Orlando (United States) (AFP)
Portland suffered but qualified for the 1st round of the NBA play-offs where he will challenge the Lakers, after his victory in the play-off (126-122) against Memphis, snatched thanks to the decisive baskets of CJ McCollum in the money-time, Saturday at Disney World.
Ranked 8th at the end of the regular season after eight last matches played as so many finals (6 wins), the Blazers only needed one success to validate their ticket. Otherwise, they should have played a second game against the Grizzlies on Sunday.
It will not be, but it really didn't matter much at the end of the game. And where everyone has taken the habit of attending "Dame Time", the hour when Damian Lillard strives to win matches with his killer shoots, it is McCollum who made the difference by registering eight points in a row (including two of his three shots from behind the arc) to make a break at 119-113 that Memphis could not erase.
And this despite the tremendous game of Ja Morant, who will probably be named rookie of the season in a few weeks and delivered the best performance of his young career in the game that counted the most (35 points, 8 assists).
Until the end Morant never gave up, even reducing the gap to 122-119 after a last basket at three points, before Carmelo Anthony (21 pts) transforms his free throws a few tenths of a second from the buzzer.
Lillard was obviously not outdone with his 31 pts and 10 assists, which hide an unusual clumsiness (6/15). But the star of the team saw that he can count on his own when he cannot or no longer do everything on his own.
Symbol of abnegation and courage, the Bosnian Jusuf Nurkic was admirable in an extremely difficult context, since he announced two hours before the meeting the death of his grandmother struck by the coronavirus. Moved to tears after his performance (22 points, 21 rebounds, 6 assists) and the victory, he was embraced by all his teammates.
Finally assured of playing the play-offs, which was far from being assured during a season not very much in line with expectations, the Blazers are now animated by an extra soul that the Lakers should not underestimate during a series of matches that already makes the whole NBA salivate.
© 2020 AFP