Trail Blazers vs Thunder: Lillard Scores 25, Avdija Adds 24 as Portland Wins 123-103
Damian Lillard scored 25 points and Deni Avdija added 24 points, eight assists and six rebounds as Portland snapped a two-game skid with a 123-103 win over Oklahoma City on Tuesday night — the game behind the two most-searched names in the country overnight.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard scored 25 points and the Portland Trail Blazers snapped a two-game skid with a 123-103 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, the Associated Press reported. Deni Avdija added 24 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Blazers in the first of back-to-back home games against Oklahoma City. The pairing drove the overnight search charts: 'deni avdija' and 'damian lillard' were the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. trending searches on the Google Trends listing read this cycle.
It was even for a half. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 early points and Oklahoma City led 27-26 after the first quarter, and the teams went to the locker room tied at 59. The third quarter broke it open — Portland outscored the Thunder 38-21 in the period. Jared McCain's 3-pointer put Oklahoma City in front 69-67, but Lillard answered with his own 3, hit back-to-back 3s to stretch the lead to 79-71, and closed the quarter with a 3 from the logo that gave Portland a 97-80 lead. Jrue Holiday's 3-pointer pushed it to 106-89 in the fourth.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 26 points on 8-of-22 shooting and eight rebounds, but he missed all four of his 3-point attempts and did not play in the fourth quarter. McCain added 21 for the Thunder, who had won four straight and played shorthanded: Jalen Williams (ankle), Chet Holmgren (knee) and Cason Wallace (shoulder) were all out, and Jaylin Williams missed his fourth game with back spasms. Guard/forward Nique Clifford, acquired from Sacramento on Sunday, made his Thunder debut off the bench. For Portland, Sidy Cissoko started in place of Scoot Henderson and scored 17 points, Holiday had 11 off the bench, Henderson scored 11 off the bench, and Donovan Clingan pulled down 13 rebounds.
The win moved Portland to 7-3 and dropped Oklahoma City to 8-3, and it was just the Blazers' second win in the past 21 meetings between the teams. There is no wait for the rematch: the teams play again Wednesday night in Portland.
