PORTLAND -- The Portland Trail Blazers finished up a two-game series versus the LA Clippers with a 125-117 loss in front of a crowd of 18,660 Friday night at Moda Center.
The Trail Blazers are now 19-51 overall and 11-26 at home this season. Portland lost the previous game to LA 116-103 Wednesday night.
Portland trailed by as many as 16 points in the first quarter, 22 in the second and 25 in the third before before a fourth-quarter rally cut the final deficit to eight.
“We wanted to play faster today, we wanted to get out ball movement up, our player and body movement up. We did both of those things very well,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “We wanted to not turn it over -- we had three turnovers at the half -- and we come in and they were shooting like 60 percent from two and 58 from three, the shot-making was incredible, but I didn’t think we played poorly at all.
"So I told our guys ‘just keep going, faster, keep moving that ball.’ I thought we did a good job, I really did.”
The Trail Blazers started four rookies Friday night, with Scoot Henderson posting a team-high 24 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 shooting from three and 5-of-5 shooting from the line to go with 10 assists, five rebounds and two steals in 35 minutes.
“I just thought it was an awesome, bounce-back game for Scoot,” said Billups. “For him to be aggressive and attacking the entire time.”
Kris Murray posted a career-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting from three and 2-of-3 from the line, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 36 minutes.
“I was really proud of Kris, back-to-back career-highs,” said Billups. “He’s playing his butt off.”
Dalano Banton finished with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 24 minutes. Jabari Walker went 6-of-9 from the field for 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal in 27 minutes.
Duop Reath, who got the start in place of Deandre Ayton (left elbow tendinitis), added 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Toumani Camara posted 11 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes.
Paul George led all scorers with 31 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
Next up, the Trail Blazers finish a three-game homestand by hosting the Denver Nuggets in the second night of a back-to-back. Tipoff is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.