MINNEAPOLIS -- It’s been a rough start to 2024 for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland finished up a two-week, seven-game road trip that started in 2023 with a 116-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of a sellout crowd of 18,024 Friday night at Target Center.
“I thought we played much better than we did last night (versus Oklahoma City), our intentions were pretty good,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “We just couldn’t make a shot in that first half to keep it close. We did a good job of creating the right type of shots.”
Jabari Walker led Portland with 17 points to go with 13 rebounds, three assists and a steal in 32 minutes. Toumani Camara and Duop Reath each added 14 points and Jerami Grant finished with 15 points in 30 minutes.
The Trail Blazers are now 10-28 overall, 5-17 on the road and went 1-6 on their first trip of 2024, with the only truly competitive game coming in their overtime victory versus the Nets in Brooklyn on January 7.
Portland averaged just 96.6 points on 39 percent shooting from the field, 32 percent shooting from the field and 71 percent shooting from the line on the trip while losing by an average of 33.1 points. Even factoring in their one win, the Trail Blazers were outscored by 197 points on a trip that took them through Phoenix, Dallas, New York City, Oklahoma City and finally Minneapolis.
Portland Trail Blazers 93, Minnesota Timberwolves 116 | Game Highlights | Jan 12, 2024
“It was a tough trip for us, definitely a tough trip for us,” said Jerami Grant, who finished Friday’s loss with 13 points, two steals and an assist in 30 minutes. “Got a lot of things we need to figure out in order to get back on track. We’ve got a lot of young talent, just got to figure out how to put it together, how to mesh together and how to be able to play as one unit.”
Injuries also added to the Trail Blazers’ road woes in the first few weeks of 2024.
Deandre Ayton missed the entire trip and hasn’t suited up since December 23 due to tendonitis in his right knee. Anfernee Simons missed the first few games of the trip due to illness, Jabari Walker missed the second game in Dallas and the games versus the Knicks Nets and Thunder with a knee injury. And Duop Reath missed the first game of the trip with a back issue while Shaedon Sharpe missed the last due to an adductor injury that has dogged the second-year forward for the last month.
“It’s been a tough trip, been a very tough trip,” said Billups. “But I’ll be honest with you, when our schedule came out and I seen this trip I said, ‘Dang, that’s a beast of a trip there,’ And I didn’t even know that we would obviously be injured or hurt or whatever position we would be in. Just a tough trip and it turned out to be even tougher than I thought it would. I’m just happy we’re going to be able to get home.”
The Trail Blazers return to Portland to begin a three-game homestand by hosting the Phoenix Suns Sunday night at Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.