Damian Lillard scored 26 points as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 132-119 Thursday night.
Jusuf Nurkic scored 20 points and collected nine rebounds, and Al-Farouq Aminu contributed a season-high 17 points and 10 boards for the Trail Blazers, who won their third straight game.
Evan Turner added a season-high 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists off the Portland bench.
Julius Randle scored a season-high 29 points, E'Twaun Moore had 19 points, and Jrue Holiday scored 17 points and added 10 assists for the Pelicans, who lost for the fourth straight time after a 4-0 start to the season.
The Pelicans were without big man Anthony Davis for the third time in four games. He missed back-to-back games with a sprained right elbow before playing 41 minutes against Golden State.
Portland held a huge advantage from 3-point range. The Blazers were 18 of 35 from beyond the arc compared to New Orleans' 8-for-29 shooting from long range.
Lillard scored 15 points to lift Portland to a 70-65 lead at the half. Randle had 23 points for New Orleans. The difference was at the 3-point line; the Blazers were 10 of 15 while the Pelicans were 5-for-16 from 3-point distance at intermission.
New Orleans seized the lead at 81-80 on a Nikola Mirotic layup early in the third quarter. Portland responded with six straight points to go ahead 86-81.
Portland extended its advantage to 96-90 on back-to-back treys by Nurkic and Lillard. The Blazers carried a 102-99 edge into the final period.
A Lillard jumper gave Portland a 118-106 lead with about seven minutes left. Aminu increased the gap to 123-108 on a three-point play with 4:44 remaining. New Orleans got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Jake Layman scored eight points in the first four minutes as Portland jumped to a 16-8 lead. New Orleans tied the count at 27-27 on back-to-back baskets by Randle, who scored 14 points in the quarter.
The Blazers took a 35-31 advantage into the second period.
Portland extended its edge to 40-31 but the Pelicans hung close, drawing to within 56-53 on a pair of foul shots by Randle midway through the second quarter.
--Field Level Media
New Orleans | Portland | |
Julius Randle 29 | Scoring | Damian Lillard 26 |
Jrue Holiday 10 | Assists | Evan Turner 7 |
Nikola Mirotic 13 | Rebounds | Al-Farouq Aminu 10 |
Julius Randle 11 | Free Throws Made | Damian Lillard 8 |
Jrue Holiday 3 | Steals | Damian Lillard 1 |
Nikola Mirotic 2 | Blocks | Jake Layman 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
New Orleans | 119 | 42.6 | 8-29 | 31-37 | 23 | 44 | 3 | 7 | 13 |
Portland | 132 | 50.6 | 18-35 | 26-31 | 26 | 46 | 4 | 4 | 14 |