The shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers fell on the road to the shorthanded Utah Jazz 133-126 in overtime Wednesday night. Despite a career-high 37 points from Shaedon Sharpe, Portland wasn’t able to deal with Utah’s balanced attack, and coupled with some woefully un-clutch foul shooting in the final minutes, managed to lose a game that was just about in the bag.
Blazers forward Toumani Camara also chipped in 16 points, but blew a point-blank attempt at the end of regulation that could have grabbed the victory.
Just like how great teams begin to play at the highest level just before the playoffs, the Jazz are in peak tanking form with now just two games remaining in the regular and unequivocal end to both teams’ seasons. Utah has just one lone win since February (against the Wizards, no less) and was never going to break that stride.
For ping-pong ball watchers, the Blazers fall to 35-45, which puts them behind (very temporarily) Phoenix in the standings, who is currently in the midst of a tight battle with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Blazer of the Night: Shaedon Sharpe. Once again Sharpe looked like easily the best player on the floor and anybody capable of slowing him down was probably in street clothes. He got off to a hot start, scoring 15 of his game-high 37 points in the first quarter, then carried the load in crunch time when the team needed it most. He was locked in from deep, sticking a season best 6 of 12 from beyond the the arc, and when he has that rolling he starts to look nigh-impossible to stop.
Stat of the Night: 67.9% on free throws. You can hear Bill Schonely saying it now: “You’ve got. To make. Your free throws.” The Blazers were missing gimmies all night, but none hurt as badly as the four boinks in the final minute of regulation — three by Sharpe — which ultimately opened the door for the Jazz to force overtime.
What We’ll Remember: ET on the call. The broadcast team welcomed former locker room quote machine Evan Turner into the booth to fill in for Lamar Hurd for the evening and he was a delight. In a game that didn’t have much worth commentating until the zany final seconds, it was a fun change of pace listening to Evan riff about old times and celebrity cell phone contacts with Kevin Calabro and Brooke Olzendam.
What’s Next: The Californians. The Blazers will get a day off before wrapping up the season with a two-game homestand, starting with the Golden State Warriors Friday night at 7 p.m. Pacific and ending with the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday afternoon.
