This could come back to haunt Portland.
At this point in the season, every game matters, especially for a team like the Portland Trail Blazers that is fighting for play-in positioning. There’s a drastic difference in how difficult the path to making the playoffs will be depending on where Portland falls in the play-in, and tonight, the Blazers dropped a game they simply should not have dropped.
This was a game in which Portland entered as a significant favorite against the Dallas Mavericks, but instead of taking care of business, it turned into a grind-it-out loss, 100-93. Once again, the problem for Portland was turnovers. The Blazers turned it over 25 times, which led to 33 Mavericks points, and that was really the story of the game.
Portland did have several players step up. Three different players scored at least 19 points, with Jrue Holiday, Deni Avdija and Jerami Grant all carrying a good portion of the offensive load. But there just wasn’t enough scoring overall. The offense stalled out too often, and 93 points is rarely going to be enough to win in today’s NBA, even when you hold the other team to just 100.
To make matters worse, Jerami Grant left the game with a lower leg injury that could end up being somewhat serious depending on how testing goes over the weekend. So not only did Portland lose a game it should have won, but it may have also lost one of its key veterans at a critical point in the season.
This was a huge missed opportunity for the Blazers. They had a chance to move from .500 to above .500, and instead they dropped back below that mark at 37-38.
From here, Portland will remain at home for a matchup against the Washington Wizards on Sunday evening. That should be another game in which the Blazers are a clear favorite, and after this disappointing loss, it becomes even more of a must-win.