PORTLAND — The Trail Blazers looked as though they would run away with a blowout. But they still needed a furious finish to vanquish the Orlando Magic.
Behind 25 points from LaMarcus Aldridge and some late-game heroics from Wesley Matthews, the Blazers defeated the Magic 103-92 Saturday.
Aldridge seemed like the only Blazer who had it going consistently much of the night.
“He’s usually a stabilizing influence and he was that when he was on the court,” Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said of his All-Star. “We had to play him at the 5 a little bit tonight to give a different look, and he was effective with that.”
Matthews scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter along with four of his eight rebounds and two steals that led to baskets. His best play was a steal on Orlando’s Victor Oladipo which gave him a chance for a 3-point play.
“He came up with those and those are big momentum plays, big fourth-quarter plays,” Stotts said of Matthews’ defense.
“That’s what he does for us,” said Damian Lillard of Matthews. “He does it every night. He plays hard, he’s a soldier and that’s what we’re used to. Tonight was him doing that once again.”
Lillard had a rough night, going 3-of-10 from the field. But as usual he saved his best for the fourth quarter, scoring eight of his 16 points in the final period.
Orlando’s Elfrid Payton didn’t have a great offensive game but worked his hardest to make life tough on Lilllard. He denied Lillard in the backcourt and guarded him full court all night long.
Lillard fell after Payton fouled him on a lay-up which aggravated his lower back which he hurt on Thursday against Miami.
“I fell right on it. But it’s fine,” he said.
The Magic came into Saturday losers of five straight games with their most recent loss coming in blowout fashion to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Making matters worse, Orlando was without two key contributors. Leading scorer Tobias Harris missed the game with an ankle injury and fourth-leading scorer Evan Fournier missed the game with a knee injury.
The Blazers showed no mercy. They doubled up the Magic 26-13 in the first quarter and they led by as much as 19 in the first half. The ball zipped around the court, and the Blazers had multiple alley-oops in the first half.
It looked like they were well on their way to a blowout win but the young Magic wouldn’t go away.
Nikola Vucevic outworked the Blazers on the offensive glass which led to points on the interior. Vucevic had a double-double by halftime on his way to a career-high 34 points and 16 rebounds.
“I thought they played with a lot of energy, got into us defensively created some turnovers,” Stotts said. “Vucevic had a terrific game. I think he showed why he’s one of the up-and-coming big men in the league.”
Oladipo played with confidence and scored 18 points but was a woeful 6-for-21 from the field.
Other than Aldridge, the rest of the Blazers starters were relatively quiet. Nicolas Batum, Matthews and Lillard were a combined 2-for-10 from the field in the first half.
Defensively, the Blazers were their usual selves, locking down their opponent. Batum had four blocks and the Blazers had eight as a team compared to a goose egg for Orlando. Defense continues to be something the Blazers can count on.
“It’s definitely something we can hang our hats on when the game is on the line,” Lillard said. “Five-minute mark, we decided to lock in and focus on what we needed to do in the last five minutes and take this game.”
The Blazers committed 20 turnovers which led to 23 Magic points after committing a season-low seven on Thursday.
