Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard: Awful shooting night in Saturday’s loss

The Nets and Portland made a swap at the trade deadline in 2012 in which the Nets received Gerald Wallace and sent Portland their first-round lottery pick that season.

For Portland, Ed Davis chipped in 14 points and C.J. But now they have 40 chances left to win five more games and avoid one of the most shameful marks in all of sports.

By comparison, Wallace never lived up to expectations, and was part of the package the Nets sent the Boston Celtics for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on Draft night 2013. Portland responded with a 5-0 run to take an 83-79 lead into the fourth. The Nets, led by Andrea Bargnani and Thomas Robinson, went on a 13-5 run to open the frame.

Two days later, they made sure that wouldn’t happen again. Damian Lillard led the scoring with game-high 33 points with 10 assists, Allen Crabbe added 19 points while CJ McCollum had 13 points and seven assists as the Blazers connected on 15 of 35 three-pointers to sink the Nets and improve to 18-24 overall and 8-15 on the road.

Okafor, the leading contender to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, was unstoppable, finishing with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and his dominant early play established that Philadelphia – which opened the season by losing 18 in a row – would be no pushover. Our spacing is really good.

A mini-flurry from Lillard at the end of the quarter kept the advantage more than just one possession, and the Blazers headed for intermission probably feeling pretty good.

When asked it it was just one of those challenging nights that every team encounters during the grind of an 82-game schedule, Blazers coach Terry Stotts quickly shook his head.

Lillard said of what has been different over the past four or five games, “I wouldn’t say anything is different”. “I think that Chicago game still hangs around, and we came out and I think showed that we’re going in the direction we want to go in, and we feel like we have been going”. “It doesn’t help our team, and I’m glad that I was finally able to get a game with zero”.

Whether or not he gets selected is irrelevant to how his game and value as a basketball player should be viewed and understood. “We’re always learning and building”, Lopez said. He kind of had his way in the first half. “It’s good to start the road trip with the win”. “They’ve got a good group of young talent out there and it was just a tough night trying to get those guys under control”. Plumlee was much more aggressive looking for his shot against his former team but he didn’t really score. “It’s step by step, and I think that’s a process he’s prepared to go through now”.

Nets interim coach Tony Brown before the game said he was looking to get the team’s second unit playing a similar level and pace as the starters offensively.

“He’s told me that he will be very involved in the transition, as he searches for both a new general manager and coach”, Silver said, “and will remain involved in the operation of the team”.

Damian Lillard added to the Brooklyn Nets’ fourth-quarter woes this season.

Center Brook Lopez had 25 points and seven rebounds and forward Joe Johnson and guard Donald Sloan scored 15 points apiece for the Nets, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.

He finished three boards shy of his first career triple-double while scoring 21 points and dishing out 10 assists in 29 minutes against the Jazz, even while sitting out the final quarter.