Portland Trail Blazers Throw Turnover Party in Ugly Loss vs. 76ers

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups tested the patience of the Moda Center when he signaled for a coach’s challenge with 5:57 left in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s clunker against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Blazers trailed the Sixers by 25 points. It mattered little if the refs overturned the call of basket interference and allowed Portland guard Shaedon Sharpe’s tip-dunk to count for two points. In a lot of ways, the stoppage felt like an exercise in futility, prolonging an out-of-reach, ugly game for the Blazers.

In another sense, the brief break provided fans with a golden opportunity to head for the exits. They took it. For the two minutes the refs looked over the replay, fans streamed up the aisles and out the gates, not sticking around to see if the Blazers reached 100 points for free McNuggets.

With stragglers still filing out, an official got back on the mic to say Portland lost the challenge anyway. The call would remain basket interference and go down in the stat book as a team turnover.

The verdict was fitting: The Blazers played like Team Turnover in Monday’s 125-103 blowout loss, turning the ball over a face-palm-worthy 24 times, resulting in 36 points for Philadelphia. Portland forward Deni Avdija, the team’s MVP of December, produced the rare, unenvious double-double with 17 points and 10 turnovers. He had nine before the fourth quarter.

Adding to those numbers, the Blazers shot 8-36 (22.2%) from 3-point range and both teams combined for 53 fouls. You can understand why the game wasn’t too pretty on the eyes.

“It was rough on us out there,” Billups told reporters after the loss.

Philly sunk into a matchup zone for much of the game that gave the Blazers fits, as they lacked the shooting to make the defense pay for that style. Billups also credited the Sixers for their “ultra-physical” play. He said they did a good job of bumping Portland players off their spots, cutting off passing lanes and jump-switching their actions— all things the team prepared for but struggled with in live action.

“It’s one of the things about being young,” Billups said. “Sometimes the best teacher is actually getting out there, and it’s also the toughest lessons.”

Along with Philadelphia’s physical defense playing a role, Portland produced a number of unforced errors in the turnover fest. The ball seemed to fumble out of Blazers players’ hands all night on catches and gather moves, sometimes when the lane was wide open. Along with Avdija’s lofty total, rookie Donovan Clingan tallied three turnovers in his nine minutes of play (side note for emphasis: Clingan played just nine minutes). He was one of four Blazers to tally three turnovers in the game, joining Scoot Henderson, Deandre Ayton and Shaedon Sharpe.

“I’m taking the responsibility,” said Avdija about his performance. “I’ve never had that amount [of turnovers], but the ball was not in my hands very good today. They scored a lot of points from my turnovers.”

The Blazers’ losses this season — currently at 21 after Monday, alongside 11 wins — usually occur because the offense can’t keep pace or because the Blazers simply get overpowered in the talent department. Monday was an example of both, as the Sixers showed why they’re on a four-game winning streak that includes a victory over the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day.

Embiid was a force, dropping 37 points on 57.1% shooting. Tyrese Maxey added 23. Reserve forward Guerschon Yabusele, France’s basketball darling of the Summer Olympics, might’ve played the best first half of his life and finished with 16 points for the game. After starting the season 3-14, the Sixers have jumped into the play-in discussion of the Eastern Conference standings at 13-17 and look like they’re not done climbing.

When all of those elements combine — the turnovers, the poor shooting, the solid opponent — Billups said games like that usually finish even scarier on the scoreboard. He mentioned some of Portland’s 40-point mega losses this season as examples, noting the Blazers kept this one respectable in comparison.

He had a point, but whether you view that as a silver lining probably depends on your disposition as a fan.