Blazers Pull Out Late Win vs. 76ers

The Portland Trail Blazers’ Summer League squad faced their Philadelphia 76ers equivalents and scooted out of Vegas with the 97-95 win.

The Blazers took the early lead and Rayan Rupert followed up his aggressiveness from their first game… even when it resulted in an airball floater. Portland was up 14-6 when Donovan Clingan checked out midway through the first, but Philly went on a 12-1 run to close the first up 25-24.

The middle two quarters had plenty of back-and-forth. While the box score may not show it, Clingan (at least to my eye) was doing a much better job of affirmatively boxing out than he did last game. As the broadcast gave Joe Cronin credit for hiring Chauncey Billups, Clingan yammed it for the dunk of the game and immediately followed it up with an assist, but it was still close going into the fourth.

With the score never tighter than a few points either way, Portland’s newest two-way player Bryce McGowens tossed up a desperate three with a few seconds left down one and the whistle blew. The call on the floor was… on the floor, two shots. But as we went to commercial, Philly challenged, but the call stood. McGowens drained both to put Portland up one. Philly then committed five-second violation (in no small part due to Clingan’s deranged inbounding defense), and that was all she wrote as the Blazers escaped some last-minute chicanery from a missed 76ers free throw with the 97-95 victory.

Brief Thoughts

• Donovan Clingan is gonna be good. I know we’re not supposed to put stock into individual plus/minus… especially in Summer League… but his +11 perfectly matched the eye test. The Blazers were just flat-out better with him on the floor. He ended with 8 and 11 with 5 dimes and 3 blocks, and he will REALLY benefit from playing with competent guards in the NBA.
• Kris Murray must have heard the criticism from people grating him for disappearing down the stretch last game. He didn’t burn the barn down, but his 5-16 shooting for 12 points with 6 boards, 3 dimes, 2 steals, and a block was a reflection of how hard he was working the entire time.
• At one point, the Blazers shot not one… not two… but three airballs in a row. I thought the game was over at that point, but hope springs eternal and they pulled out the dub despite that.

Next Up:

The 1-1 Summer Blazers face the 1-1 Summer Wizards tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Pacific at the Thomas and Mack Center.