Trail Blazers used fast start to beat Hawks
LOS ANGELES — The Portland Trail Blazers continued their quest to secure the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 113-97 win over Atlanta, that also snapped a five game losing skid to the Hawks.
Portland, who are trying to overtake the Denver Nuggets in the postseason race, led by 23 points just 10 minutes into the game and rolled to victory behind 27 points from Damian Lillard and 22 from fellow guard CJ McCollum.
“Well, the understatement is that the first quarter was really an outstanding quarter for us at both ends,” Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.
“Defensively, we were really locked in. It got us off to a great start. After that, the game was kind of methodical, but the first quarter was pretty impressive.”
The Trail Blazers, who are 7-2 in March, made 13 of their first 15 from the floor and shot 76% in the first quarter to 16% for the Hawks while going up 40-18.
Ersan Ilyasova tallied 23 points. He started in place of Paul Millsap who experienced left knee tightness warming up and was a late scratch.
The Trail Blazers, who made 13 of their first 15 from the floor, shot 76% in the first quarter to 16% for the Hawks and led 63-46 at halftime.
“It was the first quarter that we couldn’t recover from,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I thought we were poor defensively. I thought we were poor offensively.”
Elsewhere, Cody Zeller scored 19 points and the Charlotte Hornets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 98-93 win over the Washington Wizards.
The Hornets trailed at halftime but built the lead up to as many as nine midway through the fourth quarter and then held for the victory.
The Wizards got as close as three in the final 20 seconds, but the Hornets’ Marvin Williams hit four free throws with less than 10 seconds left.
John Wall led the Wizards with 19 points and eight assists.
“Obviously it wasn’t pretty, but we had a lot better defense, good offense in the fourth quarter and we made the plays when we really needed to,” coach Steve Clifford said.
“Good win and it was good to play good in the fourth quarter.”
In Denver, James Harden had 40 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 109-105.
Harden has 11 games of 40 or more points and did it on consecutive nights. He also notched his 19th triple-double of the season.
WESTBROOK TRIPLE-DOUBLE STREAK ENDS IN THUNDER WIN
NBA scoring leader Russell Westbrook netted a game-high 28 points but missed out on a fifth consecutive triple-double Saturday in Oklahoma City’s 110-94 home victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook, averaging a league-high 31.7 points a game, also passed off 10 assists but managed only eight rebounds before being removed with 58 seconds remaining and the outcome not in doubt.
“We know we have the talent to score the ball inside or outside,” Thunder center Enes Kanter said. “We just need to focus on the defensive end, play with an edge.”
The Thunder’s fifth consecutive victory improved the team’s record to 4029 to match the Los Angeles Clippers for fifth in the Western Conference.
With 13 games remaining in the regular season Westbrook has so far this season managed 34 triple-doubles — double-digit performances in three statistical categories in one game.
That leaves Westbrook seven triple-doubles shy of Oscar Robertson’s record of 41 in a single season from the 1961-1962 campaign.
That season was also the one in which Robertson became the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season.
Robertson scored 30.8 points, pulling down 12.5 rebounds and passing off 11.4 assists a game for the Cincinnati Royals, who moved to Kansas City in 1972 and again to Sacramento in 1985.
Westbrook could become the second NBA player to average a full season triple-double. In addition to his top point total, the 28-year-old American guard is averaging 10.5 rebounds and 10.4 assists a game. —