Field Level Media
Dec 2, 2018
DeMar DeRozan scored a season-high 36 points -- including 15 straight in the third quarter -- and LaMarcus Aldridge added 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 131-118 on Sunday.
The Spurs snapped a two-game losing streak while the Blazers lost for the fifth time in six games.
San Antonio led by just six points with 7:19 to play but then produced a 14-4 run over the ensuing three minutes to grab a 124-108 lead. DeRozan had three baskets in that pivotal stretch while Rudy Gay and Patty Mills hit key 3-pointers and Gay fed Aldridge for an alley-oop dunk for the Spurs' other points.
Gay added 18 points for San Antonio, with Mills scoring 15 and Davis Bertans and Derrick White adding 10 each. The Spurs shot 73.3 percent (11 of 15) from beyond the 3-point arc in the win.
Damian Lillard led all scorers with 37 points and added 10 assists for Portland. CJ McCollum added 24 points, Al-Farouq Aminu hit for 20, and Jusuf Nurkic poured in 16 for the Trail Blazers.
Portland led 33-32 after the first period as Lillard played every second and racked up 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. The Trail Blazers shot 61 percent over the first 12 minutes.
The Spurs fashioned an 10-2 run over the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second quarter to forge a 42-35 lead before moving ahead by as many as 12 in the middle of the period. Portland pulled back to within four points in the final two minutes and trailed 62-55 at intermission.
Lillard led all scorers with 20 points at the half while Aldridge hit for 16 for the Spurs.
The Trail Blazers tied the game at 68 on a 3-pointer by Aminu at the 8:38 mark of the third quarter and took a 77-72 advantage on five straight points by McCollum in the middle of the period.
The lead stretched to seven points on a Lillard jumper at the 5:31 mark, but San Antonio rallied, scoring the next eight points to pull in front on the way to a 97-90 advantage after three quarters.
--Field Level Media