NBA: Damian Lillard climbs 3-point ladder as Blazers roll over Spurs
Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers shoots against Josh Richardson #7 of the San Antonio Spurs during the second quarter at Moda Center on January 23, 2023 in Portland, Oregon. Steph Chambers/Getty Images/AFP
Damian Lillard recorded 37 points and 12 assists and moved into seventh place on the all-time 3-pointers list while leading the Portland Trail Blazers to a 147-127 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.
Lillard’s seventh and final trey of the night was the 2,283rd of his career, moving him past Jason Terry. Lillard is just seven triples behind sixth-place Vince Carter.
Article continues after this advertisementDame's got 37 PTS and has passed Jason Terry for the 7th most threes in NBA history 🔥
Blazers lead in Q4.
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Anfernee Simons scored 26 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 25 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals as the Trail Blazers snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fifth time in 17 games. Shaedon Sharpe scored 19 points and fellow reserve Nassir Little added 10 as Portland posted a season-high point total.
Keldon Johnson scored 20 points and Jeremy Sochan had 18 for the Spurs, who lost for the 10th time in the past 12 games. Jakob Poeltl scored 14 points, Doug McDermott had 13 and Tre Jones and Romeo Langford scored 12 points apiece.
Article continues after this advertisementPortland was a scorching 20 of 33 (60.6 percent) from 3-point range and shot 59.8 percent overall.
Zach Collins and Josh Richardson added 11 points apiece for the Spurs, who shot 52.2 percent from the field and made 13 of 27 shots from 3-point range.
San Antonio trailed by three with under five minutes left in the third quarter before the Trail Blazers exploded on an 18-2 burst. Sharpe had 10 points and Lillard scored the other eight.
Lillard got things started with a dunk and a 31-foot trey as Portland’s lead grew to 103-95 with 4:12 left in the quarter.
Lillard connected on a 32-foot 3-pointer with 2:53 left in the period to tie Terry and make it 111-97. Sharpe followed with a 2-pointer and a trey to cap the run and give the Trail Blazers a 19-point lead.
Portland outscored the Spurs 45-27 in the quarter to hold a 119-101 advantage — setting a franchise mark for points through three quarters — and then pushed the margin to 22 on Little’s 3-pointer with 9:31 left in the contest.
Lillard hit the 3-pointer to pass Terry with 6:44 remaining to make it 138-114 and the Trail Blazers continued to lead comfortably the rest of the way.
Both teams were hot in a first half that concluded in a tie at 74. The Spurs shot 59.2 percent and hit 8 of 13 from 3-point range, while Portland made 55.1 percent and was 9 of 18.
