Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports Portland’s offense looked cool, but not enough to beat the Heat The Portland Trail Blazers played inspired basketball on Tuesday night, but ultimately came up short against the Miami Heat at Moda Center, losing 106-96 to the defending Eastern Conference Champions. The Blazers kept Heat big man Bam Adebayo in check, holding him to only 13 points. But the guard combination of Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier, and Duncan Robinson proved to be too much for Portland and their depleted roster. That roster only got thinner after Deandre Ayton exited the game at intermission due to injury. The Blazers can use these as measuring stick games. The Heat are playoff bound and have their sights set on returning to the NBA Finals. They don’t focus on the regular season, but a young team like the Blazers can still watch and learn from them. Butler went through the motions for the first three quarters, but then turned it on down the stretch of the fourth. Even though the Blazers ended up losing the game, youngster like Toumani Camara, Jabari Walker, and Kris Murray can study movements and angles from veterans like Butler, Rozier, and Duncan. All in all, the effort was there tonight from the Blazers, the team just lacked the fire power to close it out. If you missed the game, you can find our quarter-by-quarter recap here. After you’ve read that, here are the details that defined the contest. Offensive Sets The Blazers returned to Moda tonight determined to have a better offensive outing than in their previous game against the Charlotte Hornets. In that game the Blazers managed to only score 80 points. Yes, in a full 48 minutes. The coaching staff was locked in tonight versus the Heat. Portland focused its first play on Anfernee Simons. The moment they won the opening tip, there was movement. Once the play started to develop, Simons set a screen in the middle of the paint, only to have a screen set for him in return. That freed him up for a wide open three at the top of the arc, 3-0 Blazers. This was obviously something the Blazers worked on, and was executed to perfection. Ball movement was the name of the game for Portland in the first half, and it showed in their three-point percentage. Portland converted almost 50% of their three point attempts, hitting 9 of them. Set plays out of timeouts and setting effective screens provided space for the Portland shooters. It was no surprise the Blazers had a lead at halftime because of their three point shooting. There was also no surprise the Blazers let the lead slip away and ended up losing by double digits because they only connected on one three-point shot in the second half. In a season destined for the lottery, it’s a good sign to see the team execute on offensive sets to free up their best shooters. Due to the hectic game schedule during the year, it’s hard for teams to find practice time, so why not use games to perfect plays that can be used next season and beyond? Portland fans have to be able to live with the good and the bad this season. Clearly tonight the Miami Heat made adjustments in the second half to limit the Blazers threes, and it worked. Now Portland needs to work on counters to those adjustments. Executing situational basketball could be the difference...someday...between home court advantage in a playoff series and traveling to a hostile environment. Ayton Keeps Improving Deandre Ayton injured his wrist in the first quarter and was not able to finish the game. It was unfortunate because he was putting together yet another complete game on the offensive and defensive ends of the court. He played 19 minutes, and contributed 12 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. There’s no telling what his stat line would have looked like if he hadn’t gotten hurt. Ayton has been more of a focal point on offense, and has been delivering for the Blazers. There should be no surprise that a former first-overall pick can show flashes of brilliance. Ayton is looking to attack every time he gets the ball. He squares up, looks for cutters, then makes a decision to either pass to the open man, take the jump shot, or make a move to the rim. Bam Adebayo is a good defender, and there were moments tonight where Ayton made it look easy to score on him. He has the potential to be a game -hanger on the offensive side of the ball. For the rest of the season, Portland needs to find more ways of unlocking that potential. Toumani Toumani Toumani Toumani Camara is inching closer to becoming my personal MVP for the season. The improvement he has made from game 1 to game 56 has been incredible. Camara scored 17 points tonight on 6-12 shooting, including 2-2 from deep and 3-3 from the free throw line. That kind of efficiently used to be unheard of for him. During this offensive renaissance we haven’t seen a dip in his defense or hustle plays. In fact, I think the offensive uptick has inspired him on the defensive end of the court. The Heat played in the NBA Finals just last season. Butler and Adebayo were, and still are, their main guys. Throughout the game, Carama would switch back and forth, guarding both of them. Was it perfect? No. But he was able to hold his own both in the post and on the perimeter. Camara is quickly learning how to use his body to gain defensive leverage and extend his length to bother shots and collect rebounds. He has a chance to play every single game for the Blazers this season. It’s looking like Portland has found their starting small forward for the next several years. No Hurry with Murray Not every rookie for the Blazers has had a stellar season. Kris Murray has been starting in place of injured Malcom Brogdon and/or Scoot Henderson the last couple games. He played a total of 30 minutes tonight, putting up a goose egg on 0-6 shooting from the field. The Heat deployed Butler to guard Murray for some of the game, so it’s understandable that he would have a tough time scoring. But the fact of the matter is, Murray has struggled to find his shot for the entire season. Granted, it’s hard to put together good scoring games when you’re not getting consistent minutes, but still/ I want to be easy on Murray, but the game doesn’t seem to come as easy to him as it has to the other rookies for the Blazers. As of now, his future role seems to be a solid 3-D player for this Portland squad. A lot of players have made a good living as a 3-D specialist. They tend to be key contributors to NBA championships. The Blazers need to continue giving Murray minutes to see exactly what they have in him. His twin brother Keegan Murray has blossomed into a key role player for the Sacramento Kings, so there is reason to believe that Kris has it in him as well. Increased playing time and rising confidence will be the main factors for Murray putting together a good stretch of basketball as the season winds down. No Thank You Miami The Heat and Blazers were linked all Summer due to the South Beach trade request from Damian Lillard. Tonight marked the first time the two teams have played in Portland since the stalemate that ultimately ended with Miami being left out in the cold, as the Blazers made a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. Miami’s main trade chip, Tyler Herro, did not play tonight due to injury. That’s fitting, because one of the downsides to Herro is his ability to stay healthy, or lack thereof. Another player being mentioned in the Dame trade was Nikola Jovic. He started for the Heat and scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting with 2 rebounds. These were the proposed centerpieces to a Lillard trade, along with draft picks. It’s safe to say Joe Cronin and the Blazers made the correct decision to turn down the Heat and look elsewhere. Herro and Jovic are fine players and may turn out to be contributors to a deep playoff run, but them serving as replacements for Lillard is certifiably laughable. The Blazers may have lost the battle tonight to the Miami Heat, but they certainly did not lose the war. Up Next Boxscore The Blazers now travel to Memphis for a baseball-series matchup with the Grizzlies. The first game is Friday night at 5:00 PM, Pacific. Source: https://www.blazersedge.com/2024/2/27/2 ... utler-heat