Xue Ding came to the front court penalty area with the ball, Paul immediately came up, and in the face of Paul's defense, Xue Ding chose to play sideways and scored two points under the basket.

103 to 110

Paul took the ball to the frontcourt, continued to press the tempo, and did not rush to attack.

Xue Ding began to defend closely, and at the same time, Chandler also leaned over to form a double attack on Paul, and in the face of the two of them, Paul chose to pass the ball to West.

The latter shot from the three-point line, and Blake picked up the rebound.

The Hornets missed their shot, and it was an opportunity for the Trail Blazers.

When Blake grabbed it, Xue Ding had already started and was about to cross the halfway line, reaching out to Blake for the ball.

Blake took the ball and looked at it, just in time to see Xue Ding raised it with one hand, and then made a long pass to Xue Ding.

After Xue Ding got the ball, he started quickly, and he would not miss this opportunity to counterattack, and he hit the basket near the middle line and ended the attack with a violent dunk.

"Beep!"

At the same time, the referee's whistle sounded, and the chasing Collison beat the foul, and Xue Ding also added a penalty.

Xue Ding stood on the free throw line, took a deep breath, and hit the free throw.

There are only 4 minutes left and 1 minute and 2 seconds left.

Paul received the ball and quickly advanced to the frontcourt, trying to play the Trail Blazers with an unstable foothold, and countered the ball to wipe the board and score.

Pritchard immediately called a timeout to make a tactical adjustment.

Replacing Roy, who had been on the bench in the fourth quarter, seemed to be an attempt to step up the offense in the final moments to see if he could turn the defeat into a victory.

But it was Pritchard's substitution that caused the Trail Blazers' final loss.

After Roy came on the court, Xue Ding took the initiative to hand over the ball to him, and he ran to the front court to open up space, but he didn't expect Roy to be stealed by Paul and played a counterattack soon after he got the ball.

The already close point difference was stretched to 8 points after Roy's mistake, and even though Xue Ding hit two consecutive goals in the final time, he was powerless.

In the end, the Trail Blazers lost the game 110-115.

In this game, Xue Ding made 17 shots, hit 11 of them, and scored 31 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists, but he still couldn't avoid the team losing at home.

However, after the game, it was found that the loss had little impact on the Trail Blazers' rankings, because in the other two games played a little later, the Trail Blazers' direct rivals Nuggets and Rockets lost to the Spurs and Bulls at the same time.

And with this matchday at the end of the day, with two regular season games remaining, the Trail Blazers' final ranking has been decided, and even if the Trail Blazers lose their last two games, they will enter the playoffs in seventh place in the West.

And if they want to go further, they will have to count on the Spurs, who are ahead of them, to lose the last two rounds in order to move into sixth place in the West.

But the Spurs' opponents in the last two rounds are the Timberwolves, who are at the bottom of the West, and the Pistons who missed the playoffs early in the East.

So, in the dressing room after the game, Pritchard made a decision in front of all the players.

"It's a shame we didn't win this game tonight at the Rose Garden, but there's no need to be overly pessimistic, now that we've got a playoff spot, all we have to do is prepare for the playoffs.

From now on, everything the team's work will be at the service of the playoffs.

So, I would like to announce one thing to you, for the next two games, we will be resting some of the main players and let our substitutes go out on the pitch at this time to prove themselves. ”

As soon as the news came out that Pritchard was going to rest the main players, Roy and several others immediately said that they could continue to play, and they were willing to fight for a better position.

Xue Ding also stood up to the head coach.

However, Pritchard rejected the players' statements, saying: "The regular season is a long journey, we have been playing for more than half a year from October last year to now, almost every other day, the intensity of such a game is too great, and now the playoffs are coming, and then the confrontation will be more intense, the intensity of the game will be greater, you are already too tired, you need to rest for a while."

So, the players who are resting for the next two games can take this opportunity to relax and rest and go into the playoffs in the best physical condition, my boys. ”

Aldridge's last season loss seemed to hit Pritchard hard, and from the very beginning of this game against the Hornets, he was always on the court for fear of another injury to his players, which is why he kept Roy on the bench in the fourth quarter.

After Pritchard finished speaking, no one in the players objected to his intentions.

Indeed, the level of confrontation in the playoffs is at least one level higher than that of the regular season, and it would be nice if the opponent you meet is not the kind of tough interior lineman.

But once they meet a team like the Grizzlies or the Jazz with a strong interior line in the playoffs, it really doesn't have to die or lose the skin, and now their opponent has not been determined, everything is possible.

While Pritchard was talking about this in the locker room, the team's general manager also came to the locker room and agreed to Pritchard's decision to rest the main team for the next two games.

And Pritchard did this for another reason, and that is to look at who on the team's bench can really stand up in the playoffs.

Now that Ard is reimbursed, the team's manpower is already stretched, and it is impossible to sign a free agent on a ten-day contract at this time, so he can only pick someone from the team's bench and development league.

Pritchard has only two games left and he has to make the most of them.

After announcing the rotation, Xue Ding quickly took a shower in the locker room and packed up his things and left, and did not participate in the team's post-game interview.

Now for Xue Ding, the most important thing is to take care of Yaya.

Because the Trail Blazers' game was scheduled for the morning game, it was just dark in Portland after the game, and Xue Ding wanted to return to Yaya's side to take care of her earlier.

When Xue Ding returned home, Yaya was sitting alone in the living room watching TV, while the four old men went to bed early.

After Xue Ding opened the door, he found that Yaya was watching TV on the sofa in the living room, she should have heard the sound of herself opening the door, and when she arrived in the living room, a pair of tender eyes were looking at her.