PORTLAND -- After looking as though they'd come just a few plays short of a win, the Trail Blazers outscored the Pistons 14-3 in the final 4:12 of regulation to come away with a 117-112 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 19,815 Saturday night at the Moda Center.
"A gutty, gritty win -- basically we held them scoreless in the last four and a half minutes," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "We made a lot of good defensive plays, big shots."
The Trail Blazers are now 45-27 overall, 28-9 at home, 21-5 versus teams from the Eastern Conference and 1-0 versus the Pistons this season with the final game of the season series to be played a week from now in Detroit.
With the win, the Trail Blazers are 4.5 games behind the Denver Nuggets for first in the Western Conference and trail the Houston Rockets by half a game for third.
After securing comfortable wins in their last three games and leading for the better part of the first three quarters Saturday night, including by as many as 12 in the second, the Trail Blazers found themselves down six with less than five minutes to play to a Pistons team they were facing for the first time this season.
But with CJ McCollum (left knee) sidelined, seemingly a different player has stepped up every night in his absence. Saturday night, that job fell to Al-Farouq Aminu. The 6-9 forward out of Wake Forest made a three-pointer, went was fouled on a three-point attempt, making two of three, secured a difficult rebound in crunch time over Andre Drummond to give the Trail Blazers a chance for the win.
"Any time you're able to will your team to a win -- we were down in the fourth -- just glad I was able to make those plays," said Aminu. "It turned out big, we got a big win. I felt like the guys are just doing a great job. We not even, in a sense, missing a beat missing one of our key guys. It's just a testament to this team, the way that we play. Continue to play the right way and then we've got guys that just know how to play. Therefore it's kind of, in a sense, next man up."
Aminu made important plays until basically the end of regulation, corralling a lose ball after Lillard was blocked and going back up for the putback to seal the game by giving Portland the last points of the night for the five-point victory.
"I just think when your mind is in the right place and you’re doing all these things, just doing whatever you can for the team, good things happen," said Damian Lillard. "(Aminu) was on the good side of things, just because he was in it, he was in it mentally and it worked out. He was huge for us."
TOP PERFORMERS
The Trail Blazers were led by Damian Lillard, who went 9-of-16 from the field and 6-of-10 from three for 28 points to go with nine assists and six rebounds on 37 minutes. It was his second game in a row with six three-pointers, marking the fourth time in his career he has made at least six threes in consecutive games.
Al-Farouq Aminu scored nine of his season-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, shooting 8-of-13 from the field, 2-of-5 from three and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. It was his third game of 20-plus points this season, which matches the most games of 20-plus points he has had in a season in his career. Aminu also added seven rebounds, an assist, a steal and a putback on a loose ball that sealed the victory for the Blazers.
Jusuf Nurkic went 50 percent from the field for 15 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 31 minutes. Moe Harkless went 4-of-7 from the field for 10 points, four assists and three rebounds. He has scored in double figures in four straight games, which is his longest streak of the season.
Seth Curry scored all 16 of his points in the first half. It was the second straight game and the fourth time in the last six games that Curry scored in double figures. Portland is 17-0 when Curry scores 10-plus points.
Enes Kanter also came off the bench to added 10 points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes.
Blake Griffin led the Pistons with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting in 35 minutes. Reggie Jackson finished with 24 and Andre Drummond had a double-double of 19 points, 11 rebounds in just under 39 minutes.
LISTEN UP
NOTABLE
• Portland won its third straight game and made it four consecutive victories at Moda Center.
• The Trail Blazers outrebounded the Pistons, 42-29. Detroit’s 29 rebounds were the fewest by a Trail Blazers opponent this season.
• The Trail Blazers bench outscored the Detroit reserves, 40-37.
• Portland outscored Detroit in the paint, 54-46, and in second chance points, 14-4.
• The Trail Blazers shot 54.4% from the field and 42.3% from the three-point line while the Pistons shot 50.0% from the field and 41.2% from deep.
• Portland committed just 14 fouls while the Pistons totaled 21 fouls.
QUOTABLE
“Zach is all about energy. When he makes his energy plays, his effort plays, it’s not whether he makes a three or misses a three, it’s about all the other things, and when he does that, he’s a big bonus for us.” -- Terry Stotts on Zach Collins, who went for nine points and four rebounds in just 11 minutes
NEXT UP
The Trail Blazers finish off a four-game homestand, their last of the regular season, by hosting the Brooklyn Nets for their first and only game at the Moda Center this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.