The Portland Trail Blazers used a balanced attack to dispatch the Indiana Pacers 131-111 in NBA action tonight. Scoot Henderson led the way with 28 points, followed by Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday with 21 apiece. The leading scorer for the Pacers was Pascal Siakam with 22.
Player of the Game
Scoot Henderson was definitely the player of the game for the Trail Blazers in the first half, playing 14 minutes and scoring 19 points with 5 assists to lead the way to a 69-52 advantage at the break. He was confident, assertive
and effective. The second half? Somewhat quieter, but basically more of the same: totals of 28 points, 6 assists and 10 of 15 shooting. If this wasn’t what the Scoot doubters have been waiting to see, it must have been pretty close.
Stat of the Night
We saw what happens when the Blazers get outshot and outrebounded in the same game during the recent road trip. (In case you missed it, that combo leads to annihilation.) So what happens when you do the opposite? Tonight the Blazers beat the Pacers on the boards 53-38 and shot 51% from the field compared to 43% for the visitors. The result? A comfortable victory.
What We Noticed
Bad starts are almost a Blazers trademark at this point, but tonight’s performance was off-brand. There was a lot of back-and-forth in the opening quarter, but instead of looking up from the bottom of a hole, the Blazers were even-Steven at 30-30 when the second quarter began. At which point, the bottom fell out for the Pacers. Riding Scoot’s best quarter since escaping the injury list, the Blazers were up 69-52 at halftime.
Up Next
The Trail Blazers host the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday, with the buzzing starting at 7 p.m. PDT.
