PORTLAND -- The Trail Blazers hosted the Houston Rockets at Moda Center in back-to-back games. They lost both by double digits, the most recent being a 115-98 loss in front of a crowd of 17,821 Saturday night.
“I thought we played hard,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “We gave ourselves a chance. Too many turnovers, gave too many opportunities, but we played and fought hard, guys played well.”
The Trail Blazers are now 27-47 overall, good for 12th in the Western Conference with eight games to play, and 17-21 at home this season. Portland and Houston have split their 2021-22 season series 2-2.
After losing the first meeting on Friday by 37 points in a game that was never all that competitive, the Trail Blazers brought a better effort in the rematch, going into the half tied 60-60 Saturday night.
But after shooting 51 percent from the field and 44 percent from three in the first half, Portland’s percentages sunk to 30 percent and 18 percent, respectively, in the second half. The Rockets had no such dropoff and would go on to outscore the Blazers by 17 in the second half to come away with their second-straight comfortable victory.
“It was a much better start than we’ve had in the last two games,” said Drew Eubanks. “Just got a couple of lapses in our principles, in our defense in the second half and they got some wide open shots where guys shouldn’t even be that open. It’s tough right now this time of the year when games are so close together, we don’t have time to practice. So got to mentally lock in every game on our game plan.”
Trendon Watford completed his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds while also tallying five assists and two steals in 29 minutes. However, Watford was carried off the court in the fourth quarter with an apparent left knee injury and underwent an MRI after the game.
Drew Eubanks also posted a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds to go with two assists and two steals in 33 minutes.
Brandon Williams finished with 15 points and eight assists. Keon Johnson went 4-of-9 from three for 14 points while also logging two rebounds and two blocks in 32 minutes. Ben McLemore came off the bench to score 11.
Alperen Sengun led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Jalen Green finished with 25 points, Christian Wood had 13 and Kevin Porter Jr., Dennis Schroder and Kenyon Martin Jr. each added 10.
Next up, the Trail Blazers host the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday night at Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.