Nurkic paces Portland in 111-101 victory over Knicks

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Jusuf Nurkic had 20 points for his fourth straight game with 20 or more and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the New York Knicks 111-101 on Monday night.

Damian Lillard added 17 points and nine assists for Portland, which has won four of five. CJ McCollum also had 17 points.

Enes Kanter came off the bench with 18 points and 14 rebounds for his third straight double-double for the Knicks, who have lost nine of 10.

The teams played a lackluster first half, but Portland pulled away in the third quarter, stretching the lead to 18 points at one point.

The Blazers led 54-53 at halftime. The top scorer at the break was Mario Hezonja, who had 12 points off the bench for the Knicks.

Jake Layman started for Portland in the second half and the team announced that Maurice Harkless wouldn’t return because of left knee soreness.

The Blazers started to pull away in the third quarter, jumping to a 65-55 lead. But they were stung when Nurkic collected his fourth foul and had to head for the bench with 6:14 left in the period.

Still, Portland had the momentum and went up 80-67 after Lillard’s 3-pointer.

Nurkic finished with eight rebounds, shy of his 21st double-double of the season.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

There was drama earlier in the day when former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu posted a statement to Twitter challenging Kanter’s concerns about safety for a game in London on Jan. 17. Kanter, who is Turkish, has said he won’t go because he fears retribution for his criticism of the leadership in his native country.

Turkoglu, an adviser to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested the reason Kanter could not travel was because he did not have the proper documents, accusing him of a “political smear campaign.” In response, Kanter posted his travel documents and wrote: “I CAN go to London. Either you are delusional, or still Erdogan’s lap dog.”

TIP INS

Knicks: The Knicks were coming off a 119-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, which snapped an eight-game losing streak. … Courtney Lee hasn’t played for the last three games. Lee told the New York Daily News he understands the Knicks are focusing on the younger players. The Knicks have been looking to trade Lee.

Trail Blazers: Nurkic has been on a roll lately: In his previous six games, he’s averaged 22.2 points and 12.5 rebounds. He has 20 double-doubles this season. … Layman had 10 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

UP NEXT

The Knicks play at Golden State on Tuesday night.

The Trail Blazers host the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.

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