PORTLAND -- After struggling to score without turning the ball over for majority of the first half, the Portland Trail Blazers outscored the Memphis Grizzlies 52-40 in the second half, largely behind the play of the reserves, to secure a 99-92 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 19,412 at the Moda Center Wednesday night. “Obviously the bench played really well tonight," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "It was good to see them play well, play with confidence. They moved the ball well, played with a lot of energy. They were the difference in the game like they were a few nights ago. It’s good to see. And to beat a team – Memphis is a good defensive team. Turnovers really kind of caught us in the first half, way too many but we managed to stay close in the first quarter with seven or eight turnovers in the first quarter, so to overcome those turnovers was important for us.”The Trail Blazers are now 18-13 overall and 12-4 at home this season. Portland has won three-straight, their last four at the Moda Center and five of their last seven. After scoring their season low in a loss to the Grizzlies in Memphis, it looked like the Trail Blazers might be in for another long night a week later in Portland. They scored just six points in the first six minutes and had more turnovers (three) than made field goals (two) when the Grizzlies took what would be their largest lead of the night at 15-4 midway through the first quarter. But as was the case in their victory versus the Raptors, the Trail Blazers' fortunes changed when the bench entered the game. Behind the play of the reserves, Portland went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 17-17 late in the first quarter, though Memphis would tack on a free throw to take a one-point lead into the second quarter. Between the strong play at the end of the first quarter and the start of the second, Portland went on a 12-1 run to take a 21-18 lead. But the Grizzlies, mainly thanks to guard Mike Conley, answered back to take a 52-47 lead into the intermission. Then it was about time for Dame Time. After an abysmal first half that saw him go 2-of-7 from the field and commit four turnovers, Damian Lillard came out on fire in the third, hitting two three-pointers in the first 2:30 to cut Memphis' lead to 58-56. The 6-3 point guard playing in his 500th game would score 15 points in the third quarter alone, though that would only result in a 74-71 lead going into the fourth and final quarter."First half, I'm just letting the game happen," said Lillard. "If I come out and I'm getting open looks, then I'll be more aggressive in the first half. Most of the time I'm setting guys up, managing the game, seeing what's going on and taking what comes to me. In that third quarter, that's usually when you can tell what direction the game is going in. The game is decided in the second half, so I usually try to get more aggressive, impose my will more so then than in the first half."After Lillard' third-quarter heroics, the bench would once again take control, scoring the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to take a 85-71 lead after a Seth Curry three-pointer with just over nine minutes to play in regulation. Portland would take their largest lead of the night after Nike Stauskas dunk gave the home team a 91-75 advantage with 5:57 to play. "If we don’t get stops, we’ve got to walk the ball up the floor and call a play," said Zach Collins. "Luckily tonight, defensively the second unit came in and did a really good job. I thought the whole team did, but especially when we went on that run to kind of pull away, the biggest thing was we got stops."Portland's starters eventually returned midway through the fourth, and the Grizzlies managed to once again cut into the advantage, though even outscoring the Trail Blazers 9-2 in the final three minutes of the game wouldn't be enough to wrestle away the win. "Yep, we did pretty well. I think it’s a great team win," said Evan Turner. "Obviously, to start the second half, I think our first unit definitely bounced back from the first half and really got the lead and we just helped, went out and defended and got in transition, made some winning plays."
TOP PERFORMERS
• Damian Lillard scored a game-high 24 points (9-18 FG, 5-8 3-PT, 1-1 FT), including 15 in the third quarter (5-8 FG, 4-5 3-PT, 1-1 FT). He added five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. • Meyers Leonard led the Trail Blazers bench with 12 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds to go with two assists and one block.• Zach Collins had 10 points (3-6 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 3-3 FT), seven rebounds, one assist and one block. It was the 10th time this season that Collins scored in double figures.• CJ McCollum finished with 11 points (5-16 FG, 1-2 FT), four rebounds, one assist and one steal.• Jusuf Nurkic posted eight points, seven rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes. • Maurice Harkless recorded nine points (3-4 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 2-2 FT), two rebounds and one steal.• Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas scored eight points each while Evan Turner added six points, five rebounds and four assists.• Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 23 points (7-19 FG, 5-10 3-PT, 4-5 FT) to go with four rebounds, six assists and one block.
LISTEN UP
NOTABLE
• The Trail Blazers won their fourth consecutive home game, matching their longest home winning streak of the season.• Portland’s bench outscored the Grizzlies reserves by 30 points, 44-14. All five of Portland’s bench players that played made at least three field goals and scored at least six points.• The Trail Blazers held Memphis under 20 points in the first and third quarters. It marked the third time this season that Portland held its opponent under 20 points in two different quarters.• Portland outrebounded Memphis, 44-35, including a 13-11 advantage on the offensive glass.• The Trail Blazers had 16 second chance points to the Grizzlies nine second chance points while Memphis outscored Portland on the fast break, 16-9.• Both Portland and Memphis scored 15 points off of turnovers. The Trail Blazers turned the ball over 21 times while the Grizzlies had 13 turnovers.
QUOTABLE
“It’s great when guys are getting open, everybody’s setting screens and being unselfish and looking for guys, not looking for their own shot, not trying to go one-on-one the whole time – I mean, it’s contagious and everybody loves playing like that.” -- Zach Collins
NEXT UP
After not facing off with the Jazz for the first two months of the season, the Trail Blazers will play their Northwest Division rival twice over the next week, with the first of those contests taking place Friday at the Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.