PORTLAND — Damian Lillard has been excellent but lately, he hasn’t been able to carry the Blazers with his greatness alone.
Tuesday night he got the help he needed from CJ McCollum, Gerald Henderson and Ed Davis to make his gaudy 41-point, 11-assist night count for a win.
Gerald Henderson’s game-saving block on the final possession of regulation and CJ McCollum’s tying bucket on the previous possession propelled the Blazers to a 116-109 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards, snapping a 3-game losing streak.
Ed Davis had 15 rebounds off the bench including seven in the 4th quarter and overtime.
“It saved the game for us,” Mason Plumlee said of Henderson’s block. “It was the biggest play.”
“They got some penetration, I think Dudley made the pass to Gortat and he went up and I had to leave my man and I came over and blocked it,” Henderson said.
McCollum got the call on the possession before after the Wizards furiously denied Lillard the ball.
“I knew it would be tough for Dame to get the ball,” McCollum said. “Coach drew up a play for Meyers to get the ball to me for a hand off. I have confidence in myself to make plays down the stretch no matter how I’m playing throughout the game. Dame and all the guys are confident in me, telling me you going to hit a big shot down the stretch. This is what I pride myself on, man.”
The Blazers were able to shake off a 3-game losing skid which saw them allow 116 points or more in every outing.
“It’s big man, we’re 6th in the standings now, Utah lost tonight,” McCollum said. “We got a win at home.”
With 1:23 left in the first quarter, Henderson and Alan Anderson got into a on-court scuffle after the two were tangled up when the Blazers were on defense.
Anderson took issue with Henderson’s defense, shoving him, before Henderson shoved back. But in the exchange, Anderson’s forearm made contact with Henderson’s head. After review, both players were assessed technicals but Anderson was ejected.
“It happens,” Henderson said. “He got thrown out of the game because he hit me, but I wanted him to stay in the game so we could keep playing.”
Henderson scored 12 points off the bench and made the most important play of the game afterwards.
With the Anderson ejection, the wing depth for the Wizards went to empty pool levels as they were already without Bradley Beal and Gary Neal.
The Blazers started both halves poorly.
They turned the ball over on four of their first seven possessions on their way to nine first half turnovers.
Then the Wizards started the 2nd half on a 12-0 run.
Ramon Sessions had a team-high 21 points off the bench and Jared Dudley pitched in 16 off the bench.
Wall had 20 points and 11 assists.
Down the stretch and throughout the game, it looked like the Blazers would squander another one of Lillard’s excellent performances.
Just as was the case in their last three games, excellent offensive play could not erase their troubles on the defensive end.
Washington shot better than 46 percent from the field and 42 percent from long range.
After seeing his team struggle to score, Stotts went to Meyers Leonard and Ed Davis to loosen things up early in the 2nd half.
Leonard had 10 points and six rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting.
Almost immediately, the Blazers offense had life. Trailing by 10 when Leonard came in, the Blazers roared back to take a four-point lead into the fourth quarter.
But the run came at a cost as Leonard picked up his fifth foul just before the final period.
Leonard did manage to play down the stretch with the five fouls.
John Wall’s 3-pointer with 15 seconds left gave the Wizards a 104-102 lead.
The Blazers’ inability to grab rebounds on crucial defensive possessions down the stretch gave the Wizards plenty of opportunities, which led to Wall’s go-ahead bucket.
