|
 "You see that look in their eyes -- they don't want to go home,"
McCollum said. "When you get a chance to step up, you make sure you
relish the opportunity.
With Lillard and McCollum leading the way, the Trail Blazers
outscored the Grizzlies 29-12 the rest of the way to pull out a
99-92 victory Monday night at the Moda Center.
Lillard scored 12 of his playoff career-high 32 points in the fourth
quarter, and McCollum came off the bench for seven of his 18 in the
final period for the Blazers, who cut their deficit in the
best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series to 3-1.
Center Marc Gasol had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists for
Memphis, which will again look to close out Portland on Wednesday
night at the FedEx Forum.
The Blazers outscored the Grizzlies 31-17 in the fourth quarter
despite making only seven of 20 shots from the field. Portland was
15-for-17 at the foul line and outrebounded Memphis 18-8 over the
final 12 minutes.
"The big thing we've been talking about is having heart, playing
with pride and not being swept," said Lillard, who shot 12-for-23
from the field and 7-for-7 from the foul line while dishing out
seven assists. "People always say nobody's ever done it -- come back
from 0-3 to win a series -- but we didn't want to focus on that.
"We wanted to focus on just today. We wanted to give ourselves a
chance to keep playing, and we did that."
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds,
forward Meyers Leonard collected 13 points and 13 rebounds, and
forward Nicolas Batum contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds for the
Blazers.
Guard Courtney Lee scored 19 points for the Grizzlies.
The Blazers ruled the backboards 50-40, grabbing 13 offensive
rebounds and winning the second-chance-points battle 22-9 after
scoring zero second-chance points in Saturday night's Game 3 loss.
"They played with a high sense of urgency tonight," Memphis coach
Dave Joerger said of the Blazers. "Lillard was aggressive and did a
good job of getting into the paint. And we have serious problems
with CJ McCollum right now. He is getting to the rim, to the rim, to
the rim over and over. We have to do a better job of getting in
front of him."
The Grizzlies were going without starting guard Mike Conley, who had
surgery Monday for facial injuries sustained in Saturday's win and
will be out for an undetermined amount of time.
"We missed our quarterback," Memphis assistant coach Elston Turner
said.
Conley's replacements, Beno Udrih and Nick Calathes, combined for 22
points in the first half but had only three points in the second
half. Udrih finished with 13 points and Calathes 12.
Lillard had 16 points and five assists and Leonard 13 points on
5-for-5 shooting -- 3-for-3 from 3-point range -- as Portland built
a 55-48 halftime advantage.
[to top of second column] |
The Blazers started the third quarter 0-for-10 from the field and
without a basket in the first 6:45 of the quarter as Memphis used a
16-2 run to go ahead 64-57. The Grizzlies outscored Portland 27-13
in the third quarter, the Blazers hitting five of 20 shots from the
field.
Memphis went ahead 80-70 on a 3-pointer by forward Jeff Green as the
shot clock expired with 8:48 to play in the game. That was when the
Blazers' late rally began.
Lillard buried a 3-pointer and converted a four-point play to push
Portland ahead 88-86 with 1:58 remaining, and McCollum sank a
3-pointer for a 91-88 Portland lead with 1:20 left.
Lee scored on a layup with 18.9 seconds to go, closing the gap to
92-90. Lillard made two free throws to up the difference to 94-90
with 15.1 ticks left.
Gasol scored on a dunk with 8.9 seconds left, but Lillard made
another pair at the line with 8.2 seconds to go to wrap things up.
Portland coach Terry Stotts turned away a question about getting
back into the series with the win.
"We're not talking about the series," Stotts said. "It's about Game
5. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Every game is an elimination
game for us. We're going to worry about Game 5 and nothing else."
NOTES: Portland earned its first win against Memphis in eight
meetings in 2014-15, including four in the regular season. No
opponent has gone 8-0 against the Trail Blazers in a season. San
Antonio went 7-1 (3-1 in the regular season, 4-0 in the playoffs) in
1998-99. ... G Mike Conley underwent what the Grizzlies called
successful surgery Monday for the facial injury. Coach Dave Joerger
isn't sure when Conley will return to action. "It's hard to say if
it will be a week or a month, or three weeks or three months,"
Joerger said before the game. ... F Meyers Leonard became the first
Portland reserve with a double-double off the bench in a playoff
game since Brian Grant accomplished the feat in 2000.
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