Trail Blazers avoid Utah with a close victory over jazz – Oregonlive

The Portland paths Blazers, which lose Monday night in Utah jazz, would not be a respected result.

Still, there, Blazers were only two points, watching Utah Kyonte George’s guard to shoot a decent three -point shot at the time.

Fortunately for the blazers, George’s shot escaped from the front of the rim, leaving Blagers with the much needed 114-112 victory in the center of Delta.

Blazers, still in hunting on a play site, could not afford to lose jazz game, owners of the third worst record in the NBA and without four beginners.

Blazers were not expected to dominate jazz, as they made Charlotte 141-88 at home on Saturday night. But leaving the game to the last second shot certainly not talking well about Blazers’ focus against an exhausted opponent who has already lost 15 of his last 18 games.

From the very beginning, jazz seemed determined to create Blazers problems, even while behind 61-51 at halftime. The jazz returned in the second half to eventually enter 92-90, when Bris Sensebo hit a threesome with a stay of 8:54.

Blazers seems to have regained control up 109-99 before Sensabwood starts running three with 2:04 to go.

Two free throws from George, followed by two more from Kyle Filipovski, received jazz up to 109-106 with 53.5 seconds.

The jazz received a protective stop when Blazers strikers Jerami Grant missed inside. But George missed driving, leading to a Grant of Utah Fuling, which made both free throws. This put the blazers 111-106 with 13.7 seconds on the clock.

George replied by hitting three while well reflected. The jazz fouled the anprene Simons then, who made both free throws to place Blaisers 113-109 with 8.8 seconds.

George again hit an awkward three to make the result 113-112 with 4.2 seconds on the clock.

Utah fouled Grant. He missed his first free throw, but did the second.

This led to George’s last shot to end the game.

“Their shot was apparently standing out,” Blazers coach CHAUNCE BILLUPS told reporters. “They hit some really difficult shots. I thought we played good protection for the plays. Keyonte hit some pictures of great times. “

The jazz fired 40.9% of the three-point range to overcome almost the blazers, exceeding them 52-36 in the paint.

“I think we were tested today by the battle,” said Skut Henderson. “And that will help us with the next few games to know that we need to grind it, no matter what.”

Simons led Blagers with 28 points. Danny Avgia had 18 points with 14 rebounds.

Sensebo led the jazz with 23 points, and Filipovsky scored 20 points with 11 rebounds. George scored 21 of the bench.

“At the end of this game, there was a lot to learn,” Billes said. “It’s just hard to play teams when all their boys don’t play. You spend so much time preparing for their boys. Then you have to play against some guys who are really good players. They usually have no freedom … It is difficult to play in these situations. So, you need to have a level of focus in this type of games to overcome the hump and I don’t think our focus was there early. “

What does it mean

The victory allowed Blazers (25-33) to remain 4½ matches after 10th place Sacramento (29-28), which won 130-88 at home over Charlotte Hornet (14-42). Charlotte has the fourth worst record in the NBA, and jazz (14-43) has the third worst.

Grant restores his outer touch

Blazers striker Jerami Grant somewhat burst out of firing, hitting 6 out of 15 fields, including 5 out of 10 from a three -point range to score 20 points.

In its previous three exits, Grant fired 24.3% of the terrain and 17.6% of the three -point range, while an average of 8.3 points per game. Grant entered the night an average of 14.3 points per match.

Then

Blazers play at 16:00 Wednesday at Wizards Washington (10-47), which have the worst record of the NBA.