With only slight play-in hopes remaining, the Portland Trail Blazers played most of Sunday afternoon’s game at the New York Knicks like a team that had not yet given up on its postseason dreams.
But after building a 14-point lead in the third quarter, the Blazers struggled to rediscover the formula needed to score consistently against the superior Knicks’ defense and lost 110-93.
“My guys fought their butts off,” Chauncey Billups told reporters at Madison Square Garden.
Blazers forward Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 33 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Shaedon Sharpe scored 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting and had seven rebounds.
The Blazers dominated the second quarter 33-23 and used a 10-0 run early in the third quarter to go up 68-54 with 8:19 on the clock. Then the Knicks seemingly woke up and outscored the Blazers 56-25 the rest of the game.
The Blazers shot just 27.8% in the fourth quarter, including going 0 of 7 from three-point range, and were outscored 31-15.
OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges each scored 28 points for the Knicks, who shot 53.6% from the field and 10 of 25 from three-point range (40%).
The Blazers’ bench scored just four points on a combined 2-of-8 shooting. Duop Reath scored all four points for that group.
“Our bench had a really tough night,” Billups said.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (32-43), who have lost four consecutive games, trail the 10th-place Sacramento Kings by 4½ games with seven games remaining.
The Knicks (47-27), third in the Eastern Conference, extended their lead over fourth-place Indiana (43-31) to four games.
SIMONS PLAYS, STRUGGLES
Anfernee Simons was listed as questionable with forearm soreness but ended up starting. He scored 15 points on 5-of-20 shooting and went 1 of 8 from three-point range.
HENDERSON OUT
Backup point guard Scoot Henderson did not play after entering the NBA’s concussion protocol. He left Thursday’s loss at the Sacramento Kings and did not return.
NEXT UP
The Blazers play at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Atlanta Hawks (35-38).
— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)
