PORTLAND — The Portland Trail Blazers came back after trailing by as much as 21 to defeat the Utah Jazz 116-111 in Sunday’s preseason game at the Moda Center.
Damian Lillard returned to the Blazers’ starting line-up after missing the last two preseason games with an ankle injury, leading the team with 32 points and six assists.
He hit a pair of free-throws with 2.6 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
As the Blazers identity continues to form, it was Lillard who after the game asked a question that will be a constant for the Blazers in their first season under his leadership. A question that was key in their comeback on Sunday.
“Who are we not to want to win that game?” Lillard said when asked why he wanted to play in overtime after already logging 37 minutes in regulation. “We fought back at the end of regulation and I said, let’s just win this game. There’s no reason to say, ‘all right, that’s enough.’ ”
After nearly an entire week without a game, the Blazers looked sluggish in the first three quarters against a Jazz team that was without their three best players in Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and defensive anchor Rudy Gobert.
In the fourth, the Blazers’ defense finally started to get stops with consistency. Behind CJ McCollum’s 18 fourth-quarter points, the offense followed.
“The first four games of the preseason, we had a lot of energy, we defended well, we made teams uncomfortable and we shot the ball well,” Lillard said. “Today they shot the ball well and we didn’t. Part of (their shooting) was on us but I think it was good for us. We stuck with it.”
The Jazz — while projected to be a playoff team — started mostly bench players and didn’t overextend anyone against the Blazers. Third string center Jeff Withey logged a team-high 32 minutes.
While the competition wasn’t a lot to write home about, their comeback answered Lillard’s question about their demeanor.
“Our guys like to compete,” head coach Terry Stotts said.
Although the Blazers were facing an understudy cast, they weren’t hearing any of that after the game.
“You can say it was about their personnel, you can’t disrespect their players they had out there because they played well,” Lillard said.
McCollum tallied 26 points and nine assists.
Lillard and McCollum both logged heavy playing time, each playing around 42 minutes.
“I haven’t played in like 12 days or something like that other than practice, that’s a lot different than a game,” Lillard said. “I was winded. But I was glad that coach left me out there at certain points of the game, just so I had to push through.”
“I think it was important for Damian and CJ to know what 40-plus minutes feels like,” Stotts said.
Portland had 19 turnovers, eight more than the Jazz, but only committed three in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Moe Harkless got the surprise start at small forward for the Blazers on Sunday with Al-Farouq Aminu sitting out.
The Blazers said after the game that Aminu has a “left hamstring strain,” but gave no official indication about his availability for Monday night when they play the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.
The Blazers trailed by 14 at the end of the first half as the Jazz shot 54 percent from the field and a scorching 68 percent in the second quarter.
They hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter with reserve wing Joe Ingles outscoring the Blazers by himself 9-3 during a 1:38 stretch, with three straight triples.
The Blazers started the overtime on a 10-0 run and never looked back.
