National Basketball Association
Portland 109, Houston 98
When: 7:00 PM ET, Sunday, February 8, 2015
Where: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Officials:
#11 Lauren Holtkamp, #22 Bill Spooner, #6 Tony Brown
Attendance:
18243
By SportsDirect Inc.
Trail Blazers 109, Rockets 98: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points and Damian Lillard added 23 as Portland defeated Houston to halt a seven-game road losing streak.
Robin Lopez scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Trail Blazers, who made 20-of-23 from the free-throw line. Meyers Leonard and C.J. McCollum scored 12 points apiece off the bench on a night in which starters Wesley Matthews (six points on 2-of-9 shooting) and Nicolas Batum (five on 2-of-6) had subpar contests.
James Harden tied a season high with 45 points and also had nine rebounds and eight assists for the Rockets. Josh Smith added 16 points and went 4-of-7 from 3-point range and Donatas Motiejunas scored 10 points.
Lopez converted a three-point play and scored five points during a 13-4 surge as Portland turned a tie game into a 98-89 lead with 4:28 remaining with an eye on not repeating Saturday’s collapse in Dallas. Houston pulled within 100-96 on a dunk by Motiejunas with 1:50 to play but Batum drained a 3-pointer and Aldridge and Lillard each hit two free throws to make it an 11-point margin as the Trail Blazers prevailed.
Harden had 20 first-half points for the Rockets but Portland shot 54.5 percent from the field to post a 61-48 halftime lead. Harden poured in 16 more points in the third quarter as Houston staged a rally and trailed 81-80 entering the final stanza.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Lillard was named to the Western Conference All-Star team earlier Sunday after Los Angeles F Blake Griffin (staph infection in elbow) was forced to withdraw from the game. … Harden scored 44 points in the first meeting against the Trail Blazers on Dec. 22. … Portland blew an 11-point lead in the final two minutes of Saturday’s game against the Mavericks and lost 111-101 in overtime.
Top Game Performances
Portland |
|
Houston |
LaMarcus Aldridge 24 |
Scoring |
James Harden 45 |
Damian Lillard 5 |
Assists |
James Harden 8 |
Nicolas Batum 7 |
Rebounds |
James Harden 9 |
Damian Lillard 10 |
Free Throws Made |
James Harden 19 |
LaMarcus Aldridge 2 |
Steals |
Trevor Ariza 4 |
LaMarcus Aldridge 2 |
Blocks |
Jason Terry 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Portland
|
109 |
52.6 |
9-29 |
20-23 |
20 |
39 |
5 |
8 |
11 |
Houston
|
98 |
37.8 |
13-35 |
23-34 |
24 |
40 |
1 |
7 |
11 |
Upcoming Games
-
Houston will play their next game on the road against Phoenix. The Rockets have a W/L % of .639 after a win and .800 after a loss.
-
Portland will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .714 after a win and .588 after a loss.