PORTLAND Trail Blazers recovered from a slow start and secured a 115-107 victory over Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020-2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) Season at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, United States on Monday night (Tuesday in the Philippines).
Damian Lillard waxed hot with 31 points, Gary Trent Jr. added 28 markers while CJ McCollum had double-double 20 points and 11 assists as the Trail Blazers improved to a 2-1 win-loss slate.
Trailing by double digits in the opening quarter, the Trail Blazers went to work in the second period behind Trent, Lillard and McCollum to build a 61-54 advantage in the third frame.
The Lakers, however, responded with a 15-0 scoring blast to build a 73-64 lead, but the Trail Blazers have a quick response from Lillard, Enes Kanter and Jusuf Nurkic to come to within 84-85.
It was a seesaw exchange for both teams in the fourth period at 90-all before Portland went on a finishing run on back-to-back triples by Trent and twinners from Nurkic and Lillard for a 113-105 edge.
LeBron James finished the match with 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists while Dennis Schroder added 24 markers as the defending champions Lakers dropped to 2-2.
Meanwhile, Memphis Grizzlies survived the injury of Ja Morant to pull off a 116-111 overtime victory against Brooklyn Nets (2-2), which played without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Down 110-111 with over a minute left, Brandon Clarke scored a go-ahead basket for the Grizzlies with 38.6 seconds left. Following misses from Nets, Grayson Allen and Kyle Anderson drained free throws to complete Memphis’ upset.
Anderson finished the outing with career-best 28 points while Dillon Brooks added 24 markers as the Grizzlies improved to 1-2 record. Caris LeVert tallied 28 points while Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 21 markers for the Nets.
In other results, Atlanta Hawks goes 3-0 with a 128-120 win over Detroit Pistons (0-3), Donovan Mitchell drained a go-ahead layup as Utah Jazz (2-1) prevailed over Oklahoma City Thunder (1-1), 110-109, while Denver Nuggets (1-2) tallied their first win at the expense of Houston Rockets (0-2), 124-111.
BOX SCORE:
PORTLAND 115 – Lillard 31, Trent 28, McCollum 20, Kanter 12, Nurkic 10, Jones 5, Hood 5, Covington 4, Simons 0.
LOS ANGELES 107 – James 29, Schroder 24, Caldwell-Pope 14, Davis 13, Harrell 9, Kuzma 6, Horton-Tucker 6, Gasol 4, Matthews 2, Morris 0.
QUARTERSCORES:
Q1, 22-30; Q2, 58-54; Q3, 84-85; Q4, 115-107./PN
