PHILADELPHIA -- Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts has tried a number of different things, from changes in defensive tactics to tweaks in the rotation, in an effort to get his team on the right track.
But after losing three-straight and six of their last 10 games, Stotts made arguably his most dynamic change of the season Friday night versus the 76ers by inserting Evan Turner and Noah Vonleh in the starting lineup in place of Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu. The move seemed to pay off, with the Trail Blazers leading by as many as 11 points in the first quarter. But it would be the end of the game, not that start, that would decide the result.
Sixers forward Robert Covington hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 4.5 seconds to play in regulation to defeat the Trail Blazers 93-92 in front of a crowd of 19,476 at the Wells Fargo Center Friday night.
With the loss, the Trail Blazers have dropped four-straight and fall to 18-27 overall and 7-18 on the road this season. Portland remains in 9th-place in the Western Conference with 37 games to play in the regular season.
While the starting lineup change wasn't the only reason the Trail Blazers looked like a much better team in the first half of Friday's game than they had at any point in their last four games, the combination of Turner's ability to initiate the offense alongside Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum along with Aminu and Harkless giving the second unit more pop on both sides of the ball did help Portland take a 13-point lead into the half.
"I think Coach was just trying something different," said Lillard of the change to the starting lineup. "I think with Moe (Harkless) and Chief (Aminu) coming off the bench, that lineup coming in behind us, they looked really good defensively. We were able to switch a lot and they gave us something off the bench. It also helped having (Turner) in the starting lineup where he was kind of a facilitator and we was able to play off the ball and he still fit. It still fit, it wasn't weird switching it up a little bit."
But whatever benefit Portland got from the lineup tweak in the first half was gone in the second. The 76ers made short work of the Trail Blazers 13-point halftime lead by outscoring the road team 23-9 in the first nine minutes of the third quarter to take a 66-65 lead. But the Trail Blazers would get quarter-ending three-pointers from Aminu and McCollum to tilt the scales ever-so-slightly back in Portland's favor before the start of the fourth quarter.
The Trail Blazers looked as though they recovered from their third-quarter swoon early in the fourth, using 10-3 run to take a 81-73 lead after an Allen Crabbe layup with just over 10 minutes to play in regulation. But Portland would go cold thereafter, shooting just 3-of-15 the rest of the way, opening the door for a Sixers rally in the final eight minutes.
McCollum would miss a 19-foot stepback on the next possession, though Saric would follow that up with a miss of his own from three. Lillard would secure the rebounds and was almost immediately fouled, sending the point guard to the line with a chance to put Portland up three 14.7 seconds to play, though that would not be the case, as Lillard would join Mason Plumlee in going 1-of-2 from the free throw line in the final minute of the game, depriving the Trail Blazers are important late-game points, especially with the team struggling to score from the field down the stretch.
"That last free throw, you've got to feel like you make that, at worst you go to overtime or at least there's less pressure on us to score at the end," said Lillard. "That's the one that's going to keep me up at night. That first one felt good, the second one felt good too, left it short. When it rains, it pours. I've been in worse situations down two at the line and shot those. It just didn't go in. On my behalf, of course I walk away from the court saying 'This one is on me.'"
The Sixers would work the ball around on the next play, resulting in Covington hitting what would ultimately be the game-winner off an assist from T.J. McConnell. Portland would have a chance to win the game on the last possession, with Allen Crabbe inbounding to Plumlee at the top of the three-point line. Plumlee drove down the lane and got up a shot from within three feet, though it bounced off the rim as time expired.
"Frustrating not to win," said Plumlee. "I’m not mad at the play. I thought it was a good play, we got a good look. If I make it, we win, I miss it, we lose. I am okay with that."
"It was an extremely disappointing way to lose a game," said Stotts. "I thought we played with great effort. We had a lot of things going our way. We shot 27 percent in the second half. Dario [Saric] steps out of bounds on his save, we don’t get that call. Two contested threes, missed free throws, and we’re still in the game. I thought we played hard, but we didn’t win the game."
The Trail Blazers were led by Lillard, who scored 20 in the first half on the way to finishing with a game-high 30 points on 12-of-25 shooting, five rebounds, an assist and a steal in 36 minutes. CJ McCollum, who had a large number of fellow Lehigh alumni in the stands Friday night, finished with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals in 35 minutes.
Though Plumlee couldn't get his final attempt to drop, he did finish with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes while also tallying two assists, a block and a steal. Vonleh responded to his unexpected start with 10 points and five rebounds in just under 26 minutes.
The 76ers were led by Ersan Ilyasova, who went 9-of-14 from the field and a devastating 5-of-6 from three for 24 points in 38 minutes. Covington hurt Portland all night, not just in the waning moments of the game, finishing with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting and six rebounds in 34 minutes. Rookie Joel Embiid put up a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds while also dishing out five assists before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with what the Sixers called a left knee contusion.
Next up, the Trail Blazers finish off a four-game Eastern Conference road trip in Boston versus the Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 pm.