CJ McCollum’s fourth quarter leads Portland Trail Blazers into NBA playoffs following 126-122 win over Memphis Grizzlies: Game rewind

Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum poured in 14 fourth-quarter points to fuel a 126-122 win over Memphis in Saturday’s Western Conference play-in game.

McCollum, who has been dealing with a back injury, scored eight of those points in the final 3:08 to finish with 29.

“A healthy CJ is pretty good,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said.

WHAT IT MEANS

Portland secured the No. 8 seed in the NBA playoffs with the win and will not have to play Memphis again Sunday.

The Blazers (36-39) will face the No. 1-seeded Los Angeles Lakers (52-19) in a first-round series with Game 1 set for 6 p.m. Tuesday.

This is the seventh consecutive season the Blazers have reached the NBA playoffs.

IT WAS OVER WHEN …

Portland looked like it might blow out the Grizzlies when it built a 30-14 lead in the first quarter. But, of course, the Blazers haven’t done much the easy way at the bubble, so you knew this would likely go down to the wire, and it did.

Memphis led 94-89 entering the fourth quarter and that’s when McCollum started going off. His three-pointer made it 117-113 Portland with 1:51 remaining. Soon after, he followed with a jumper to make it 119-113 with 1:20 left. Memphis worked the score to 119-116 before Lillard drove the lane and kicked the ball out to Carmelo Anthony for a three-point shot that Anthony swished to give Portland a 122-116 lead with 20.2 seconds to play.

Two free throws from Anthony, following an intentional foul with 6.2 seconds remaining, proved to be important because Memphis hit a three-pointer seconds before and Morant made one with 1.4 seconds left to make the score 125-122.

SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT

Lillard didn’t deliver a point explosion and his shot was off (6 for 15 from the field), but he finished with 31 points and nine assists. … McCollum made 11 of 19 shots to finish with 29 points.

Memphis rookie Ja Morant had a career-high 35 points to go with eight assists. He committed eight turnovers. … Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas had 22 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. … Brandon Clarke came off the bench to score 20 points.

SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED

Anthony’s shooting touch was off. He made just 5 of 15 shots. But he still managed to score 21 points thanks to going 10 for 10 at the free throw line. He also hit that huge three-pointer in the fourth quarter.

INSPIRED JUSUF NURKIC

Portland’s center announced on Instagram Saturday morning that his grandmother, who had tested positive for COVID-19, had passed away.

He then went out and had one of his best games in the bubble with 21 points, 21 rebounds and six assists.

THREE-POINT DEFENSE

Memphis entered the game shooting 34.7% on three-pointers this season but just 30.1% in the bubble. Saturday, Memphis made 14 of 25 three-point attempts (56%), which allowed them to almost pull off the upset.

LACK OF BENCH BENEFITS

Portland’s bench had its worst collective game in the bubble.

In Thursday’s win over Brooklyn, Gary Trent Jr. scored 16 points off the bench and Hassan Whiteside had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Saturday, Trent scored eight points. Whiteside had just four. Mario Hezonja managed five. Wenyen Gabriel added three.

ZACH COLLINS INJURED

Collins did not return in the second half due to an ankle injury. Gabriel started the half in his place. Collins scored three points with one rebound in seven minutes.

— Aaron Fentress 5/8 afentress@Oregonian.com 5/8 @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories

———

©2020 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)

Visit The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) at www.oregonian.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.