Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from Game 4 vs. Pelicans

3. The Blazers (literally) showed some fight

Damian Lillard told the media ahead of Game 4 that his team would have to get more physical if it wanted to get back into the series.

"“They were up into us a lot, a lot more aggressive than we were. And we didn’t dish it back out,” Lillard said. “I think in the playoffs and in a situation like this, when a team is coming for you like that, you’ve gotta maybe go out of your way to do it back — even if that means some foul trouble or some altercations happen out there or whatever.”"

The rest of the Blazers really took that message to heart. The first half of Game 4 turned out to be a very chippy affair. Three altercations broke out during the half: Anthony Davis vs. Ed Davis, E’Twaun Moore vs. C.J. McCollum and Zach Collins vs. Rajon Rondo. As a result, officials handed out one flagrant foul on McCollum and five technicals.

This rougher, tougher play only worked to an extent. The Blazers forced 10 first half turnovers and only trailed by two at halftime. However, the Pelicans were shooting 60.6 percent from the field and had attempted 19 free throws by the break. Things mellowed out in the second half as the game turned into a shootout.

While the Blazers’ bruiser status only had limited success, it was good to see Portland fight to extend the series. They could have accepted the fact that no NBA team has come back from down 0-3 and just conceded a blowout, but this team showed its mettle and played all out until the final buzzer sounded.