Portland beat Oklahoma City on the road Tuesday behind a strong third quarter from CJ McCollum, who finished with 27 points and seven assists, taking the lead for Damian Lillard, who sat out again as he continued to deal with a leg injury. They opened up a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter, as the Thunder’s offense wasn’t able to keep up in the shootout, and then traded baskets down the stretch to close out the game. The league didn’t do them any favors with the schedule, with the Trail Blazers having to face the Rockets the day after beating the Thunder. Lillard came back for this game, and tossed in 29 points, including 10 from the free throw line, to go with eight assists. Their defense struggled to prevent the Rockets from going on runs, with Chris Paul taking control of the game for stretches and the Blazers weren’t able to overcome.
Portland missed 30 of their 42 3-point attempts against New Orleans, but they didn’t have many other options against the Pelicans super-sized frontcourt. They weren’t able to pick up the win on the road, losing 119-113, and they lost their next game, on the road again, to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 120-103. Portland had hit the 110 point mark in seven straight games, but a lot of teams are struggling to beat Minnesota right now, especially on the Timberwolves home court.