Field Level Media
Oct 28, 2021
CJ McCollum recorded 25 points and six rebounds and Damian Lillard added 20 points and 10 assists to help the Portland Trail Blazers post a 116-96 victory over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
Jusuf Nurkic added 17 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Anfernee Simons scored 17 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers. Portland committed 14 turnovers after giving the ball up 30 times in Monday's 116-86 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Desmond Bane scored 19 points for the Grizzlies on Wednesday before leaving with a cut over his eye late in the third quarter. Ja Morant had 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for Memphis, which dropped to 1-2 on a four-game Western road swing that ends Thursday against the Golden State Warriors.
Portland trailed 57-51 at halftime before outscoring the Grizzlies 65-39 in the second half. The Trail Blazers led by as many as 26 points.
Lillard was just 6 of 22 from the field and is shooting 33.3 percent through four games. However, he was 4 of 11 from 3-point range to improve to 6 of 35 (17.1 percent) for the season.
Portland shot 46.4 percent from the field, including 15 of 36 on 3-pointers. Simons made five 3-pointers and McCollum and Lillard had four.
Memphis committed 22 turnovers and hit just 36.5 percent of its shots, including 17 of 50 from behind the arc. The Grizzlies were just 9 of 19 from the free-throw line while Portland hit 23 of 31.
Memphis led 62-58 in the third quarter before Portland scored 10 straight points and 18 of 24. Simons buried a 3-pointer to end the spurt and give the Trail Blazers a 76-68 advantage with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
Larry Nance Jr. scored on a dunk at the end of the period as Portland led 87-77.
The Trail Blazers followed by tallying the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 21. McCollum made two 3-pointers during the spurt, including one that made it 98-77 with 8:47 remaining.
McCollum's two free throws pushed the lead to 107-81 with 5:34 left.
Bane had 15 points in the first half to help the Grizzlies hold the six-point lead at the break.
--Field Level Media