The Portland Trail Blazers used a big second half run to defeat the cold-shooting Miami Heat 127-110 at the Moda Center on Thursday night.
The Blazers led by just one point at halftime, but opened the third quarter on an improbable 23-9 run to take control of the game even as their best player exited the game with an injury.
Deni Avdija left the court less than two minutes into the second half after apparently aggravating the back injury that forced him to miss three games earlier this month, but his absence couldn’t slow the Blazers down.
Shaedon Sharpe led the way with 27 points. Avdija had 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists in just under 18 minutes before his departure. Caleb Love had 20 points off the bench.
Portland improves to 23-22 with the win, climbing above .500 for the first time since they were 6-5 on November 12th. They have the best record (9-2) in the NBA since the calendar turned to 2026.
Miami falls to 23-22 with the loss. Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 32 points.
Here are a few key observations from the game.
The Blazers have played much of the season shorthanded at the guard positions. Avdija has picked up the slack, serving as the primary ballhandler. Tonight, with Avdija departing early, his teammates returned the favor.
Sharpe bounced back from a poor first half to carry the offensive load, scoring 24 of his 27 points after halftime. For the game, Sharpe was 11-21 shooting, including 5-9 on three-pointers. He also grabbed seven rebounds and four steals.
His backcourt teammates Jrue Holiday and Caleb Love were instrumental in the victory as well. Holiday had 15 points and seven assists, while Love chipped in 20 points and four assists. Fittingly, the last of those assists was an alley-oop to Sharpe with 4:03 left in the game that extended the Blazers lead to 15 and effectively served as a dagger.
For most of the night, the Blazers did a good job defending the ball. The Heat use fewer on-ball screens and pick-and-roll actions than any team in the league. They try to beat their defenders one-on-one to force help and get defenses scrambling.
The Blazers were up to the challenge, forcing Miami into a lot of difficult shots in isolation. When Miami has 30 assists or more during games this season, they are 16-3. When they have fewer than 30 assists, they are 7-15.
Against the Blazers, they registered just 27 assists and were unable to mount a serious comeback in the fourth quarter, when they managed to score just 18 points.
While the Heat struggled to get good looks, the Blazers got the shots they wanted. The Blazers had 41 field goal attempts in the paint while taking 50 three-pointers and only five mid-range shots.
The three-point shot was falling for Portland. Eight Blazers connected from deep, led by Sharpe, Toumani Camara (3-6), Love (4-12), and Holiday (3-7).
The Heat shot well on their 38 attempts in the paint (76.3%), but struggled from the outside. They were 5-11 in the mid-range and just 9-45 (20%) from behind the arc.
Avdija made two of his five three-pointers before exiting the game. One came from the left corner during a challenging stretch of the second quarter. The Blazers were struggling to solve the Heat’s zone defense, so coach Tiago Splitter tried a new alignment with Avdija stationed in the corner.
Avdija entered the game shooting 13-27 (48%) from the corner on the season, but he hasn’t gotten many of those shots while running the offense from the top of the key. With Holiday back, the Blazers can occasionally put Avdija in different spots on the court and allow Holiday to run the show.
It remains to be seen if Avdija will miss more time with his back injury. But as the Blazers get their full complement of players back, it will be interesting to see if Splitter and the coaching staff try to move him around, keep defenses guessing, and get him the ball in different spots on the court.
The Heat presented Donovan Clingan with a very difficult matchup against Adebayo, a much quicker player. Compared to some of his recent performances, Clingan’s numbers weren’t great.
But as the Heat threatened to come back early in the fourth quarter, Clingan stepped up. He made a three-pointer, blocked a shot, and kept several possessions alive on the offensive glass. On a night when his counterpart put up huge scoring numbers, Clingan deserves credit for staying ready and continuing to fight.
Turnovers have been a problem for the Blazers all year. They have taken better care of the ball during this winning stretch in January, but were sloppy on Thursday night, coughing it up 18 times. They got away with it, but will need to clean that up when a menacing Toronto defense visits Moda Center tomorrow night.
The Blazers host the Toronto Raptors Friday night at 7:00 PM Pacific.
