Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers

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Lillard Burns The Suns

----- One night after losing a 21-point lead to Washington and getting burned the the officials in overtime, the Portland Trail Blazers bounced back with a 110-101 road win over the Phoenix Suns.

One night after losing a 21-point lead to the Wizards, the Blazers wasted an 18-point third quarter lead to the Suns before finishing the game with a flurry of shots that led to a 16-6 burst that finished off the Suns giving the Blazers a win to start their five-game road trip.

Portland (29-36) showed no ill-effects from their overtime loss the night before the Washington as Damian Lillard scored 15 first quarter points leading the Blazers to a 33-18 lead. Lillard would add 13 more in the second quarter as the Blazers took a commanding 66-50 lead into halftime.

The Blazers had good balance in the first half with Lillard scoring 28 points, the bench adding 12, and Jusuf Nurkic started strong with 8 points, 5 boards, and 3 blocks.

The third quarter was a mess for the Blazers as they got sloppy with the ball and failed to move the basketball on offense. As a result, the Blazers made just 6 of their 23 field goal attempts after shooting over 60% in the first half. The Suns responded by cutting the Blazers lead to three at 82-79 after outscoring the Blazers 29-16.

The Suns appeared to be gaining control of the game in the fourth after a Devin Booker hoop with 4:15 remaining in the game gave the Suns a 95-94 lead, but unlike last night, the Blazers finished strong. The Blazers closed the game on a 16-6 run to end the game. CJ McCollum scored 12 of his 26 points in final period.

Phoenix (22-45) got 28 points from Devin Booker, 19 points from Eric Bledsoe, and 12 points off the bench from Alan Williams.

Lillard led the Blazers with 39 points, and Nurkic bounced back after a rough night on Saturday with foul trouble to score 12 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 assists.

The Blazers will get Monday off before meeting the Pelicans in New Orleans on Tuesday.

Chad's Take- At this point, just be happy with a win. The Blazers showed their resiliency tonight as they came out on-fire behind Lillard's 15 points in the first quarter. The Blazers lost their focus in the third and fourth with poor execution on both ends, but the finished the game strong with a 16-6 run. The Blazers are a flawed team, so I'm not going to be too picky over wins at this point in the season.


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