ORLANDO - Damian Lillard scored 34 points as the eighth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers defeated the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers 100-93 in Game 1 of their Western Conference clash on Tuesday in the NBA bubble.
CJ McCollum had 21 points and Jusuf Nurkic contributed 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Blazers. Carmelo Anthony added 11 points and 10 rebounds while Hassan Whiteside collected five blocks to go along with eight rebounds and seven points.
Anthony Davis finished with 28 points and 11 boards while LeBron James had 23 points, 17 boards and 16 assists for the Lakers. Kyle Kuzma chipped in 14 points.
Gary Trent Jr.'s 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining gave the Blazers a 98-93 edge after a dunk by Davis allowed the Lakers to close within two. A slam by Nurkic sealed it for Portland, which has won six of its past seven in the bubble.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday.
In the third, Portland went up by eight before Los Angeles cut the deficit. A dunk by James pulled the Lakers within 78-75 heading into the fourth quarter.
McCollum scored 11 of his points in the third.
The Blazers led by as much as 16 in the first quarter before the Lakers rallied in the second. An 8-0 run to open the quarter cut Portland's lead to 40-38 after a dunk by Dwight Howard less than four minutes into the second.
It stayed close for the rest of the quarter before the Blazers took a 57-56 lead at the break behind Lillard's 23 points. Davis had 21 points in the first half.
The Lakers outscored the Blazers 31-21 in the second quarter.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, with the Blazers hitting 35.7 percent of their shots to 35.8 for the Lakers. On 3-pointers, Portland made 5 of 17 compared to 2 of 14 for Los Angeles.
For the game, the Blazers shot 39.2 percent to 35.1 percent for Los Angeles. The Blazers converted 13 of 34 3-pointers to 5 of 32 for the Lakers.
Portland forward Zach Collins (ankle) missed the contest. He is listed as day-to-day. Los Angeles guard Rajon Rondo (thumb) also sat out.
Reuters