Lillard, Nurkic lead Blazers past Jazz

Damian Lillard scored 26 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 22 before fouling out in the final minute to lead the visiting Portland Trail Blazers to a 109-104 victory over the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Monday night. Lillard also tallied eight rebounds and eight assists while Nurkic added nine boards and seven assists to lead the Blazers. C.J. McCollum chipped in 14 points and Jake Layman added 12 off the bench.

Donovan Mitchell scored 36 points to lead Utah. Jae Crowder added 15 and Rudy Gobert chipped in 10 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. It wasn't enough to extend a six-game winning streak for the Jazz, however. Ricky Rubio returned to the court for Utah after missing six games with a strained hamstring. He finished with 12 points in 14 minutes off the bench.

Portland attacked the basket often throughout the first quarter and made it pay off. The Blazers scored their first nine baskets in the paint to keep pace with Utah and finished the quarter with 20 points in the paint. After the Jazz carved out a 19-13 lead behind back-to-back baskets from Crowder, Portland chipped away at the lead before overtaking Utah 25-24 on a driving layup from Lillard with 2:14 left in the first period before finishing the frame with a 29-28 lead.

Portland could not hang onto lead, however, as the Jazz made it tougher to drive into the paint. The Blazers went eight minutes without any points inside until Lillard broke the drought with back-to-back baskets to make it 45-38 in favor of Utah with 3:28 left in the first half. Royce O'Neale and Crowder each had a pair of baskets to punctuate the Jazz's 17-5 run that ended with Lillard's baskets.

Those baskets helped awaken Portland's offense late in the second quarter, and the Blazers carried that momentum into the third. Nurkic led the way, scoring 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the quarter. His final two baskets, coming on back-to-back possessions, gave Portland an 80-75 lead with 1:21 left in the third. Utah rallied at the start of the fourth quarter and took an 86-83 lead on a 3-pointer from Crowder. Portland answered with a 15-4 run, bookended by baskets from Layman, to go back in front 98-90.

The Blazers extended their lead to 106-94 on a 3-pointer from McCollum before Mitchell hit four straight baskets and a pair of free throws to slice the deficit to 108-104 with 41.4 seconds left. Joe Ingles missed a corner 3 that would have cut it to one and Lillard hit a pair of free throws to ice it with 5.8 seconds remaining. --Field Level Media

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