Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers

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Pistons Down the Blazers In Overtime Again

---- Damian Lillard scores 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists, but it's not enough as the Detroit Pistons top the Trail Blazers in overtime 120-113 Tuesday night at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Damian Lillard was sensational tonight scoring 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists, but it wasn't enough as the Pistons outscored the Blazers 11-4 in overtime and topped the Blazers for the second time this season 120-113.

With 10.8 seconds left in the game, Damian Lillard missed a free throw after a technical foul was called on Detroit's Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. With the miss, the Pistons still led by two at 109-107, but Lillard was able to tie the game on a driving-layup with 2.8 seconds to play in the game. The miss proved costly as the Pistons outscored the Blazers 11-4 in the extra period.

The biggest problem for the Blazers tonight was turnovers.  Portland committed 24 turnovers on the night which led to 21 points for the Pistons. In overtime, the Blazers coughed it up three times and hit only 1 of their eight field goal attempts.

Detroit (29-31) was led by Marcus Morris tonight.  Morris scored 37 points on the night. He scored 15 points in the third quarter and scored 7 points in overtime. After scoring 28 points and 14 rebounds against the Blazers on January 7th at the Moda Center, Drummond finished the night with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Portland (24-35) was led by Lillard's 34 points.  CJ McCollum finished with 25 points and Yusuf Nurkic scored 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. 

The Blazers showed good fight tonight. After an Andre Drummond bucket extended the Pistons lead to 102-94 with 4:50 to play, the Blazers closed quarter on a 15-7 run forcing overtime on a Lillard driving layup with 2.8 seconds remaining.

With the loss, Portland falls to 2.5 games behind Denver for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. The Nuggets won in Chicago on Tuesday night over the Bulls 125-105.

Portland will now return home for two-games at the Moda Center.  The Blazers meet the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night and the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. 

Chad's Take- 24 turnovers will get you beat on most nights in the NBA. The Blazers are not good enough or talented enough to overcome multiple mistakes and win. They must find a way to clean up the sloppy play. I know it's early, but I am very encouraged with the play of Jusuf Nurkic.  Nurkic was active early in the game against the Detroit. He was challenging shots, he embraced the physical play with Drummond, and he showed a variety of moves on the offensive end. Nurkic is much lighter on his feet than I thought he would be when the Blazers acquired him from Denver. Like Robin Lopez, Nurkic may be one of those under-the-radar moves by Neil Olshey that pays huge dividends.

Blazers at Pistons Highlights:


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