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 Guard Damian Lillard scored 31 points and handed out nine assists as
the Trail Blazers defeated the Rockets 116-103 Wednesday night at
the Moda Center.
Forward Moe Harkless notched season highs in points (19) and
rebounds (13) for the Blazers (27-27), who moved past the Rockets
(27-28) in the Western Conference standings. Portland, 12-3 in its
past 15 games, climbed into a tie with Utah (26-26) for seventh
place in the West.
Guard James Harden collected 34 points, 11 assists and nine
rebounds, and center Dwight Howard scored 28 points and pulled down
13 rebounds for Houston, which has lost six of its past eight games.
"We're really a unit," Lillard said after Portland's second win over
Houston in four days.
As for the Rockets ...
"We're broken," interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "It's that
simple. Right now, we're a broken team. We all need to use this
break to figure out how we're going to impact change. If (players)
don't want to impact change, (coaches) need to be made aware of
that, too, and we'll go in a different direction.
"We can't continue to go out and play this way. It's easy to see
it's a fragmented bunch. You can't win that way."
The Rockets were outrebounded 49-40, played casual defense much of
the way and committed 20 turnovers that led to 31 Portland points.
"I really like the way we're playing right now," Portland coach
Terry Stotts said. "Defensively, we've been really good the last two
or three weeks. It's good to go into the break on a win streak and
playing well."
Lillard scored 15 first-half points as Portland swept to a 57-46
advantage at intermission. Howard scored 18 points and Harden 15 for
the Rockets, who had 13 turnovers in the half.
The Blazers used a 7-0 spurt to hike their edge to 68-51 early in
the third quarter. Harkless scored on a put-back to increase the
difference to 86-65 with four minutes left in the quarter.
Houston used a 9-1 run to draw within 87-74. Portland carried a
92-81 lead into the final period.
Guard Jason Terry knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as the Rockets
closed within 93-88 early in the fourth quarter. Portland answered
with seven consecutive points to make it 100-88 with 6:50 left. The
Rockets were to get no closer.
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"We have to stop being so negative," Howard said. "We lose games and
then we're negative. There's no way we're going to succeed if all we
do is stay negative and talk negative.
"I'm not here to talk about what's broken. That's all we do -- talk
about the issues that we have. The negativity has to stop. You have
to be positive."
The Blazers, meanwhile, are nothing but positive right now.
"We dug ourselves a hole to start the season, giving up some games
late," Lillard said, "but we stuck with it. We kept growing. We kept
working. We didn't get too high or low. And we were able to get to
.500 at the break. Our team has done a great job of sticking to the
grind."
NOTES: C Dwight Howard and G James Harden combined to score
Houston's first 26 points. The first points by a teammate came when
F Corey Brewer hit a 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter.
... Harden has averaged 37.3 points in three games against Portland
this season. ... Howard made his first eight shots from the field
and was 8-for-9 in the first half. He finished with 13-for-17
shooting. ... Houston F Terrence Jones (concussion) missed his
fourth straight game. Bickerstaff sounded hopeful he would rejoin
the Rockets after the All-Star break. ... Portland coach Terry
Stotts said he doesn't want his players to get full of themselves
over their recent winning fortunes. "Just as during our seven-game
losing streak (in November), we can't get too wrapped up in that,"
Stotts said. "We needed to stay in the process and keep working to
get better. I like the growth we've shown over the last six weeks.
The record takes care of itself, and we've done a good job with
that."
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