It took six quarters, but the Trail Blazers team that many thought they’d see going into the 2020-21 season finally showed up.
After being blown out by the Jazz in their season opener and trailing by as many as 16 in the first half to a severely shorthanded Rockets team, the Trail Blazers, and specifically CJ McCollum, came alive in the third quarter to shift the momentum before eventually coming away with a 128-126 overtime victory Saturday night at the Moda Center.
“CJ obviously had an outstanding second half offensively,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “He made some big shots for us, he got us back into it, especially in the third quarter. Defensively in the third quarter as a team, we needed to have a quarter like that. We haven’t had one like that, I don’t even think, in the preseason. So we needed to buckle down. I was glad that we showed some fight at the end of the second quarter and the entire third quarter too at the defensive end.
“It’s always nice to hit shots and CJ was doing a ton of that, but I was really proud of our defense in the third quarter.”
The Trail Blazers are now 1-1 overall and at home two games into their 2020-21 season. Portland has now won four-straight versus Houston dating back to last season.
After getting run out of their own gym on opening night, the hope was that the Trail Blazers would come out with energy in the early going and show their mettle against a Rockets team with just nine players in uniform due to COVID-19 infections and subsequent quarantines. Do that and it's much easier to play off the first performance of the season as an aberration rather than a harbinger of things to come.
But the issues they encountered on the defensive end versus Utah repeated themselves in the first half versus Houston, even if their offense was closer to what we’ve come to expect from a Terry Stotts coached team. The Rockets shot 59 percent from the field, scored 30 points in the paint on the way to a 68-point first half and a 10-point lead at the intermission.
So with the Blazers huddled in the locker room facing the prospect of consecutive losses to start the season, some hard truths had to be stated.
“We ended the second quarter, we came out of a huddle and we were just like ‘Man, enough of this BS,’” said Damian Lillard. “Say what we want about our defense and trying to figure it out and all that, but we can’t ease our way into this. It’s time to take a stand, your pride has to come into play.”
That pride manifested itself as improved effort and execution on the defensive end. Portland held Houston to 22 percent shooting in the third and 0-of-9 shooting from the field, thanks in large part of the effort of Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr.
With the defensive holding James Harden and the Rockets at bay, McCollum was able to reel the game back in for the Trail Blazers, going 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-7 from three for 14 points in the third quarter.
“I was just trying to be aggressive,” said McCollum. “I know, based on some of the things we’re going through right now offensively and defensively, we have to play well. We have to be efficient, I need to make threes, I need to take threes, just try to be aggressive. They did a good job of setting screens and getting me open and I just didn’t hesitate.”
Between McCollumn’s scoring and the team’s defensive effort, Portland went on a 17-2 run on the way to outscoring Houston by nine in the quarter. The game would remain close thereafter, with the lead changing seven times in the fourth quarter.
Portland had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Jusuf Nurkić missed a pair of free throws and Lillard missed a 10-foot jumper as time expired, resulting in a 113-113 tie at the end of regulation.
The overtime played out much in the same way as the second half, with McCollum and James Harden trading buckets and a few choice words.
Portland took a 123-118 lead after a McCollum 13-footer with just over two minutes to play in overtime, But Christian Woods and Harden scored the next five points to tie the game again with 38.9 seconds to play. Lillard answer with a two to take back the lead, but Harden would can a 25-foot stepback three with 15.3 seconds to play to give the visitors a one-point lead.
But this time, rather than taking a contested shot, Lillard drove into the paint before kicking out to McCollum for the three, which he would make to give Portland a two-point lead.
“Once we got to the timeout, Coach drew up the set and I had it and I was like ‘If I don’t have a shot that I like, I’m going to be looking for (McCollum), so he lined up on the same side as me. The second that I felt (the defender) get into my body and I wasn’t going to get a clean look, I already kind of had my eye on the help defender that was guarding CJ. He lost sight of him for a second and I just found him.”
The Rockets had one last chance to either tie or win the game, but Covington tipped away a Harden pass with 1.3 second to play to seal the win.
McCollum led the Trail Blazers with 44 points, the second-highest scoring out put of his career, on 17-of-30 shooting from the field, eight assists, three rebounds and a steal in just under 44 minutes. He made nine three-pointers, a new career best, on 16 attempts, also a career high.
Lillard went 11-of-287 from the field and 5-of-13 from three for 33 points to go with nine assists, five rebounds and a steal in 41 minutes. Nurkic was the only other starter to finish in double figures with 12 points to go with 11 rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes.
Enes Kanter went 4-of-5 from the field for 10 points while also just finishing short of a double-double with nine rebounds.
Harden led the Rockets in points (44) and assists (17) and went 14-of-16 from the free throw line. Christian Wood added a double-double with 31 points and 13 rebounds.
Next up, the Trail Blazers hit the road for a four-game road trip, their first of the season, which starts with a tilt versus the defending champs, the Los Angeles Lakers, Monday night at Staples Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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McCollum, Defense Comes Up Big In Second Half To Secure OT Win Versus Rockets - Trailblazers.com
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