Trail Blazers get hot in overtime, earn important 140-135 win over Memphis Grizzlies: Game rewind

After blowing a double-digit second-half lead against Memphis on Friday, the Portland Trail Blazers scored 11 consecutive points to begin overtime and went on to win 140-135 to dramatically improve their chances of reaching the NBA playoffs.

Portland guard CJ McCollum hit two three-pointers, Gary Trent Jr. also made one and Damian Lillard scored on a layup during an 11-0 run that gave Portland a 135-124 lead with 3:07 remaining in overtime.

Memphis clawed back to within 137-132 with about 30 seconds remaining, but a Ja Morant three-point attempt fell short.

Two free throws by Portland forward Carmelo Anthony with 12.3 seconds remaining iced the win.

WHAT THE WIN MEANS

Portland (30-37) moved to within 2 1/2 games of Memphis (32-34). The Trail Blazers must remain within four games of the Grizzlies in order to force a play-in round. Portland can now win one fewer game than Memphis the rest of the way to force that pay-in round as long as the Trail Blazers also remain ahead of New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio and Phoenix.

Portland and Memphis each have seven games remaining. They do not play each other again.

SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT

McCollum led Portland with 33 points on 14-of-21 shooting, including 3 of 6 on three-point attempts. … Lillard struggled at times, but finished with 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting. He also had nine assists. … Jusuf Nurkic battled foul trouble all game and eventually fouled out. But not before he contributed 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists and matched a career high with six blocked shots.

THIRD QUARTER MELTDOWN

Portland has struggled in third quarters all season and during its three scrimmages. That trend continued Friday. Portland led 68-60 at halftime and pushed the lead to 75-63 less than two minutes into the second half. Then Morant got hot and led the Grizzlies on a 19-6 run to take an 82-81 lead. Morant scored the Grizzlies’ final seven points of that push. It didn’t stop there. Memphis continued to pour it on, going up 92-81 with 3:15 remaining in the quarter.

But, Portland answered by rallying back to make the score 96-93, Memphis heading into the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies won the quarter, 36-25.

SHORTER ROTATION, BIG PRODUCTION

As expected, Stotts shortened his rotation to eight players and that did not include Anfernee Simons, who was coming off of a strong scrimmage on Tuesday in which he scored 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting.

Stotts’ bench crew of Hassan Whiteside, Mario Hezonja and Gary Trent Jr. proved to be quite productive. Hezonja entered the game in the first quarter and scored six quick points. He finished with eight. Trent scored 13 in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting with three three-pointers. He finished with 17. Whiteside committed four fouls in the first half. He finished with seven points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

JA MORANT OVERCOMES EARLY STRUGGLES

Memphis rookie point guard Ja Morant was held to two points in the first half but finished with 22. His 20 points in the second half nearly allowed the Grizzlies to pull out the win. He also had 11 assists and five rebounds.

In the third quarter, Morant came to life. He hit a three-pointer and then scored on a layup in transition to give the Grizzlies an 82-81 lead. Soon after, he threw down an alley-oop dunk with authority to make it 84-81.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 33 points for the Grizzlies on 10-of-22 shooting. He made 6 of 15 three-point attempts.

Next up: Portland next plays Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against the Boston Celtics (43-21).

— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).

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