HOUSTON – The Rockets snapped their three-game losing streak and Portland’s two-game winning streak with a 111-104 win at the Toyota Center on Tuesday night.
It was a game of runs on both ends. The Trail Blazers led by as many as 15 points (27-12 in the first quarter) and as late as two minutes to play in the third quarter (78-77). But the Rockets opened the fourth quarter with a 19-5 run to take their largest lead of the game, 100-83.
“I thought Houston played pretty aggressive defense on us,” said Coach Stotts about Houston’s run. “We took some possessions for granted. Some turnovers led to their transition.”
The Trail Blazers answered with their own 14-2 burst to bring the deficit to five at 102-97 with 2:56 on the clock before the Rockets iced the game at the foul line.
“We just haven’t been able to get it done," said Damian Lillard. "I think a lot of that has to do with how we start the fourth quarter. When you start off allowing a team to gain some momentum, and get comfortable and gain some confidence, they’re probably going to play a strong fourth quarter. And we’ve kind of struggled in that area.”
Portland drops to 15-12 on the season and 5-8 in away games. After beginning the season 5-3 on the road, including a win in Houston on Oct. 30, the Trail Blazers have lost five straight games away from Moda Center.
“I guess they were more physical than us. When we tried to get more physical, we got fouls,” said Jusuf Nurkic. “I think they overplayed us with the physicality. They were really aggressive, the way they were switching everything and being more aggressive. Last time we played them, we took advantage. This time we didn’t.”
Damian Lillard led all scorers with 34 points, including 12 in the third quarter. He entered the game leading the NBA in third-quarter scoring at 9.7 points per game.
The Rockets held a 37-13 advantage in bench scoring. Houston’s reserves shot 15-for-22 from the field, led by Gerald Green’s 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting (3-3 3-PT). Portland’s 13 bench points tied a season low.
“Our bench struggled to score the ball a little bit in both halves,” said Coach Stotts. “Their bench, I think, was 15-for-22, so they really impacted the game on their offensive end.”
TOP PERFORMERS
• Lillard tallied his 10th game of 30-plus points this season. He has now scored at least 25 points in five straight games.• CJ McCollum netted 22 points, good for his 13th 20-point contest of the season.• Al-Farouq Aminu (4-8 FG) shot at least 50% from the field for the sixth consecutive game. Aminu recorded eight of his season-high tying 15 rebounds in the first quarter alone. He added 10 points to notch his fifth double-double of the season.• Jusuf Nurkic recorded his 14th double-double of the season (15 points, 10 rebounds), putting him more than halfway toward establishing a new career high (27, 2017-18).• James Harden led the Rockets with 29 points. Chris Paul notched the 15th triple-double of his career (first this season) with 11 points (2-12 FG), 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
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NOTABLE
• With his second free throw in the game, Damian Lillard passed Terry Porter for second place on Portland’s all-time list for free throws made (2,560). Only Clyde Drexler has made more free throws in team history (3,798).• Lillard and McCollum combined to score Portland’s first 11 points and tallied 20 collectively (Lillard 12, McCollum 8) in the first quarter. Portland led, 29-27, after one.• Portland outrebounded Houston in the first half, 27-19, and 44-42 for the game.• Houston shot 49.4% (42-85) from the field but just 31.0% (9-29) from 3-point range, while Portland made 43.7% (38-87) of its shots, including 40.0% (10-25) from deep.• Houston outscored Portland by a count of 64-46 in the paint and 22-8 on the fastbreak.
QUOTABLE
“In the last few minutes, you’ve got to damn-near be perfect to actually win it, and we found ourselves in that position once again after a run in the second half.” – Damian Lillard
NEXT UP
The Trail Blazers complete a quick back-to-back on the road Wednesday night in Memphis for the first meeting with the Grizzlies this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Northwest and Rip City Radio 620 AM.