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 Once the Portland Trail Blazers' backcourt duo is together again, it
could be a formidable tandem to stop.
McCollum scored 25 points, guard Gerald Henderson had 19, and the
Trail Blazers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Denver
Nuggets 112-106 Sunday night.
Forward Al-Farouq Aminu and guard Allen Crabbe had 14 points apiece,
helping Portland (15-21) win for the fourth time in five games.
Lillard has missed seven games with plantar fasciitis in his left
foot, and in the interim, McCollum has carried the Trail Blazers.
Sunday was his fourth consecutive game with 25 or more points, and
even with that production, he wants to see Lillard return.
"Damian needs to come back," McCollum said. "I think it's about
time. The foot, I think it's healed."
Denver hasn't been as fortunate with its stars being out, although
forward Danilo Gallinari had 29 points in his second game back from
a sprained left ankle. The Nuggets (12-23) lost their sixth in a
row.
"We didn't defend," Denver coach Michael Malone said. "We are just a
bad team right now."
Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried played one night after he took an
elbow to the head while fighting for a rebound late in overtime at
Golden State on Saturday. He had 13 points and nine rebounds in 27
minutes Sunday.
The teams combined to shoot 80 free throws for the game. Denver had
48 attempts but hit just 31 (64.6 percent). Portland wasn't much
better at 22-for-32 (68.8 percent).
"It was a sloppy game tonight, a lot of turnovers, slow pace, but we
did enough things well in the fourth quarter," McCollum said. "Once
we stopped fouling and they stopped calling fouls, we were able to
get some stops and win the game."
Denver missed 10 free throws in the second half, 17 on the night.
"That's a lot of points to leave at the foul line in somewhat of a
close game," Malone said. "In the big picture, that didn't have a
lot to do with it. I felt we had no energy, no effort, very flat. As
a coach, I can't coach effort."
Denver's overtime loss to the Warriors on Saturday had an impact.
Guard Will Barton scored just five points on 2-for-10 shooting
against the Blazers, and the Nuggets shot 42.5 percent from the
field. Portland made 50.6 percent of its field-goal attempts.
"Them playing so many minutes (Saturday) night and getting in late
as well, we made a conscious effort to make sure we ran," Crabbe
said.
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It showed in the final 12 minutes. The teams were tied at 80 after
three quarters, and Crabbe had a steal and a layup to spark a 7-0
run at the start of the fourth. Crabbe, who had 20 points in a win
over Denver on Wednesday, scored nine of his 14 points in the first
2:31 of the quarter.
"Offensively, it was flowing for us, it got kind of ragged here and
there, but for the most part, the offense was flowing pretty good
and we just needed to get stops defensively," Crabbe said. "When we
get stops defensively, that leads to run-outs for us."
The Nuggets battled back to get within 91-88, but Portland went on a
9-3 run that was capped by Aminu's 3-pointer.
Denver tried to claw back in again in the final two minutes. Two
free throws by Gallinari with 1:46 left cut the lead to five, but
McCollum hit a baseline jumper with 1:25 left to push the lead back
to seven.
Two more free throws by Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson made it 104-99,
but Blazers forward Ed Davis hit a driving layup with 1:07 left to
make it a seven-point game again.
A steal by Davis led to an easy layup for Crabbe with 58 seconds
left to seal the win.
NOTES: Nuggets F Kenneth Faried spent Saturday night in an Oakland,
Calif., hospital after he was taken off the court on a stretcher.
Faried sustained a cervical injury when took an elbow to the head
from G Will Barton in overtime against the Golden State Warriors,
but he was cleared to play Sunday. ... Portland G Damian Lillard
missed his seventh consecutive game with plantar fasciitis in his
left foot. Lillard is close to returning but was ruled out about an
hour before tip-off. ... Nuggets G Emmanuel Mudiay is getting closer
to returning from a right ankle sprain that has kept him out since
Dec. 11.
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