Lillard scores 40, leads Trail Blazers past Wizards 119-109
WASHINGTON (AP) – Damian Lillard scored 40 points, C.J. McCollum added 25 and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Wizards 119-109 on Sunday.
Jusuf Nurkic had 13 points, 14 rebounds and matched his career high with eight assists for Portland.
The Trail Blazers, coming off a 112-96 loss at Minnesota on Friday, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 11-5.
John Wall scored 24 points and Kelly Oubre, Jr. added 19 for the Wizards, who slipped to 5-11.
The Trail Blazers started quickly, hitting 7 for 9 shots from 3-point range and taking a 32-12 lead with 3:54 remaining in the first quarter. Washington scored 15 straight and closed to 32-27, but Portland outscored the Wizards 30-14 and led 62-41 at the half.
Lillard scored 13 points in the second quarter and added 18 in the third.
Washington, which trailed by 29 points in the third, cut the deficit to 115-107 with 51 seconds to play.
Dwight Howard, who missed the first seven games of the season with gluteal soreness, aggravated the injury in the second quarter and was ruled out at halftime after scoring two points and picking up three fouls in seven minutes.
TIP INS:
Trail Blazers: G Seth Curry (right knee) missed his second straight game. … F Maurice Harkless (left knee) sat out his 11th in a row. . C Zach Collins picked up four fouls in eight first-half minutes and fouled out in the fourth quarter after playing just 13 minutes. … F Al-Farouq Aminu also fouled out late in the fourth.
Wizards: Coach Scott Brooks was assessed a technical foul in the third quarter. . Oubre picked up a fourth quarter technical foul. . G Jordan McRae was recalled from the G League Capital City Go-Go, but didn’t dress. McRae is averaging 36.7 points in three games in the G League.
UP NEXT:
Trail Blazers: Visit the Knicks in the fourth of a five-game road trip on Tuesday
Wizards: Host the Clippers in the final game of a five-game homestand on Tuesday
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