Trail Blazers 115, Jazz 111
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum combined for 61 points to lead the Portland Trail Blazers past the Utah Jazz 115-111 Sunday night at the Moda Center.
McCollum scored 31 points and Lillard 30 points as the Trail Blazers won for the 10th time in 11 games. Forward Moe Harkless came off the bench for 17 points and seven rebounds for Portland (29-27).
Forward Derrick Favors collected 22 points and eight rebounds for the Jazz (27-28), who lost for only the second time in 11 outings. Forward Gordon Hayward had 21 points, guard Rodney Hood 18 and guard Shelvin Mack 16 points and six assists, the latter in his first appearance in a Jazz uniform.
Portland, in seventh place in the Western Conference, increased its margin over Utah to 1 1/2 games. The Jazz trail the eighth-place Houston Rockets (28-28) by a half-game.
Utah led by as many as 13 points in the second quarter but settled for a 52-47 halftime advantage. Mack had 10 points and five assists for the Jazz while McCollum scored 15 on 6-for-9 shooting in the half for the Blazers.
The Jazz started the third quarter on an 8-0 run to go on top 60-47. Lillard then bombed in four straight 3-pointers in a stretch of 1:37 to key a 17-1 run and pull Portland on top 64-63. Lillard scored 15 points in the quarter, but Utah took an 82-80 lead into the final period.
McCollum's 3-pointer gave Portland a 98-96 advantage, but Favors' rebound jam tied it at 98-98 with 5:10 left. Favors scored on another rebound dunk with 4:16 to go to tie it at 101-101, but Lillard knocked down a pair at the line to bring the Blazers back into the lead at 103-101.
Center Mason Plumlee hiked Portland's lead to 105-101 on a driving layup with 2:17 remaining. Hood's back-to-back 3-pointers then gave the Jazz a 107-105 advantage, but McCollum tied it at 107-107 on a layup. Lillard's layup gave the Blazers a 109-107 edge with 40 seconds to go.
Hayward tied it again at 109-109 on a short jumper with 29 seconds to play, but Lillard's driving layup made it 111-109 with 20.4 seconds to go. McCollum sank two free throws to increase the difference to 113-109 with 13.3 seconds left.
Favors scored on a rebound basket to cut it to 113-111 with 4.7 seconds left. McCollum sealed it with a pair at the line with 2.7 ticks to go.
Portland jumped in front 8-0 in the game's first 90 seconds. The Jazz, who started 2-for-11 from the field, scored 17 in a row to take a 19-11 lead. They increased the margin to 23-13 and settled for a 25-18 advantage after one quarter. The Blazers were 7-for-20 from the field with eight turnovers in the quarter.
Utah upped the edge to 36-23 with the Blazers making only nine of their first 30 shots. Portland closed with a 7-0 rush to draw within five points at the half.
NOTES: Both teams entered the game hot. Portland was 9-1 and Utah 8-2 in the past 10 games. ...The Blazers came in having won eight of the last 11 matchups with the Jazz. ... Portland won two of the teams' previous three meetings this season. "We're pretty familiar with each other," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. ... Portland G CJ McCollum averaged 24.7 points in the Blazers' first three meetings with the Jazz this season. ... In his previous four games, Portland F Moe Harkless came off the bench to average 11.3 points, making 24 of 37 shots from the field (64.8 percent).