PORTLAND -- If you would rather the Trail Blazers lose in order to improve their chances of securing a better draft pick come June, Saturday’s matinee at Moda Center probably was not for you. But those who would simply like to see a good game that ends with a Portland win got exactly what they wanted.
“I would just say, just appreciate what we’re doing and how we’re playing,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “As far as our fans that want us to lose, I would say just turn the TV off when it gets close then.”
After trailing by as many as 23 points in the third quarter, the Trail Blazers outscored the Knicks 35-11 in the fourth to come away with a 112-103 victory in front of a crowd of 18,521 Saturday afternoon at Moda Center.
“I just liked how we hung in there,” said Billups. “We just hung in there, kept scrapping... Ant (Simons) played well, I thought Josh (Hart) was really good, thought Justise (Winslow) was really good. Nurk was beasting down low, getting every single rebound, we went to him, he made great passes out the post when they doubled, they fronted him. Ben (McLemore) just being Ben. So many good efforts from so many guys.”
The Trail Blazers are now 23-34 overall, good for 10th in the Western Conference with 25 games to play, and 16-16 at home this season. Portland has now won back-to-back games at home after dropping six-straight overall and their previous five games at Moda Center.
Though the Trail Blazers got off to a fast start -- they scored the first 12 points of the game and held the Knicks scoreless for the first four and a half minutes -- they were outscored 23-6 in the final 7:30 of the first quarter. Portland got back to the way they started the game in the second quarter, though they still entered the intermission trailing 53-48.
However, an 18-3 New York run in a three-minute stretche midway through the third gave the visitors their largest lead of the game at 82-59 with 4:55 to play in the quarter, and at that point, the folks cheering for ping pong balls in the draft lottery hopper had to feel a sense of relief.
But players tend to care much more about wins that lottery picks, so it was no surprise to see the Trail Blazers continue to play hard while shaving the lead down to 15 before the start of the fourth, especially after they pulled off a come-from-behind victory two nights prior versus the Lakers.
And Portland kept coming in the fourth, beating a New York team playing the last game of a five-game, Western-Conference road trip to loose balls and offensive rebounds time and time again. Shooting 55 percent from the field didn’t hurt either.
“We did a great job in terms of our rotations, a great job of not fouling,” said Josh Hart. “I think we were a little bit more disciplined on not fouling and our rotations, we were able to close out to shooters and make them shoot tougher shots than what they were doing (before). I think that’s kind of what we did and I think it might have frustrated them a little bit.”
That frustration would end with New York scoring just 11 points in the fourth quarter. And between eight second-chance points -- Nurkic, Winslow and Simons combined for six offensive rebounds in the final 12 minutes -- and 14 points in the paint in the fourth, the Trail Blazers managed a 26-5 run to close the game out while securing the nine-point victory.
Anfernee Simons had another strong second-half performance, scoring 22 of his 30 points in the final 24 minutes, while also logging eight assists, and five rebounds in 37 minutes.
Hart made the first two shots, both three-pointers, of his Portland career before finishing with 23 points on just 12 shots, two assists and a rebound in 36 minutes. Ben McLemore came off the bench to post 17 points on 50 percent shooting in 30 minutes.
Winslow, who made multiple plays during Portland’s fourth-quarter rally, finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, six assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block in 37 minutes.
Nurkic, the only player still in the lineup who started on Opening Night for the Blazers, posted a double-double of 12 points and 20 rebounds while also tallying six assists in 33 minutes.
Julius Randle led the Knicks with 28 points on 20 shots, 16 rebounds and six assists in 40 minutes.
The Trail Blazers now head out for a pre All-Star break trip starting with a Monday night game versus the Bucks in Milwaukee. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.