Field Level Media
Aug 17, 2012
Jusuf Nurkic collected 27 points and 12 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers opened a season-high, seven-game road trip with a 113-99 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday in New York.
Nurkic made 10 of 15 field-goal attempts, tied his season high for points and recorded his 27th double-double as the Blazers won for the 13th time in 19 games.
Portland recorded the win by pulling away down the stretch on a night when All-Star guard Damian Lillard had a quiet scoring performance. Lillard finished with 13 points on 5-of-21 shooting but added eight assists to go along with eight rebounds.
CJ McCollum added 21 points for Portland, which shot 43.8 percent from the floor and outscored the Nets 23-10 in the final seven-plus minutes. Reserve Enes Kanter made his debut for Portland and contributed 18 points and nine rebounds.
The Blazers scored 66 points in the paint and outrebounded Brooklyn 60-49.
Reserve Allen Crabbe led the Nets with 17 points, but Brooklyn shot 39.1 percent from the field, missed 29 of 36 3-point attempts and lost for the seventh time in 10 games. Ed Davis added 15 points off the bench but All-Star guard D'Angelo Russell was held to 14 thanks to 4-of-16 shooting.
The Blazers used a 16-4 run to take an 82-67 lead on a basket by Kanter with 2:33 left in the third and took an 84-72 edge into the fourth.
The Nets stormed back by scoring 12 straight points and cut the deficit to 90-89 a long jumper by DeMarre Carroll with 7:25 left.
Portland countered with a 7-1 run and took a 97-90 lead on a three-point play by Maurice Harkless with 4:39 left. The Blazers iced the game with 3:21 to play on a 3-pointer by Lillard, and a dunk by Nurkic with 2:03 left extended the gap to 106-97.
Portland missed eight of its first nine shots and shot 33.3 percent but held a 23-21 lead after the opening quarter. The Nets opened the second with a 13-2 run and took a 34-25 lead on a 3-pointer by Crabbe with 8:12 left.
Portland forged a 41-41 tie on a three-point play by Nurkic with 3:49 left and tied the game at 50-50 by halftime on another basket by Nurkic with 24.4 seconds to go.
--Field Level Media