Portland heads to New Orleans for the third stop of its five-game road swing, still chasing the first win of the trip when the teams meet on Wednesday.
The Trail Blazers suffered heartbreak on Monday in Orlando when Desmond Bane’s 3-point miracle at the buzzer sealed a thrilling 115-112 victory for the Magic.
Bane’s shot prevented the Blazers from being rewarded for an impressive comeback. They trailed by 13 points with less than nine minutes to go and by nine with 2:32 remaining, yet nearly pulled off the win.
With the score tied, Portland had possession with 4.5 seconds to play.
Shaedon Sharpe inbounded to Jrue Holiday, who had it pinched from him by Paolo Banchero — Holiday’s third turnover for the quarter — before Orlando called time out with 1.9 seconds on the clock.
The Magic advanced the ball and Franz Wagner inbounded to Bane, who took one bounce and swished a 27-footer over Toumani Camara.
Interim Portland coach Tiago Splitter admitted the gutting finish was “hard” to take, but he praised his team’s resilience.
“I think that’s one of the things that I promised when I got here — we’ve got to compete,” Splitter said. “That’s what the guys are doing. You’re going to win, you’re going to lose some games. … It’s a long season, but this one was hard.”
Sharpe tallied a season-high 31 points in just 29 minutes on 12-of-18 shooting. The fourth-year guard appears to have rediscovered his touch after his stroke was ice cold earlier in the season. He made just 5 of 30 from 3-point range in Portland’s first four games.
“It’s the first game that I thought he was really himself and being aggressive, getting to the rim, getting to the free-throw line,” Splitter said. “He looks better. His legs are under the shot. Hopefully we have Shae like this for a long time.”
New Orleans finished a three-game away stretch on a low note, on the wrong end of a 121-98 hammering on Monday in Phoenix.
Trey Murphy III posted 21 points with 10 rebounds for the Pelicans, who were without starters Zion Williamson (left hamstring strain), Jordan Poole (left quad strain) and Yves Missi (illness).
Phoenix opened a huge lead, putting New Orleans in a 73-41 hole early in the third period.
“They just punched us in the mouth right away,” said Pelicans coach Willie Green. “Just a below-our-standard game. We did some things in the third quarter, chomped into the lead a little bit. But we’ve got to stop waiting as a team to get punched and then start trying to fight. We’ve got to start the game that way. Again, below our standard of where we need to be.”
Green insists his team must improve defensively.
“That’s where it all starts — our aggression and communication on the defensive end,” Green said. “If we can’t guard, then now you’re relying on scoring the whole game, and that’s going to be a difficult game for us.”
The Blazers have won their last three against New Orleans and hold a slender 40-39 overall edge.