National Basketball Association
Portland 102, Cleveland 86
When: 10:30 PM ET, Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Where: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
Officials:
#73 Tre Maddox, #36 Brent Barnaky, #9 Derrick Stafford
Attendance:
19393
By The Sports Xchange
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Terry Stotts notched his 200th career regular-season victory as head coach of the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at Moda Center, and few were as sweet as Portland's 102-86 romp past the Cleveland Cavaliers.
CJ McCollum scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, and Allen Crabbe came off the bench for 24 points as the Trail Blazers led almost wire to wire against the defending NBA champions.
"I'm very proud of it," said Stotts, who is 200-169 in his 5 1/2 seasons at the Portland helm. "A lot of players and coaches went into it. If you'd told me when I got the job I'd get 200 wins, I don't know if I'd have believed you."
McCollum hit the 25-point barrier for the seventh straight game, the first Blazer with such a streak since Clyde Drexler in 1987. Crabbe was 9 of 11 from the field as Portland (18-23) won consecutive games for the first time since winning three straight from Nov. 30 to Dec. 5.
"We did a great job defensively on McCollum and (Damian) Lillard in the first half, but then Crabbe kills us," Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said.
LeBron James collected 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Kevin Love had 17 points and eight boards for the Cavaliers, who lost for the second straight night and are 2-2 on their six-game road trip.
"We didn't show any fight out there, but it's nothing we can't correct," Love said. "When we play faster, we're a better team. We got away from that tonight. We need to play harder as well as our style of basketball."
Cleveland (28-10) shot a season-low 34.1 percent from the field, including 9 of 30 (30 percent) from 3-point range.
"We missed a lot of shots we normally make," Lue said. "They shot 43 percent and we shot 34 percent, but coming into halftime, we were shooting 29 percent and down only eight. We just could never get over the hump.
"Right now, we're not scoring, we're not moving the basketball like we're accustomed to doing."
The Blazers felt as if they should get at least partial credit for the Cavaliers' shooting woes.
"We did a great job defensively," said Portland's Evan Turner, who had only two points but contributed eight rebounds and a season-high 11 assists. "We came out focused. We withstood their runs by playing physical and setting the tone."
Portland scored the final six points of the first quarter to take a 27-20 lead into the second period.
Crabbe buried back-to-back 3-point shots and Moe Harkless followed with a dunk to cap a 15-6 run as the Blazers spurted to 42-26 advantage midway through the second quarter.
The Cavaliers responded with a 13-3 run to draw within 45-39 with 2:40 left before halftime. Portland carried an eight-point lead into the break.
Crabbe had 18 points -- hitting 6 of 7 shots, and 3 of 4 from 3-point range -- as Portland went into the half ahead 49-41. Love had 17 points and six rebounds and James 12 points and seven boards for Cleveland at the break.
McCollum scored 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first six minutes of the second half to propel Portland to a 66-48 lead. The Blazers settled for a 73-61 edge heading into the final period.
The Cavaliers, who had only 14 assists and 16 turnovers, never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way as the Blazers' lead grew to as many as 24.
"We can't continue to have more turnovers than assists," said James, who committed five turnovers and now has 16 giveaways in the past three games. "We never win those games."
NOTES: With record snowfall in the Portland area Tuesday night, the Trail Blazers wound up spending the night in Seattle after their 108-87 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. The Blazers left LAX at 1:30 a.m., arrived at Sea-Tac at 3:30 a.m. and got to their hotel at 4:15 a.m. They had an 11 a.m. bus to Sea-Tac for their flight to Portland, checked into a Portland hotel at 2 p.m. and boarded a bus at 4:30 p.m. to head to Moda Center. "It was a long 18 hours," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. ... The Cavaliers, meanwhile, were able to spend the night in Portland after flying from Salt Lake City following their 100-92 loss to Utah. The Cavs arrived at Portland at 3:30 a.m. and got to the hotel after 4 a.m. "The best thing is, we made it in safe and got some rest," Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said. ... Portland beat Cleveland 105-76 in the teams' last meeting at Moda Center a year ago.
Top Game Performances
Cleveland |
|
Portland |
LeBron James 20 |
Scoring |
C.J. McCollum 27 |
LeBron James 4 |
Assists |
Evan Turner 11 |
LeBron James 11 |
Rebounds |
Al-Farouq Aminu 12 |
LeBron James 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Allen Crabbe 3 |
Kyrie Irving 2 |
Steals |
Evan Turner 2 |
Channing Frye 1 |
Blocks |
C.J. McCollum 3 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Cleveland
|
86 |
34.1 |
9-30 |
21-28 |
14 |
48 |
4 |
5 |
16 |
Portland
|
102 |
43.0 |
10-30 |
12-16 |
29 |
51 |
9 |
6 |
12 |
Upcoming Games
-
Portland will play their next game at home against Orlando. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .353 after a win and .500 after a loss.
-
Cleveland will play their next game on the road against Sacramento. The Cavaliers have a W/L % of .750 after a win and .700 after a loss.