portland’s hopes of the upset and pushed Cleveland to 50 wins on the season.
Alongside Avdija, Portland got notable contributions from Anfernee Simons (27 points), Toumani Camara (19 points, four steals), Shaedon Sharpe (18 points, six rebounds), and Scoot Henderson (15 points, six assists).
Forward De’Andre Hunter played hero for Cleveland, scoring 32 points and hitting the go-ahead 3 with 31 seconds left. Ty Jerome added 25 points, six assists and six steals.
Here are more key factors that defined the action.
Defense First, Then Offense
Sunday’s matinee seemed poised to be a defensive slugfest early. Portland held Cleveland to 32.6% shooting from the field and 25% from deep in the first half. Camara, with his four steals, spearheaded that effort and played a huge role in holding Cavs guard Darius Garland to just 13 points on 4-16 shooting for the game. On the other side, the Cavs played a physical, suffocating defense that for stretches presented a wall for Portland ball-handlers and swallowed up the ball. That pressure helped Cleveland force 20 turnovers.
The effort and intensity remained in the second half, but the offenses freed up. That was particularly true for Cleveland, who shot above 55% from the field and 3-point land in the second half. After scoring just 24 and 18 in the first and second quarters respectively, the Cavaliers broke out for 37 and 40 in the final two frames. The Blazers weren’t slouches either, reaching the 30-point mark in both quarters.
Triple-Double Trouble
Portland’s solution to that physical defense was a lot of Deni Avdija. The big forward was strong and fast enough to burst through the narrow cracks in the halfcourt, while also causing his usual havoc in transition. Oftentimes he finished strong at the rim or drew free throws, shooting 13-13 from the line. That perfect mark helped Avdija reach 30 while shooting just 1-3 from beyond the 3-point arc. Avdija’s aggression led to five turnovers, but he also tossed several of his finer passes of the season, including a behind-the-back feed to a rim-running Sharpe on a 3-on-2 break.
The 15-0 Run
The Blazers flipped momentum and broke through Cleveland’s D with a 15-0 run over the final 4:21 of the second quarter. The stretch turned a 42-39 deficit into a 54-42 halftime lead and forced Cleveland to play catch-up for most of the final two quarters. Henderson, Camara, Simons and Duop Reath all hit 3s during the run.
Clingan Foul Trouble
Reath got to see a lot more of the court than usual due to foul trouble to starting center Donovan Clingan. The rookie looked good early with activity on both sides of the ball, but the foul trouble quickly shut that down. Clingan played just 11 minutes for the game and two minutes in the second half before fouling out. The situation led to 21 minutes of the infrequently used Reath, who provided a solid seven points and five rebounds. It also led to head coach Chauncey Billups rolling out multiple unconventional small-ball lineups that produced mixed results. Despite the small-ball lineups and limited time from Clingan, Portland still held its own on the glass. Cleveland barely beat them out in that category, 47-46.
Late-Game Execution
The Blazers held off multiple Cleveland advances in the third quarter, but a barrage of 3-pointers ultimately leveled the playing field early in the fourth quarter. It set the stage for a back-and-forth finish in the crunch time of both regulation and OT. The Blazers once again primarily turned to isolation play down the stretch, with Simons getting most of those shots. The execution was a mixed bag, but Portland’s shot quality seemed to trend down in the late stages. Simons had some big misses, but he also nailed four clutch free throws to send the game to OT, and then hit a 3 with under a minute left that briefly put Portland ahead. Sharpe parachuted in for two crucial tip-ins in regulation, but moments later he also fell asleep on a play that conceded a Max Strus 3 with 16 seconds left. Even Avdija, for all his heroics and production, threw a TO with just over a minute left in OT that he may still be thinking about on the team’s flight to Philadelphia.
The game-deciding sequence came out of a Portland timeout with 31 seconds left in OT, Portland trailing by two. From the sideline, Camara threw a post-entry pass to Sharpe that got intercepted by the help-side defense. Then Sharpe raced back on defense to grab a steal. He pushed it to the rim and missed. Reath saved it to Avdija at the perimeter. With a timeout in his pocket, Billups opted not to use it and urged Avdija to attack, leading to that missed 3. It was a chaotic finish to a great game, but it didn’t break Portland’s way.
Up Next
The Blazers now travel to Philadelphia to play the 76ers tomorrow with a 4:00 PM, Pacific start.
