The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Chicago Bulls 118-113 on Friday night. The Bulls were led by Nikola Vucevic and Colby White with 31 points apiece, while Josh Giddey added a 15-19-12 triple double. The Blazers simply had no answer for Vucevic. Chalk this up as a learning experience for Donovan Clingan.

Deni Avdija had 37 points in a carry-the-Blazers-on-his-back effort. It was a tremendous display, especially as it looked like his legs were heavy at times. Unfortunately for the Blazers, Avdija’s supporting cast wasn’t up to the task.

This game had it all. Offensive cluelessness, shots so ugly they were disowned by their relatives, drives that only a snowplow demolishing a parked car could love, and stretches of defense for which there is no defense. Entertaining in its way, but…

That’s right, I’m not going to finish that sentence. So there.

All nine Blazers who took the court in the first half scored at least 2 points, but most of them required quite a few attempts to get there. Delano Banton was especially guilty with four points on 10 attempts, with some of the shots falling quite a distance from the rim.

The Blazers didn’t get blown out in the first half due to defense. Or was it poor Bulls offense? Let’s go with both, just to be on the safe side. The Bulls had 10 turnovers, while the Blazers only had one. Usually that kind of differential is a very good sign, but it this case it was barely better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. the Blazers led 54-52 at the half.

Any illusion that the Blazers were playing good defense was quickly dispelled in the second half. Blown assignments leading to scrambling defense leading to poor fouls was the order of the day.

One of the good things about the Blazers this season is that they’ve been pretty consistent by their own standards on the second night of a back-to-back. This game, not so much. They looked tired. Individual Blazers kept at it though, never conceding when it looked like they might fall apart.

In the end, poor shooting doomed the Blazers in spite of pulling down 19 offensive rebounds. 38.3% from the field and 26.2% from deep was just too poor to challenge for the win.

Blazer of the Night: Deni Avdija. Deni looked tired at times but he still got 37 points and 11 boards with just one turnover. He’s getting to the point where he is crushing the stat sheet even on nights when he doesn’t always seem his best.

Stat of the Night: One First Half Turnover and Five For The Game. In a game where the Blazers looked tired and worn down ,they did remarkably well protecting the ball, especially in the first half. I’m about to criticize Delano Banton below, but only one turnover from him deserves a pat on the back. One reason why the Blazers didn’t have more turnovers was not enough ball movement, but five total turnovers is still laudable.

What We’ll Remember: No Scoot Henderson and Anfernee Simons. Without the usual point guards in the rotation Delano Banton played 33:38 minutes. Banton can do some things no other guard can do, but some of those shouldn’t be attempted by anyone under any circumstances anyway. In a game where Portland needed distribution, Banton had a total of three assists. I’d like to think he can continue to carve out a career in the NBA with his unique attributes, but it seems unlikely to be as a traditional point guard.