Damian Lillard catches fire as Portland Trail Blazers hand New York Knicks their 10th-straight loss

Benyam Kidane

•
Damian Lillard catches fire as Portland Trail Blazers hand New York Knicks their 10th-straight loss image

Damian Lillard was feeling it from deep against the New York Knicks!

The Portland Trail Blazers star poured in 31 points to lead his team to a 115-87 win over the Knicks, handing them their 10th loss in a row. 

Lillard knocked down 8-of-12 from beyond the arc, just two shy of his own franchise record for threes made in a game. He added six assists on the night as the Blazers improve to 10-15 on the season. 

Hassan Whiteside had 17 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks, his fifth-straight double-double and 15th of the season, while Carmelo Anthony added 16 points against his former team.

Lillard set the tone in the first quarter, scoring 17 of his 31 on the opening period as they raced out to a 32-22 lead.

"I liked our demeanor on the outset," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said post-game. "I thought Damian had a nice rhythm to his shots, I thought he did a nice job of managing the game... It was a game we needed to get."

The Blazers led by as many as 21 points in the first half, with the Knicks unable to keep up with the flurry of threes. New York managed just 2-of-15 from beyond the arc in the first half, finishing 7-of-38 from the game. 

Lillard's eighth triple of the night extended the lead to 83-56 with 2:53 remaining in the third. He sat the entire fourth quarter with his team comfortably in front by 27 points heading into the final frame.


“Anytime you have that type of win, and the way that we did it, I think we should feel good about it, especially in a game that we feel we should have won," Lillard said.

After a slow start, former Knick Carmelo Anthony found his rhythm, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-13 from the field and 3-of-4 from the three-point line, checking out of the game with 8:09 remaining in the fourth to a standing ovation.

“We were locked in, since this morning, since shootaround, we were locked in,” Anthony said. “Dame came out and led us, Hassan played great, but I thought overall defence was what got us going. We were talking, we were active, a lot of energy on the defensive end.”

The Knicks now sit at 4-20 on the season and will look to put an end to their 10-game slide when they visit the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. 

Julius Randle led them in scoring with 15 points, while Mitchell Robinson added 14, Allonzo Trier 13, Bobby Portis 11 and Marcus Morris Sr. 10.

Benyam Kidane

Benyam Kidane Photo

Benyam Kidane is a senior NBA editor and has been covering the league for The Sporting News since 2016. In his spare time you can find him watching Allen Iverson highlights on repeat.