SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
National Basketball Association
Portland 114, Indiana 96
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, October 20, 2017
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials: #66 Haywoode Workman, #6 Tony Brown, #59 Gary Zielinski
Attendance: 15325

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Portland guards C.J. McCollum, Damian Lillard and Evan Turner are on the same page, the Trail Blazers are a difficult team to beat.

That was the case Friday night in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where McCollum returned from a one-game suspension to lead all scorers with 28 points, assisted by 18 from Lillard and 17 from Turner in an easy 114-96 victory against the Indiana Pacers. The Blazers improved to 2-0 overall and 2-0 on the road to begin the season.

"C.J. just got it going," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "The last shot he hit at the end of his 16-point third quarter was just ridiculous. Evan had a couple of really good post-ups. I thought he had a really good floor game. He was in a good groove, doing a little bit of everything tonight."

Collectively, McCollum, Lillard and Turner contributed 63 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists, making 26 of 47 field goal attempts (55.3 percent).

"It certainly helped to have C.J. back," Lillard said. "But the main thing is that we continued to defend. We put together a C.J. run there in the third quarter. He got going like we have seen him do pretty often."

Portland opened its season Wednesday night with a dominating 124-76 victory at Phoenix, then continued its solid play in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Al-Farouq Aminu added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who shot 48.4 percent (46 of 95).

Guard Victor Oladipo and reserve TJ Leaf led Indiana (1-1) with 17 points apiece.

Portland has won six of the past seven regular-season meetings against Indiana. The teams will play again on Jan. 18 in Portland.

The Pacers played without starting center Myles Turner, who has a concussion and a sore neck after contributing 21 points and 14 rebounds in Wednesday's opening-night 140-131 victory against Brooklyn. Turner also will miss Saturday's game at Miami. He will be in concussion protocol until he is cleared to play again.

"Obviously, we missed Myles Turner," Oladipo said. "He definitely helps us on both ends of the floor. Injuries happen, so it is next man up. I still think we could have played a little better. We missed some shots we normally make."

Portland led by 10 points at halftime and continued to apply the third-quarter pressure, taking a 79-65 lead with 2:45 remaining in the period. At that point, Indiana was 2 of 12 from 3-point range and 12 of 20 from the free throw line. At quarter's end, the Trail Blazers enjoyed an 91-73 advantage.

"We missed a lot of open shots," Indiana coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought we took some bad shots because we didn't have quite the same movement that we wanted. And when you miss 11 free throws, those are points you are leaving out there. We also had some open looks from the 3-point line that we normally knock down. Hopefully, we start to make those beginning Saturday night."

Through three periods, McCollum had 26 points, Turner had 15 and Lillard had 14, seven rebounds and six assists. Those three were 21 of 40 from the field after 36 minutes. Portland was shooting 52.2 percent (36 of 69) in the first three quarters.

The Trail Blazers led 62-52 at the half, outscoring Indiana 31-27 in the second quarter. Lillard, McCollum and Turner were a collective 15 of 26 in the first 24 minutes, combining for 37 points, led by Turner's 13 and 12 each from Lillard and McCollum.

In the first two quarters, Portland made 24 of 44 field goal tries (54.5 percent), including 5 of 11 from 3-point range and 9 of 11 from the free throw line.

Oladipo had 11 first-half points for the Pacers and Bojan Bogdanovic added 10. Indiana shot 50 percent in the first half (20 of 40).

Portland made 14 of 25 first-quarter field goal attempts (56 percent), including a combined 8 of 12 from Lillard and McCollum and led 31-25 through the first 12 minutes.

Indiana was 11 of 21 (52.4) in the first quarter but turned the ball over five times to one for Portland. The Pacers out-rebounded the Trail Blazers 12-7 in the opening period.

NOTES: Portland G Pat Connaughton (Notre Dame), F Noah Vonleh (Indiana) and F Caleb Swanigan (Purdue) all played college basketball in Indiana, as did Pacers' guard Victor Oladipo (Indiana) ... Trail Blazers' coach Terry Stotts, who played collegiately at Oklahoma, played high school basketball in Bloomington, Ind. ... In two games against the Pacers in 2016-2017, Portland G Damian Lillard averaged 30.5 points, four rebounds and 9.5 assists ... Portland leads the all-time series 53-34 ... Indiana G Glenn Robinson III continues to rehab his surgically repaired left ankle ... Portland F Noah Vonleh missed the game with a right shoulder injury.
Top Game Performances
 
Portland   Indiana
CJ McCollum 28 Scoring TJ Leaf 17
Damian Lillard 7 Assists Darren Collison 4
Al-Farouq Aminu 16 Rebounds Domantas Sabonis 8
Damian Lillard 4 Free Throws Made Victor Oladipo 7
Al-Farouq Aminu 1 Steals Darren Collison 1
Al-Farouq Aminu 1 Blocks Al Jefferson 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Portland 114 48.4 9-19 13-17 19 51 6 5 9
Indiana 96 44.9 4-18 22-33 15 39 4 1 12
Upcoming Games
  • Indiana will play their next game on the road against Miami. The Pacers have a W/L % of .000 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Portland will play their next game on the road against Milwaukee. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of 1.000 after a win and .000 after a loss.