The Portland Trail Blazers (18-24) beat the Brooklyn Nets (11-29) 117-104 on Friday night.
In a battle between two struggling teams, both squads played well in a hard fought game. The score is not indicative of the nature of this game, as Portland went on a late run to open up the scoreline. There wasn’t much to differentiate the two teams on the stat sheet aside from the bench play, as the Blazers bench scored 47 points to the Nets 26. The three-point shooting percentages were nearly dead-even, but Portland doubled up the Brooklyn in the amount of makes they converted on. The Trail Blazers also shot over 50 percent from the field and this was the best their offense has looked in quite some time.
The Trail Blazers came into this game as a rare road favorite and ended up living up to those expectations. It was tight throughout, but they ended up scoring 34 points in the final quarter to pull away with the much needed win. Damian Lillard was spectacular in this game, as he provided 33 points and 10 assists in the victory. Allen Crabbe, Ed Davis and Meyers Leonard provided some good production off the bench, as they combined for 41 points and 23 rebounds. The bench production has been down all year, so this is a great sign going forward. Portland has a good chance at another road win when they play the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday in their next game.
It's been a rough year for Brooklyn and the home struggles continued here. They have now lost 11 of 12 in their home building, despite some great performances from some unlikely sources on Friday. Donald Sloan has taken over starting point guard duties recently and he had his game of the season here, as he tallied 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in a brilliant game. Brook Lopez also had a good game in just 28 minutes of play, as he scored 25 points to go along with seven boards. All five starters scored in double-figures, but they need more from their bench if they are to have any success this season. The Nets will play the Atlanta Hawks in their next game on Saturday.
