PORTLAND — The Portland Trail Blazers didn’t have two of their big guns on Friday evening.
But it didn’t matter.
Portland’s backcourt duo of Wesley Matthews and Damian Lillard combined for 53 points to lead the Blazers past the Philadelphia 76ers 114-93 Friday.
The Blazers got their league-leading 24th win without All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed the game with illness. Also missing was Chris Kaman, the team’s highest scoring reserve, who wasn’t with the team as he awaits the birth of his first child.
The “Rain Bros.” — as they’ve been named by The Dan Patrick Show — were washing the Sixers away with shower after shower.
Matthews was launching from deep from the start, hitting seven 3-pointers and finishing with 25 points.
Lillard triggered collapse after collapse of the Sixers defense by getting into the paint. With the Blazers playing without their three most-used big men, Lillard saw a chance to attack the Sixers.
“We had a lot of shooters on the floor and I tried to get in (the paint) as much as possible,” he said. “I just wanted to see how long they would keep collapsing.”
Lillard had seven first-half assists and finished with nine. He scored 14 of his 23 points in the third, including 12 straight Blazers points in just over two minutes.
But the league’s most prolific 3-point shooting duo to this point this season didn’t do it alone. The Blazers hit a season-high 18 3-pointers and tied a franchise record with 43 attempts. Eight of the 12 Blazers who played made a 3-pointer.
Portland forward Nicolas Batum had one of his better games of the season and helped get the Blazers going early.
The French forward who was struggling with his shot got involved early with an assist to Thomas Robinson. Then he hit a 3-pointer a few possessions later and scored 10 of his 14 points in the first quarter. He also added four rebounds and three assists.
Batum has only scored 14 or more points twice this season before Friday.
The Blazers started with a front court of Thomas Robinson and Joel Freeland but played small for much of the game. Without the familiarity of a set lineup, Stotts has had to rely on Guerrilla tactics, piecing together the best lineups on the fly.
His decisions worked brilliantly. Freeland collected a career-high 17 rebounds in 25 minutes of action to go with six points.
“Joel was big-time,” Matthews said. “That’s why no one else had any (rebounds). He did great.”
Seldom-used forward Victor Claver, who played in only four minutes this season prior to Friday, was heavily involved. He played 17 minutes and scored five points.
The Sixers forced the Blazers into 21 turnovers, which led to 18 points. But overall, Sixers coach Brett Brown wasn’t pleased with is team’s execution.
“When you know how you’re going to get hit, and you didn’t really do the job needed to do to give ourselves a chance, it’s discouraging,” Brown said. “Leaving corners, shooting gaps, closing out with our hands at our thigh, those are the things we will learn from.”
Veteran forward Dorell Wright didn’t see much playing time earlier this season but has been a contributor in wins at San Antonio and Oklahoma City over the past week. He hit a pair of 3’s Friday and feels like the Blazers are growing.
“We’re on our way as far as guys stepping up and knowing how serious it is,” he said. “Knowing what’s at stake for us as far as being one of the best teams in the NBA. Getting wins each and every night. We understand how important each game is. We got guys that’s in here that know that.”
The Blazers are creeping up on the NBA’s best record and are only a half game back in the standings of the Golden State Warriors. They know they’re up there but they’re far from comfortable.
“It’s only talk,” Matthews said about whether the Blazers will be distracted by talk of title contention. “We’re in the West. We know we have 24 wins and there’s probably three or four other teams with 20-plus. So we ain’t got time to think about it.”
In fact, there are six teams with 20 wins or more in the Western Conference.
Matthews and the Blazers, through injury and illness, are walking the walk and not paying mind to the talk.
