PORTLAND – The Trail Blazers quickly erased a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the Pelicans, 93-93, with 7:31 to play, but New Orleans made big plays down the stretch to take a 2-0 lead in the First Round playoff series. A sellout crowd of 20,066 turned out for another loud by disappointing night at Moda Center with the Pelicans winning, 111-102.
Portland took its only fourth-quarter lead at 100-99 on a Maurice Harkless 3-pointer with 3:20 remaining, but a series of 3-pointers and loose balls collected by New Orleans made the difference for the road team. From that point, Nikola Mirotic, Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo made 3-pointers in succession during the 9-0 run that provided the Pelicans with separation on the scoreboard needed to close out the game.
“We’ve got to win two games in New Orleans, and hopefully it’s the next two. It’s easy math – we’ve got to go and win two in New Orleans, and I feel we’re very capable of winning both games,” said Head Coach Terry Stotts. “Both games have been very tight. New Orleans has made the plays to win the games in the end, but that’s what makes a playoff series great.”
Jrue Holiday led the Pelicans with a playoff-career high 33 points (14-24 FG), while Anthony Davis contributed 22 points (9-18 FG) and 13 rebounds. Rajon Rondo’s all-around game included 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
CJ McCollum led Portland’s offensive attack with 22 points and six assists, while Damian Lillard added 17 points to his backcourt mate’s effort. Portland shot 45.1% from the field (37.5% 3-PT), compared to 37.8% in Game 1, but allowed New Orleans to shoot 51.2% and 50.0% from the 3-point line.
“Coming into the playoffs, you know teams are going to lock in, and they’re going to try and make the game hard for you. And I give a lot of credit to them for executing their game plan,” said Lillard. “But the opportunities I do get, I’ve just got to be better. It’s as simple as that,” he added.
Al-Farouq Aminu made four first-half 3-pointers in notching a team-high 12 points to go with nine rebounds before halftime. By the end of the night, he had recorded the sixth playoff double-double of his career with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Those 15 rebounds marked a new playoff career best.
Portland’s bench was again a key factor for Portland. After scoring 27 points off the pine in Game 1, the team of Harkless, Zach Collins, Ed Davis and Pat Connaughton combined to score 36 points in Game 2, with 19 coming in first-half action on 9-for-12 shooting.
“We’re down 0-2 heading into New Orleans. We’ve got to have the same mindset they had. Go into their home court and compete, make second-chance opportunities for ourselves, get loose balls,” McCollum said. “This is a must-win. We’ve got to go in there and take both of them.”
TOP SCORERS• Lillard passed Kevin Duckworth for sixth on Portland’s all-time playoff scoring list with 797 points. He is only nine points away from Cliff Robinson for fifth place.• Collins led all bench scorers with 12 points, tied for his second-most points in any game all season.• Connaughton tallied nine points (3-5 FG) and four assists for the Trail Blazers.
NOTABLE• Maurice Harkless provided an immediate spark off the bench in his first action after missing 10 straight games with a left knee injury. He scored 11 points, connecting on all five of his shots.• Portland carried a 36-15 advantage in bench scoring after holding a 27-15 edge in Game 1.• Both teams made 12 3-pointers, but Portland attempted 32 shots from beyond the arc compared to just 24 by New Orleans.• After the teams combined for 46 fastbreak points in Game 1 (Portland 29, New Orleans 17), there were only 11 fastbreak points in Game 2 (New Orleans 7, Portland 4).
QUOTABLE“I think these first two games came down to a lot of 50-50 balls. They were just more grimy then we were. They played a more physical game, and they gutted it out more than we did in both games. We’ve got to go to their home floor and do the same thing.” – Damian Lillard
LISTEN UP
NEXT UPThe Trail Blazers and Pelicans head to New Orleans for Games 3 and 4 of this best-of-seven series, with Game 3 set for Thursday at Smoothie King Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on NBC Sports Northwest and NBATV, with the radio call on NBC Sports Northwest Rip City Radio 620 AM.
In Portland’s last visit to New Orleans on March 27, Lillard exploded for 20 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Trail Blazers to a key 107-103 victory late in the season. Lillard scored 41 points in all and matched a career best with 18 field goals.