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Trail Blazers Exact Revenge With Win at Utah

SALT LAKE CITY – During a successful 2018-19 campaign where the Trail Blazers currently sit tied for third in the Western Conference and 10 games above .500, not many teams have gotten the better of Portland’s squad. But one opponent that had clearly outplayed the Trail Blazers this season was the Jazz – until Monday night.

Behind a huge night from Jusuf Nurkic and a balanced effort off the bench, Portland went into Vivint Smart Arena and grabbed a 109-104 win on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Salt Lake City.

"That was a really good road win," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "I really liked the way we competed, came out at halftime, the third quarter was really important. One of the things we said going into this game is our offense had to be better and I thought our third quarter offense was really good. Nurk was effective, Dame (Lillard) was effective, we got good momentum with movement and passing... Quality road win."

The Trail Blazers are now 29-19 overall and 9-12 on the road this season. Portland has now won three straight and seven of their last 10. The victory also ends a six-game winning streak for the Jazz, which was the NBA's longest active streak going into Monday's contest.

"People have been taking out our lack of success against good teams, our record in the Western Conference on the road," said Damian Lillard. "It was all a discussion and we discussed it together. We not concerned about it but we want to start changing that. Talk about going on the road and not just making it a good game, but when it's time to win it, doing the things that's going to give us those 'W's' and tonight we had a step in the right direction."

Portland took that first, small step Monday night by shooting 58 percent from the field in the 12 minutes to take a 29-28 lead into the second quarter. But after taking that step in the first, only to seemingly take a step back with a 15-point second-quarter performance, Portland made a giant leap in the third.

After trailing by as many as 11 points in the second quarter and facing a seven-point first-half deficit, the Trail Blazers came out determined in the third quarter. CJ McCollum got things going after a rough first half, scoring five points in the first two minutes of the second half.

But it was center Jusuf Nurkić who would change the complexion of the game, and ultimately the outcome, with his play on both ends of the floor in the third quarter. Between blocking four shots and scoring 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the third quarter alone, the "Bosnian Beast" helped Portland score 39 points on 68 percent shooting while holding Utah to 39 percent shooting from the field and 22 percent shooting from three.

"Second half, Nurk was huge at both ends," said Stotts. "He had a presence in the paint, he as blocking shots and obviously picks-and-rolls, finishing around the basket... He was instrumental."

Behind Nurkic dominating on both ends, nine points from McCollum and five assists from Lillard, Portland took a 83=79 lead into the fourth quarter. The Trail Blazers have yet to lose a game this season in which they lead going into the fourth, and Monday's contest would be no exception.

After Utah took a 96-83 lead after a Jae Crowder three with 10:52 to play, Portland went on a 18-4 run, sparked by back-to-back three-pointers from Jake Layman and Meyers Leonard and punctuated by Lillard's only three of the game, to take a 101-90 advantage with 5:05 to go in regulation.

From there, it would turn into the Donovan Mitchell Show, with the second-year guard scoring Utah's final 14 points, with many of those coming by way of the free throw line. But a McCollum three off a Nurkić assist with 2:45 to play and Lillard 18-footer with just over a minute to play was enough to stave off Mitchell's barrage and secure arguably Portland's best win of the season.

“I thought we just executed well," said Lillard of Portland's second-half performance. "We know that our type of actions for us worked against them in the past that we kind of got away from in the first two games. That allowed them to take over the game. I think we stuck with more of that stuff, the ball was moving, we screened for each other, made the extra passes, got some stops and then we kind of pushed it out. It didn’t always turn into transition points, but then we happened to get back and scramble. We weren’t always playing against a set defense. So, I think just the ball movement, playing for each other the way we played on the offensive end played a huge part.”

TOP SCORERS

 Jusuf Nurkic added another huge stat line – 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and six blocks (tying a career high) – to his collection. Nurkic tallied 17 points, five rebounds, four blocks and two assists in the decisive third quarter alone. According to StatMuse, Nurkić joins Andrei Kirilenko, Davis Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to tally four games with at least five rebounds, five assists and five blocks in the same calendar month.

Nurkic wasn’t the only Trail Blazer who flirted with a triple-double. Damian Lillard recorded a team-high 26 points top go with eight rebounds and eight assists.

Evan Turner scored in double figures for the 19th time this season, including each of Portland’s last three road games. Jake Layman scored in double figures for the fifth straight game and 10th time this season. CJ McCollum scored in double digits for the 45th time this season.

Donovan Mitchell led all players with 36 points.

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NOTABLE

• With his fourth field goal, Damian Lillard passed Terry Porter for fourth on Portland’s all-time list for field goals made. The seventh-year pro, who played his college ball at Weber State in nearby Ogden, Utah, started the season all the way back in 11th place in team history.

• Jusuf Nurkic blocked at least five shots for the fourth time this season, all since New Year’s Day.

• The team leading after three quarters has won all 48 of Portland’s games this season.

• Portland shot 45-90 (.500) from the field, marking their 13th time this season shooting .500 or better from the field (11-2 in such games).

• The Trail Blazers notched 30 assists tonight, their second-straight game and fourth time this season with 30+ assists (3- 1 in such games).

• Portland edged the Jazz in points in the paint (60-50).

QUOTABLE

"The one thing when I came to Portland, no matter how bad we had a first quarter, second quarter, or any quarter, there’s always a new quarter and new time. You have to be smarter on decisions and I think Dame helped me out with that a lot." -- Jusuf Nurkić

NEXT UP

The Trail Blazers won't get much time to celebrate their best road victory of the season, as they'll arrive early Tuesday morning to play the Oklahoma City to play the Oklahoma City Thunder later on in the evening in the second game of a brutal Northwest Division back-to-back. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.