The Portland Trail Blazers continued their winning ways on the road by racing out to an early lead at Houston and fending off some runs by the Rockets before closing strong to win 125-110.
The Blazers this month are 5-2 on the road after beginning the season 2-13 away from the Moda Center.
But this win came with a little trepidation. The Rockets trailed by as much as 18 but trimmed their deficit to as little as four in the fourth quarter, forcing the Blazers to come up with big shots to keep from blowing the game. They responded each time while shooting 70% from the field in the fourth quarter.
“I was very proud of the way we closed the game,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “They closed the gap. They got back in it. And I thought we just did a good job of finding what we wanted at the end and attacking it. And staying patient.”
Center Jusuf Nurkic continued his high level of play this month by scoring 25 points with 13 rebounds. He made 8 of 11 shots and 9 of 11 free throws. CJ McCollum poured in 26 points with five assists and Anfernee Simons, who picked up four fouls in the first half, led all scorers with 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He made 5 of 9 threes.
“I was really impressed with Ant tonight,” Billups said. “To get in foul trouble, it’s tough for an aggressive scoring guard because it takes away your aggressiveness a lot of times. So, he picked up that fourth one and obviously, we had to take him out. But he came back in and he wasn’t hesitant at all. He understood and knew what we wanted to get into. They picked up and pressured him. He stay composed. I thought he was really, really good tonight.”
WHAT IT MEANS (Box score)
The Blazers (21-28) took care of business against one of the worst teams in the NBA. That was to be expected. Houston, owners of the lowest-rated defense (30th) and worst turnover percentage (16.6), lived up to their reputation, especially in the first when they committed nine turnovers. Still, this is a Rockets team that took Golden State (36-13) to the wire on Friday before losing 105-103.
GAME RECAP
The Blazers scored 13 points off of nine turnovers by Houston to build a 33-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Simons scored 10 points and McCollum added eight.
The Blazers led 17-15 with 5:13 to go before going on a 16-5 run to close the quarter. That stretch included threes from Robert Covington and Ben McLemore.
Houston stopped coughing up the ball and hung with Portland in the second quarter. But the Blazers led 66-53 at halftime thanks to shooting 57.5% from the field and 47.6% on threes. McCollum led the Blazers at halftime with 15 points. Garrison Mathews had 13 for Houston, which made just 6 of 22 threes.
The third quarter saw the Rockets change the complexion of the game by shooting 58.3% from the field, thanks mostly to 24 points in the paint. Kenyon Martin Jr. came off the bench for Houston to score 10 points and the Rockets found themselves down just 91-85 entering the fourth quarter.
Billups said he didn’t need to say much to the team at that moment. He said they knew they played poorly in the third quarter and sought to correct that.
Simons said the team communicated to one another how important it was to remain sharp.
“These are the times where we can’t get bored and we have to focus in on what we came here to do and that’s to win a ball game and get better, especially on the defensive end,” Simons said.
The Rockets hung around for much of the fourth quarter but could never get over the hump. They trailed just 108-102 before McCollum hit a three to make it 111-102 with 4:34 to go.
The Rockets still wouldn’t go away and the game wasn’t truly secure before Covington made a three and then Nurkic scored on a dunk off of an assist from Simons that made it 122-110 with 1:12 left. Nurkic was fouled on the play and made the free throw.
McCollum routinely hit big shots in the second half when needed.
“This is just who he is,” Billups said. “He’s just a special talent. He can just score the basketball from many, many different places on the floor. No moment is too big for CJ. I thought he was good defensively, too.”
McCollum said the Blazers closed out well by taking their time on offense.
“Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, we knew if we had long possessions, we got into the paint, or just got a favorable matchup, we knew we would be in good shape especially with a two-, three-possession lead,” he said.
NEXT UP
The Blazers’ four-game trip continues at 12:30 p.m., Sunday at Chicago (30-17) then moves on to a Monday night game at Oklahoma City (14-34). The trip concludes Wednesday night at the LA Lakers (24-24).
-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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