Blazers defended in an expemplary way in the second half and prevailed 105–98 over the Jazz
Damian Lillard scored 30 points and CJ McCollum added 26 to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 105–98 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
Carmelo Anthony added 18 points for Portland. Jusuf Nurkic chipped in 11 points and 15 rebounds.
Blazers won their fifth straight game and earned their ninth victory in their last 10. Portland moved into a tie with Dallas for the fifth position in the Western Conference.
“We’ve been defending. We’ve been sharing the ball,” Lillard said. “We’ve been able to sustain that level of focus and that level of play for longer periods of time. That’s why we’re winning games.”
Jordan Clarkson scored 29 points, Rudy Gobert added 15 points and 20 rebounds for the Jazz.
“They made everything harder for us,” center Rudy Gobert said about the second half. They played very physical. It was harder for us to do what we wanted to do. Despite all that, we got a lot of open shots. On another day, we probably make those shots and it’s a different game.”