Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday destroy the Trail Blazers on their own with a total of 88 points. Portland, however, shows morale and keeps the game exciting into the final minutes. But in the end the New Orleans Pelicans win 131:123 (BOXSCORE) and enter the next round with 4:0.
It was only 36 minutes and it looked as if the Trail Blazers season was finally over. After a balanced first half, the Pelicans – above all Anthony Davis – turned up the heat after the break. The Brow scored 19 points in the third quarter and led his team to an 11-2 run. A short time later, Jrue Holiday sunk a transition triple to 87:72 – the fans went berserk, Portland took a break. Was that it for the blazers?
Not by a long shot! Portland proved his morale and fought back despite a 13-point gap at the beginning of the final section. After the Pelicans successfully forced the ball out of the hands of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum during their third quarter run with aggressive traps, the backcourt duo now built up more pressure.
Led by McCollum with a total of 38 points (15/22 FG), the guests started a 13:4 run with Portland again narrowly shaped the game. Nine minutes before the end it was 102:104 from Portland’s point of view, until the last minutes it should remain so close. In addition to McCollum and Lillard (19 points, 6 assists), Jusuf Nurkic (18, 11 rebounds) and Al-Farouq Aminu (27, 5/11 trio) also delivered strong performances.
But the Trail Blazers simply couldn’t find any means against Anthony Davis, who was once again outstanding. On the one hand the Big Man was dangerous from a distance (2/3 threesome), on the other hand he raged as usual under the boards, where he was served with Alley-Oops by the likewise strong Rajon Rondo (16 Assists) or made his own way to the basket. Davis led the Pelicans to victory with 47 points (33 in the second half) – a new playoff franchise record!
In the last five minutes of the game Davis scored 12 points, with Jrue Holiday providing important support. The Point Guard gained 6 points in the last 3 minutes and finally provided the decisive points for the 6-point lead 40 seconds before the end with a jumper. That was too much for the bravely fighting Trail Blazers. Holiday had 41 points and 8 assists in the end, the duo Davis/Holiday scored 88 of the 131 points. E’Twaun Moore also scored 14 points.
Before the game, Lillard had announced that Portland would have to enter the deciding game with more intensity and physicality. The Trail Blazers did the same: McCollum got a flagrant foul in halftime one and the referees had to distribute several technical fouls. But even the overall good performance of the Trail Blazers was not enough against the dominant Davis and Holiday. All of Portland’s last ten playoff games were lost.