Lillard and McCollum Do Work! Trail Blazers Sneak Past Lakers
CJ McCollum leads the Trail Blazers with 27 points as the Trail Blazers defeat the Lakers 118-109
It was a close contest the whole game, as both teams switched off leading each quarter. It was one of those games that the Trail Blazers had to win. With Damian Lillard coming back from injury, it was very nice to have him back in the lineup. He had a solid 21 points for the Trail Blazers while shooting 50% from the field and 40% from 3 point range. C.J. McCollum added 27 points on 11-21 shooting from the field and 3-11 from 3 point range. In other words, the dynamic duo was superb on Thursday night.
The Los Angeles Lakers shot the ball on 42% from the field and 32.3% from 3 point range. They were outstanding from the free throw line, shooting 82% percent compared to the Trail Blazers’ 67%. Thankfully, the Blazers had a much comfortable lead where they did not have to rely on free throws. One interesting stat is the Blazers out rebounded the Lakers 47-40. Those rebounds were huge, as it prevented fast breaks or second chance points that the Lakers we’re getting.
Some other big scorers were Mason Plumlee who had 15 points on 6-7 shooting and had 7 rebounds. Al-Farouq-Aminu had 7 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Moe Harkless also had a nice 9 points on 4-6 shooting and also pulled down 6 rebounds. These 3 other starters were huge factors for the Trail Blazers.
The deciding factor for the game is that our bench came to play. Evan Turner had a nice 20 points on 7-11 shooting and Allen Crabbe had 14 points on 4-10 shooting and pulled in 4 rebounds. Each of their contributions helped keep pace with the Lakers bench scoring, which is best in the NBA.
Our defense still needs some work, but Portland was able to squeak by with some good offense.
Next Game:
Saturday January 7th 2017
Detriot Pistons vs. Portland Trail Blazers
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