Trail Blazers continues to return with clutch gain against Suns

Portland Trail Blazers train Phoenix Suns‘Best shot Monday night at Moda Center. Portland absorbed it, pushed on, and then held onto a clutch, Grind-It-Out victory in overtime, 121-119.

The victory marked Blazers’ fourth in a row, but the previous three had come relatively easily, each of double digits. To win violently against a team they had beaten two days earlier-by-this time without the benefit of catching them on the second half of a back-to-back-this victory for the most impressive of the flock and further legitimized their reversal .

“(W) with the environment, fans, the concept these dudes threw on us,” said Portland Center Deandre Ayton, who produced a monster 25 points and 20 rebounds. “It was really basketball tonight. It was good for the young guys to be part of it. “

After Blazers shot out to an early double -digit lead, Suns woke up and established control of the game. Superstars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker combined to 61 points on good efficiency, and the role players hit 3s. Phoenix grew a lead as big as nine and kept it around in large parts of the second and third quarters as the pace rejected. On several points, it seemed that Blazers might wither wilt away, but they continued to respond with winning spectacles to keep in touch.

One of these central stretches came on the 4:17 mark in the third quarter. After Suns went up 75-68, the Portland caught the momentum with an 18-5 race to enter the fourth up 86-80. Scoot Henderson was critical of entering the wave and producing seven points and four assists over the third quarter without missing out on a shot or logging a turnover. Toumani Camara also hit two huge back-to-back 3s to resume the lead, part of his 17 points and 5-7 performance from Deep.

“They made some adjustments (from the last match), they went under a lot of screens, tried to protect the paint,” said Portland head coach Chauncey Billups. “… they did a pretty good job with it, but at one point you just get bullheaded. You continue, continue and you break the seal at some point. “

As the game tightened down the stretch in regulation and overtime, Billups leaned heavily on the veterinarians. Ayton finally played against his former team and continued an impressive stretch of now four straight matches with over 20 points. Although Ayton afterwards said this type of performance “is normal to me,” Billups said it may have been 7-foot “best all-round game” over his two seasons like Blazer. He was not as effective as he has been too late (9-22 from the field), but he played with an undeniable strength for 42 minutes. His work -like efforts on the glass were arguably the biggest factor in the victory.

Ayton correlated nine offensive rebounds, including four in overtime. Two of them came in the last 20 seconds when Blazers desperately clung to a one-point lead. He supplemented his clutch that rebounded with clutch-free casting shooting, walking 5-6 in the last 10 seconds to seal the victory.

“I really just tried to be part of the game and not just sitting in the thunderer (place), just moving everyone around and getting my hand on a kind of loose ball,” Ayton said. “Fortunately, I was just in place for some of them down the stretch, and it just led to a free kick.”

“He has been the biggest voice on the team,” Billups added about Ayton. “As for whether he is in there or not, whether he plays well or not, his leadership has not faltered at all.”

Suns are not world spates this year at 25-24, but to Ayton’s previous point, Monday’s game felt like “real basketball” with consideration for intensity and atmosphere. Blazers took the test on and went away the winners again.

“I knew we were going to get their best blows today and we hung in there, we never gave in, we never relaxed the rope,” Billups said. “It’s a great sign of a team.”