INDIANAPOLIS -- It looked as though the Trail Blazers might get a rare comfortable road win for the better part of the first half of Saturday's game versus the Pacers in Indianapolis. Damian Lillard was light's out from everywhere on the floor and Portland's defense, while not exactly of the lockdown variety, was good enough to hold the Pacers to under 50 percent shooting, resulting in the Trail Blazers leading by as many as 20 points in the first quarter.
But Portland's white-hot shooting would ultimately subside as the Pacers, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, found their own offense. Indiana would cut Portland's lead to seven by the end of the first half and would eventually take their first lead of the night early in the fourth quarter before going on to defeat the Trail Blazers 118-111 in front of a crowd of 16,211 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Saturday night.
“Another tough loss," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "We played a great offense the first half, we probably should have had a bigger lead than we did at halftime and in the fourth quarter our offense really struggled. Turnovers, missed shots, second opportunities for them. This is three games in a row where our offense has let us down when we needed it."
The Trail Blazers are now 12-13 overall, 5-9 away from the Moda Center and 1-3 on their current road trip. Saturday's loss broke Portland's five-game winning streak versus the Indiana, a steak that dated back to February 7, 2014.
Though it is probably foolish to assume the Trail Blazers would be able to hold their early 20-point lead throughout the game, it still seemed as though they would at least be able to hold off the Pacers to escape with a much-need road win after entering the third quarter with a 98-90 lead. But when things go bad for the Trail Blazers this season, they tend to go real bad, which would probably be the most succinct way to describe their fourth-quarter performance Saturday night.
First, it was a 16-4 Pacers run which started late in the third quarter and carried over into the fourth that gave Indiana their first lead of the night at 99-98 with 8:24 to play in regulation. CJ McCollum, who did everything human possible on the offensive end in the second half to keep Portland afloat, scored seven-straight after the Pacers took the lead to put the Trail Blazers up 105-99 with just under seven and half minutes to play in the fourth.
But the Pacers, despite playing in their third game in four nights, had another run left in them. Indiana would go on a 17-4 run, a run in which Paul George scored 15-straight, to put Portland away for good.
"We’re playing hard, but we are still allowing teams to take it from us," said Damian Lillard. "It’s frustrating these last two games. We had a lead, we were in control of the game, then the other team has their backs to the wall and they become the aggressor. We’re on the road, so the crowd gets into it. It’s unfortunate that we put ourselves in to that situation and it hasn’t worked out well for us. We win two in a row, we lose three in a row, we are just inconsistent. That’s what makes it frustrating. We know what we need to do, we are just not doing it consistently."
All told, the Trail Blazers shot just 5-of-18 from the field and 1-of-8 from three in the fourth quarter while turning the ball over five times, which the Pacers converted into seven points.
"Obviously if you look at the amount of turnovers in the fourth quarter and our shooting in the fourth quarter, you will see the inconsistency," said Stotts. "I don’t think everyone is trusting the game and part of that is when it gets tough, we have to be able to overcome the challenge.”
The Trail Blazers were led by McCollum, who scored 26 of his team-high 34 points in the second half. Lillard did the heavy lifting in the first half, scoring 21 of his 33 points in the first two quarters while also adding nine assists and three rebounds. Saturday's game is the first time that the Trail Blazers have lost with both McCollum and Lillard scoring at least 30 points on the same night.
Ed Davis, who returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in Thursday's loss to the Grizzlies in Memphis, grabbed 10 rebounds and scored six points in just under 34 minutes. Allen Crabbe added eight points, three assists and five rebounds off the bench.
The Pacers were led by Paul George, who scored 15 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter. Thaddeus Young went 9-of-13 from the field for 24 points while also grabbing nine rebounds in 39 minutes. Myles Turner added 14 while Monta Ellis, who did not play in the second half due to a sore groin, and Al Jefferson each scored 10.
Next up, the Trail Blazers fly back to the west coast to finish off a five-game road trip Monday night versus the L.A. Clippers at the Staples Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm on CSNNW and 620 AM.