The Portland Trail Blazers stayed in the fight until the very end against the Utah Jazz Saturday night, but ultimately fell on the road 138-133.
Several Blazers stepped up for solid scoring nights in the preseason loss, headlined by Anfernee Simons’ 29 points on 12/15 shooting. Despite starting center Deandre Ayton’s absence in the lineup, the Blazers didn’t let the Jazz take over the glass. Portland tied Utah 38-38 on the boards and won the offensive rebound battle 16-5. That helped Portland take 28 more field goal attempts than Utah, attempting a whopping 102 field goals versus Utah’s 78.