The Portland Trail Blazers rallied from 17 down midway through the fourth quarter to win 125-124 over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night at the Moda Center.
Damian Lillard made two free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Blazers the lead and put him at 50 points on the night. Then Zion Williamson missed a last-second spinning jump hook off the glass that hit the front of the rim and fell to the floor, leaving the Blazers with the win.
Lillard shot 13 of 20 from the field and made all 18 of his free throws on the evening. He also had 10 assists.
The game marked the return of CJ McCollum after missing 25 games with a broken foot. He scored 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting in 26 minutes and said the foot felt fine but he felt flat at times.
The Blazers went with a smaller lineup late in the game in order to trap the Pelicans and get up threes.
The Blazers’ defense held the Pelicans to nine points in the final seven minutes.
“You don’t make a comeback like that if you don’t play well on both ends,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (23-16) moved back into a tie for fifth place with Denver (23-16).
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
The Pelicans came out scorching and never let up. They shot 50% in the first quarter, 47.8% in the second and 56.5% in the third. That helped them take a 95-82 lead into the fourth quarter.
A Brandon Ingram three with 6:53 remaining gave New Orleans a 115-98 lead and the Blazers appeared to be nearly cooked. But Portland didn’t quit and went on a 15-2 run to get back into the game at 117-113 after Trent hit a three with 3:30 remaining.
The teams found themselves at 120-118 when Williamson spun inside for a short shot that made the score 122-118 with just over a minute remaining. Lillard, who missed a three on the team’s last possession, drove inside, bot fouled and made a layup off the glass.
His free throw gave him 46 on the night made the score 122-121 with 52.2 seconds remaining.
Williamson answered with a strong move inside and again the Pelicans led by three, 124-121. Lillard again missed a three and that led to him following Williamson at the other end with 15.7 seconds remaining.
The Blazers were not yet in the penalty, so New Orleans inbounded the ball and managed to burn 8.3 seconds off the clock before Ingram was fouled with 7.2 seconds remaining.
Ingram missed both free throws to leave the score at 124-121 with 6.9 seconds remaining.
The Blazers got the ball to Lillard, who passed up a deep three and then was fouled by Bledsoe. That gave Lillard just two free throws with 5.2 seconds to go.
Lillard made both free throws and then the Pelicans called a timeout, leading 124-123.
On the inbound play, Nickeil Alexander-Walker got hit in the hands with the pass from Lonzo Ball, but bobbled it out of bounds.
Portland took over with 4.2 seconds left. The Blazers got the ball to Lillard, who was fouled by Eric Bledsoe while taking a jumper with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Lillard made both free throws to give the Blazers their first lead of the fourth quarter, at 125-124.
The Pelicans immediately got the ball down court to Williamson, who caught the ball on the left side of the key, spun to his right and got off a jump hook with his left hand that went off the glass and then the front of the rim and to the floor.
The Blazers did get a little lucky with the missed free throws from Ingram and the bobbled ball from Alexander. But, credit Portland’s small lineup for making the comeback happen.
“We played a smaller lineup, which allowed us to get open threes, and also allowed us to be a little bit more aggressive on the defensive end,” Stotts said.
SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT
Gary Trent Jr. scored 22 points on 6 of 10 shooting off the bench.
For the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram, who scored just 14 in the first meeting, had 30. Point guard Lonzo Ball scored 11 points and had 17 assists. Williamson had 28 points and eight assists.
SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED
Carmelo Anthony shot just 4 of 10 to finish with nine points. But he also had six assists.
Nassir Little scored just two points in 17 minutes.
Anfernee Simons didn’t fizzle since he didn’t play. After playing well for most of the past two months while McCollum was out, Simons didn’t see one minute of action.
Stotts stuck with a nine-man rotation. Rodney Hood, who has not outplayed Simons this season, played 10 minutes and scored three points.
NEXT UP (Blazers schedule)
The Blazers host the Pelicans again on Thursday before hosting Dallas on Friday and Sunday.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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