Game Rewind: Pacers 102, Trail Blazers 111

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers (32-28) remained red-hot on Sunday night, rolling to a 111-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers (31-28) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Lillard scored 33 points, knocking down five of the Blazers' 14 3-pointers, to hand Indiana its second consecutive loss.

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The Blazers played Saturday night in Chicago before traveling to Indy, but they didn't show any signs of fatigue in the opening quarter. If anything, Portland carried over some swagger from their win over the Bulls as they knocked down a barrage of shots in the early going.

The Blazers shot 63.6 percent from the field and made 5-of-7 3-pointers in the first quarter en route to a 39-27 lead. Lillard, who had topped 30 points in six of his last seven contests entering Sunday, dropped 20 on the Pacers in the first 12 minutes, going 7-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Portland would never relinquish its lead over the final three quarters.

"We're struggling against spread teams tremendously," Pacers forward Paul George said after the loss. "...We let a team that we know is hot get hot from the 3-point line. They spread us out and they (did) what they wanted with us."

The Pacers did manage to cut the deficit to four points when a Monta Ellis 3-pointer made it an 81-77 game with 2:28 remaining in the third quarter, but the Blazers immediately responded with a 14-2 run over the next four minutes that essentially put the game away.

Meyers Leonard did the lion's share of the scoring for the Blazers over that stretch, scoring 12 of the Blazers' 14 points, including the last 11.

The 7-foot-1 backup big man with a solid shooting stroke — he had already made 70 3-pointers on the season entering Sunday — knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing just before the third quarter buzzer sounded, then buried a triple on Portland's first possession of the fourth. On the next possession, Leonard pump-faked a corner three and converted a runner off the bounce. He ended his barrage with one last three with 10:15 to play that gave the Blazers a 16-point lead.

"Meyers Leonard got hot and a lot of his threes were uncontested," Pacers forward Solomon Hill said about the pivotal stretch.

The Blazers stretched the lead to 21 points and Pacers head coach Frank Vogel pulled his starters with over five minutes to go. Indiana's reserves did manage to reel off 12 unanswered points, but it was too little too late for a comeback, as Portland collected its 13th win in its last 15 games.

Ellis led Indiana with 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Jordan Hill added 15 points and five boards off the bench. George Hill contributed 14 points, six boards, and five assists.

Five Blazers finished the night in double figures. Lillard's backcourt partner C.J. McCollum finished with 19 points, as did reserve swingman Gerald Henderson, who made 8-of-9 shots on the evening. Leonard finished with 17 points while going 4-for-5 from 3-point range and Al-Farouq Aminu added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Pacers won't have much time to rest before their next game. Indiana's final four-game road trip of the season begins on Monday night in Cleveland, where the Blue & Gold will take on the East-leading Cavaliers.

"We need to bring all the energy we have," Ellis said. "We need to get back on a winning (track). We've dropped two and we can't to that with how tight everything is right now (in the standing). We need to leave it all on the court tomorrow."

The Pacers' leading scorers all endured tough shooting nights. Ellis went 6-for-17, George was 4-for-15, and rookie forward Myles Turner went 4-for-12.

Indiana did amass 19 offensive rebounds in the loss, matching their second-highest total in a game this season. Lavoy Allen led the way with five offensive boards, while Jordan Hill and Turner each collected three.

The Pacers only committed nine turnovers on the evening, their third consecutive game with less than 10 giveaways. Prior to that stretch, they had single-digit turnovers in just two of their first 56 contests.

Lillard, arguably the biggest snub for this year's All-Star Game, is averaging 33.3 points and 5.8 assists over his last eight games.

"He's got the green light from deep. He's got that kind of range. He's not that far behind Steph (Curry)." -Vogel on Lillard

"We just gotta guard the three-point line better. That's what hurt us last game and hurt us this game as well. Once we get better in that department, we’ll be making good strides." -Turner

"They did a great job of moving the ball. They got wide open shots and they knocked them down. They have been a hot team and we knew they were going to do that. They came out and did exactly what we expected them to do." -Ellis

"It's been fun, right now everyone is putting it together. We are more consistent and it’s fun to see so many guys playing well. People compliment us and we say thank you, but we’ve got to keep doing what we do." -Lillard

"I was able to get it going late in the third quarter. It felt pretty good to do it in front of a lot of hometown people. It was neat to do it here and get a win at the same time. I maybe had about 200 people in the stands tonight." -Leonard, who is from Robinson, Ill., a two-hour drive from Indianapolis

The Trail Blazers made 32 3-pointers in two games against the Pacers this season while knocking down 53.3 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.

They went 18-for-36 from 3-point range in a 123-111 win in Portland on Dec. 3, then made 14-of-24 triples on Sunday.

The Pacers travel to Cleveland for their third meeting of the season with LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET.