Shaedon Sharpe helps lead Blazers past Jazz to halt 6-game skid
Damian Lillard scored 30 points, rookie Shaedon Sharpe had a career-high 24 and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Utah Jazz 127-115 on Wednesday night to stop a six-game losing streak.
Trendon Watford added a season-best 21 points for the Blazers. Portland used a 9-0 run, sparked by Kevin Knox III’s alley-oop layup midway through the fourth quarter, to pull away.
Lillard capped the spurt with a layup to make it 113-100 with 5:51 to play, and the Jazz never got it back under single digits.
“What stands out is Shaedon — his game was incredible — and Trendon continues to be consistent,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “I liked everything from the team tonight.”
Lauri Markkanen had 40 points and 12 rebounds while Kris Dunn scored 15 off the bench for Utah, which had won four of five.
The Trail Blazers (32-40) won three of four against Utah (35-37) this season but are a long shot to make the play-in tournament as they are still three games behind the Jazz for the No. 10 spot in the Western Conference standings.
“We have played well in parts of all these games (we lost), but in this league you can’t have lows like we’ve had,” Lillard said. “Tonight we played a complete game.”
The only thing that could stop Markkanen was a sore left hand that got hit on a foul late in the third quarter. The 7-footer from Finland stayed down on the court and flexed and massaged his hand before going to the line to get his 37th point.
“The X-ray was good, clean. I don’t know more about it, but we’ll see how it feels tomorrow and go from there,” Markkanen said. “Once you get going, you don’t really think about it. But then obviously at dead balls and stuff it just happens to (hurt) again.”
Markkanen had missed a game with a tight back but returned to make 10 of his 11 shots inside the arc. He managed only three points in the final quarter, though, as Portland pulled away.
“We really locked up and stopped fouling,” said Sharpe, who had four steals.
Jusuf Nurkic scored 20 for the Trail Blazers to mark his first consecutive 20-point games in two months. But the game belonged to the youngsters, Watford and Sharpe, who were thrust into the spotlight with Portland missing starters Jerami Grant (thigh bruise) and Anfernee Simons (sore foot).
“I did what the team needed me to do, which is to defend, lock up, score the ball and make plays for others,” said Sharpe, who felt like he could “just hoop” without thinking too much.
In surprising wins against Sacramento and Boston, the Jazz employed a trapping 1-3-1 zone with great success. It wasn’t nearly as disruptive against Lillard and the Blazers.
“We took advantage of it,” Lillard said. “I got to the pocket and guys made shots, guys cut and finished, got to the free-throw line and I thought that was how we won the game.”
When forced to give up the ball, Lillard found easy shots for his teammates and matched a season high with 12 assists. So the Jazz played much more traditional man-to-man defense in the second half but with similar results against the ball-moving Blazers.
"We looked a step slow kind of on everything defensively tonight,” Utah coach Will Hardy said.
The Jazz have thrived recently by taking care of the ball, but the miscues reappeared against Portland with 17 turnovers.
The last time these teams met, Lillard scored 60 points on 21-of-29 shooting with nine 3-pointers in a 134-124 win on Jan. 25. This time, he was happy to share the ball to get another victory.
“I knew they wouldn’t be in a drop coverage again. You know, that’s an easy night for me anytime teams play that type of defense. So we just found another way to win,” Lillard said.
HIGH FLYING
The Blazers said the play that really fueled their confidence was a lob from Watford to Sharpe for a thunderous dunk.
“He tells me to just put it up anywhere, so anytime I see him running on a break, it is pretty much going to be a matter of time for the oop,” Watford said.
Sharpe said those kind of plays make the game fun and easy.
“That one tonight might have been my favorite one of the year,” Watford said. "He makes me look like a really good lob passer.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Former Air Canada employees among suspects identified in gold heist at Pearson Airport: police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
MPs summon ArriveCan contractor to the House to be admonished in rare parliamentary display
Enacting an extraordinarily rarely used parliamentary power, MPs have summoned an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon to be admonished publicly for failing to answer their questions.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Ancient skeletons unearthed in France reveal Mafia-style killings
More than 5,500 years ago, two women were tied up and probably buried alive in a ritual sacrifice, using a form of torture associated today with the Italian Mafia, according to an analysis of skeletons discovered at an archaeological site in southwest France.
10 years in U.S. prison for Canadian man who stole millions with fake psychic fraud
A former Montreal resident has been sentenced to 10 years in a United States federal prison for a multi-decade fraud that manipulated more than one million Americans into sending money to fake psychics.
'Enormous sum of money': Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.