Portland Trail Blazers Blast Past Indiana Pacers With Aerial Show

Portland Trail Blazers teammates Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara connected for the final exclamation point in Portland’s 112-89 rout of the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night at the Moda Center.

With the Blazers leading by 23 in the closing minutes, Camara snuck past Indiana’s transition defense. Henderson nonchalantly tossed a lob from near halfcourt that the hawking 6-foot-7 forward went upstairs to throw down with two hands. The highlight capped off a crowd-pleasing sequence of three alley-oop dunks on three straight possessions for the Blazers.

As he ran back on defense, Camara grinned and laughed, probably because a stretch of back-to-back-to-back alley oops is downright silly. One would also imagine he was grinning because the sequence let out a burst of dopamine for all involved — the passer, the dunker and the crowd.

“Lobs are fun, man,” said Henderson, who smiled at just the mention of the word “lob” in his postgame press conference. “That’s my favorite part of basketball.”

Before Tuesday’s high-flying finish put a bow on Portland’s fifth win in a row, the matchup with the Pacers proved to be a rock fight through two and a half quarters. Both teams came in hot — Portland had won eight of its last nine, Indiana 10 of its last 12 — but both teams were playing the second night of a back-to-back after close finishes 24 hours earlier. They played like it, too, each shooting below 35% in the first half.

Then about midway through the third quarter, the Blazers burst through the sludge with a second gear of energy that translated into points. They did it with a mixture of offensive rebounds, directed tips on 50/50 balls, steals, dunks, and the power of the alley oop. The style displayed the franchise’s growing vision of an athletic, long, and versatile roster, and it was fun to watch as it rolled past the Pacers.

“It gets the crowd juiced up as well,” Henderson said. “So that’s really why I like throwing the lobs, to hear the crowd roar.”

At the 6:57 mark of the third quarter with Portland leading by just one, Robert Williams III ignited Portland’s pivotal 11-2 run with a two-hand flush. Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe also contributed to the run with two steals that led to solo breakaway dunks. On the second one, he had the time and space to get creative, and the crowd rose with anticipation to see Portland’s best leaper with a runway, but he kept it relatively simple with a double-clutch jam.

“I was doing a lot of thinking, I didn’t know what I was gonna do,” Sharpe said about the play. “I thought, ‘just get the two points,’ so I did that.”

The Blazers dunked the ball just once in the first half, but Sharpe’s throw-downs were part of eight dunks in the second half. All six of their alley oops also came in the second half. Henderson led the way with four lob passes against Indiana, while his backcourt mates Anfernee Simons and Sharpe each threw up one. The passes were part of an impressive 17-point, eight-rebound, five-assist performance from Henderson on 7-13 shooting.

On the receiving end, Camara finished four lobs on his way to 13 points on 5-7 shooting. Williams dunked another, and Sharpe got two free throws from a Henderson lob.

“We feel like we’re a pretty athletic team, and we’re always trying to find a way to score,” Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups said. “So I’m just happy that the guys are so unselfish that they’re actually looking for [lobs].”

“That just shows you how much fun we’re having out there,” Henderson added.

The crowd fed off that high-octane fun to once again rally hard around the effort of the Blazers during this unexpected winning streak. Then the Blazers fed off the crowd to hammer Indiana in the fourth quarter, 34-23, and run away with another win.

By the time Simons — who finished with 22 points and seven assists on 50% shooting — began the alley-oop spree with under four minutes left, the Blazers didn’t really need it. They were already up 18. But in the face of 94-feet pressure from Indiana, Simons dropped Indiana guard Andrew Nembhard with a crossover. Then he sprung just over half court to go up top to a lurking Camara on the baseline for the flush.

Indiana called timeout to empty the bench, Camara and Simons celebrated with a mid-air collision at halfcourt, and the two alley oops that came after were the definition of gravy.

Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images

“Who would’ve thought a year ago!?” an excited Blazers fan said to an usher near press row as he left with time left on the clock.

Echoing that fan’s enthusiasm, a “Let’s Go Blazers!” chant started organically from the Moda Center concourse after the final buzzer as fans made their way to the exits. It marked the first time this reporter has heard that after a win this season. The Blazers had treated them to a show.

Who would’ve thought three weeks ago?