The Sports Xchange
Oct 20, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS -- C.J. McCollum returned from a one-game suspension to score 28 points Friday night, and the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Indiana Pacers 114-96, improving to 2-0 on the road to open the season.
Portland (2-0) opened its season Wednesday night with a dominating 124-76 victory at Phoenix, then continued its solid play in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Evan Turner added 17 points for the Trail Blazers, and Damian Lillard finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Al-Farouq Aminu added 16 points and 16 rebounds
Guard Victor Oladipo and reserve TJ Leaf led Indiana (1-1) with 17 points apiece.
The Pacers played without starting center Myles Turner, who has a concussion and a sore neck after contributing 21 points and 14 rebounds in Wednesday's opening-night 140-131 victory against Brooklyn. Turner also will miss Saturday's game at Miami. He will be in concussion protocol until he is cleared to play again.
Portland led by 10 points at halftime and continued to apply the third-quarter pressure, taking a 79-65 lead with 2:45 remaining in the period. At that point, Indiana was 2 of 12 from 3-point range and 12 of 20 from the free throw line. At quarter's end, the Trail Blazers enjoyed an 91-73 advantage.
Through three periods, McCollum had 26 points, Turner had 15 and Lillard had 14, seven rebounds and six assists. Those three were 21 of 40 from the field after 36 minutes. Portland was shooting 52.2 percent (36 of 69) in the first three quarters.
The Trail Blazers led 62-52 at the half, outscoring Indiana 31-27 in the second quarter. Lillard, McCollum and Turner were a collective 15 of 26 in the first 24 minutes, combining for 37 points, led by Turner's 13 and 12 each from Lillard and McCollum.
In the first two quarters, Portland made 24 of 44 field goal tries (54.5 percent), including 5 of 11 from 3-point range and 9 of 11 from the free throw line.
Oladipo had 11 first-half points for the Pacers and Bojan Bogdanovic added 10. Indiana shot 50 percent in the first half (20 of 40).
Portland made 14 of 25 first-quarter field goal attempts (56 percent), including a combined 8 of 12 from Lillard and McCollum and led 31-25 through the first 12 minutes.
Indiana was 11 of 21 (52.4) in the first quarter but turned the ball over five times to one for Portland. The Pacers out-rebounded the Trail Blazers 12-7 in the opening period.
NOTES: Portland G Pat Connaughton (Notre Dame), F Noah Vonleh (Indiana) and F Caleb Swanigan (Purdue) all played college basketball in Indiana, as did Pacers' guard Victor Oladipo (Indiana) ... Trail Blazers' coach Terry Stotts, who played collegiately at Oklahoma, played high school basketball in Bloomington, Ind. ... In two games against the Pacers in 2016-2017, Portland G Damian Lillard averaged 30.5 points, four rebounds and 9.5 assists ... Portland leads the all-time series 53-34 ... Indiana G Glenn Robinson III continues to rehab his surgically repaired left ankle ... Portland F Noah Vonleh missed the game with a right shoulder injury.