Portland Trail Blazers: Cold shooting plagues final road trip of the season

The Portland Trail Blazers go 0-4 in their final road trip of the season. They couldn’t seem to buy a bucket away from home.

The Portland Trail Blazers opened the month of April with an emphatic 113-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Having clinched a playoff berth and sitting at 48-29, the team had an opportunity to secure a 50-win season and home-court advantage in the playoffs with five games remaining. All Portland had to do was win at least a couple of games on their upcoming four-game road trip.

Unfortunately, the Trail Blazers could not accomplish this feat. They finished their final road stretch of the season 0-4.

Their first game of the trip was a 115-109 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs put up a spirited effort despite being out of playoff contention. Portland allowed them to convert 17 3-pointers on the night. Meanwhile, rookie Dennis Smith Jr. finished it off with an impressive breakaway dunk in the late stages of the game.

Portland’s 96-94 loss to the Houston Rockets started out more lopsided than the score indicates. The Blazers were down 66-44 at halftime. However, they managed to bounce back with a 50-30 second half. Portland went on a 17-0 run late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 94, but Chris Paul was able to convert a tough shot late in the game to seal the victory for Houston.

The Blazers had the opposite problem in their 116-105 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. They led 56-54 at halftime, but let the rope go in the second half and were outscored 62-49. It was Portland’s best offensive night of the trip, shooting 47.7 percent from the field, but it was also their worst defensive night of the trip — and the season — in allowing San Antonio to shoot 56 percent from the field.

Portland’s worst night on the road came on Monday when they fell 88-82 at the Denver Nuggets. Those 82 points are tied for the second-worst output of the season, matching their total from Nov. 17, 2017 at the Sacramento Kings.

It was also the fewest points the Blazers scored in a game since Nov. 22, 2017, when they only mustered up 81 against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Trail Blazers went 33 percent from the field, their worst shooting night of the season. That surpassed the 33.7 percent they shot against the Sixers in November.

With the road trip complete, the Blazers finish 21-20 on the road in 2017-18. There will be no 50-win season. This four-game losing skid is Portland’s worst since the five-game stint they endured from Nov. 30-Dec. 11. It’s also their second empty road trip of the season, as they went 0-3 on an East coast trip from Feb. 2-5.

The offense is the main culprit for their woes. Portland averaged just 97.5 points during the road trip, second-worst mark in the NBA since April 3. They also shot 42.7 percent from the field (27th) and 28.5 percent from 3-point range (29th) over that span.

The Blazers’ offense was gravely stagnant throughout the trip. They were last in the league in assists per game and eighth-worst in turnovers since Feb. 3. Portland produced 97.9 points per 100 possessions during the trip, third-worst in the league over the past week. This is contrasted against the 106.6 points per 100 they produced before the trip, 14th-best in the NBA.

It certainly didn’t help that a number of key pieces were out during certain games. Maurice Harkless missed the entire road trip as he recovers from a left knee arthroscopy. He will be re-evaluated in the coming days to determine if he’ll be ready for the playoffs.

Ed Davis was also out for the first three games of the trip due to a right ankle sprain. Fortunately, he was able to return for the Denver game. Even Damian Lillard missed a game, sitting out the Houston game after spraining his left ankle against Dallas.

However, even with those injuries, a number of the Blazers’ healthy contributors struggled to find their offense.

C.J. McCollum had the most glaring offensive issues during the trip. He averaged 16.3 points per game, but did so on 32.5 percent shooting from the field and 18.2 percent shooting from 3-point range. Lillard averaged a team-high 29.0 points per game in the three games he played. However, he did so at an inefficient 39.1 percent clip from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Players such as Shabazz Napier (37.5 percent from the field), Zach Collins (28.6 percent) and Al-Farouq Aminu (27.8 percent) also struggled to knock down shots on the road.

Their collective offensive woes are particularly frustrating because Jusuf Nurkic is playing some of his best basketball of the season. Blazers Nation has wanted more consistency out of Nurkic this season and they are finally getting it.

The Bosnian Beast averaged 15.3 points and 13.8 rebounds per game during the trip on 64.4 percent shooting, best within the rotation. He logged a double-double in all four games, culminating with a 20-point, 19-rebound evening against his former team in Denver. Hopefully, this type of production will continue into the playoffs and the rest of his teammates catch up.

Despite the slump, the Blazers remain in third place with two days remaining in the regular season. Their final game of the season on Wednesday against the Utah Jazz will be very important. If they win, they retain the third seed. If they lose, they would lose that position and could potentially lose out on home-court advantage by falling to fifth.

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The Portland Trail Blazers just endured a brutal 0-4 road trip, their worst of the season. With the Western Conference playoff race so tight, now is not a good time for a string of bad losses like that. However, they still have a chance to put it behind them and head into the playoffs on the right track with one game left in the season.