National Basketball Association
Portland 132, New Orleans 119
When: 10:30 PM ET, Thursday, November 1, 2018
Where: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
Officials: #42 Eric Lewis, #40 Leon Wood, #77 Karl Lane
Attendance: 18921

Damian Lillard scored 26 points as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 132-119 Thursday night.

Jusuf Nurkic scored 20 points and collected nine rebounds, and Al-Farouq Aminu contributed a season-high 17 points and 10 boards for the Trail Blazers, who won their third straight game.

Evan Turner added a season-high 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists off the Portland bench.

Julius Randle scored a season-high 29 points, E'Twaun Moore had 19 points, and Jrue Holiday scored 17 points and added 10 assists for the Pelicans, who lost for the fourth straight time after a 4-0 start to the season.

The Pelicans were without big man Anthony Davis for the third time in four games. He missed back-to-back games with a sprained right elbow before playing 41 minutes against Golden State.

Portland held a huge advantage from 3-point range. The Blazers were 18 of 35 from beyond the arc compared to New Orleans' 8-for-29 shooting from long range.

Lillard scored 15 points to lift Portland to a 70-65 lead at the half. Randle had 23 points for New Orleans. The difference was at the 3-point line; the Blazers were 10 of 15 while the Pelicans were 5-for-16 from 3-point distance at intermission.

New Orleans seized the lead at 81-80 on a Nikola Mirotic layup early in the third quarter. Portland responded with six straight points to go ahead 86-81.

Portland extended its advantage to 96-90 on back-to-back treys by Nurkic and Lillard. The Blazers carried a 102-99 edge into the final period.

A Lillard jumper gave Portland a 118-106 lead with about seven minutes left. Aminu increased the gap to 123-108 on a three-point play with 4:44 remaining. New Orleans got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Jake Layman scored eight points in the first four minutes as Portland jumped to a 16-8 lead. New Orleans tied the count at 27-27 on back-to-back baskets by Randle, who scored 14 points in the quarter.

The Blazers took a 35-31 advantage into the second period.

Portland extended its edge to 40-31 but the Pelicans hung close, drawing to within 56-53 on a pair of foul shots by Randle midway through the second quarter.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
New Orleans   Portland
Julius Randle 29 Scoring Damian Lillard 26
Jrue Holiday 10 Assists Evan Turner 7
Nikola Mirotic 13 Rebounds Al-Farouq Aminu 10
Julius Randle 11 Free Throws Made Damian Lillard 8
Jrue Holiday 3 Steals Damian Lillard 1
Nikola Mirotic 2 Blocks Jake Layman 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
New Orleans 119 42.6 8-29 31-37 23 44 3 7 13
Portland 132 50.6 18-35 26-31 26 46 4 4 14
Upcoming Games
  • Portland will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .667 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • New Orleans will play their next game on the road against San Antonio. The Pelicans have a W/L % of .750 after a win and .250 after a loss.