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Portland, Ore. • How do you stop Damian Lillard?
"I don't know if you can even call around the league and figure out what to do because he's playing so good," Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder said when the question was asked of him prior to tipoff Wednesday night. "… You have to make him earn it. The problem with him is he's very capable of doing that. Even if you force him to take tough shots, he makes them. You make it as hard on him as you can and sometimes you just hope.
"You just hope."
The Jazz might have had a better chance winning Powerball.
In beating Utah 99-85, Lillard flirted with his first NBA triple-double, finishing with 21 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and two steals. After a relatively quiet first half, the former Weber State star scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the third quarter to help the Blazers pull away, then he watched the fourth quarter from the bench.
"We came out in the third quarter and just made a lot of mistakes," Snyder said afterward. "And especially with Lillard, if you make a mistake he's sitting on it. It's almost like a pitcher that throws a high fastball, he knocks it out."
Coming into the night, the Jazz (17-21) knew what Lillard and his backcourt teammate, C.J. McCollum, were capable of doing. The duo combined for 62 points to beat the Jazz in Salt Lake City back in early November.
On the season, Portland averages 101 points per game, with Lillard (24.8) and McCollum (20.9) accounting for a little less than half of the scoring.
"If we can contain them, I think we'll have a shot at winning," forward Gordon Hayward had predicted.
But the Jazz couldn't make enough shots to inflict serious damage on the Blazers even with Lillard and McCollum having a relatively quiet first half, combining for 14 points. Jazz guard Rodney Hood knocked down his first three shots, racking up a quick eight points before a pair of fouls and a technical for his frustrations sent him to the bench early in the first.
Portland guard Gerald Henderson, meanwhile, knocked down all three of his 3-point attempts in the second quarter after watching all of the first from the bench. Henderson's 10 points in the quarter — along with Utah's eight turnovers — helped give the Blazers a 43-37 lead at halftime.
And as Lillard got going in the second half, Portland pushed its lead to 16 on a 10-4 run in the third.
"I think the third quarter cost us the game," Jazz center Rudy Gobert said.
And with Lillard cheering on his teammates from the sidelines, the Blazers' advantage grew to as much as 20 in the fourth.
"We don't have a lot of punch sometimes offensively right now," Snyder said. "When we get down a little bit like that it's a tall order to catch up."
The Blazers out-rebounded the Jazz 54-38 on the night, helping to build up a 21-6 advantage in second-chance points.
Hayward and Hood tied for the Jazz's team-high with 19 points apiece. Hayward also had nine assists and six rebounds in 33 minutes of action. Rookie Trey Lyles, a bright spot on a dreary night in Portland, set a new season-high with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Point guard Trey Burke had 15 of Utah's 24 bench points.
McCollum, one of six Blazers to reach double-digits, chipped in 15 points.
Derrick Favors traveled with the team to Portland but, after testing out his back before tipoff, was ruled out for the 11th straight game due to back spasms. When the power forward might be back in action for the injury-addled Jazz remains to be seen.
"The injury bug comes and goes," Snyder said of his team's woes. "For us, it stayed a little too long."
The Jazz came into the night two games up on the Sacramento Kings, their next opponent as fate and the NBA schedule makers would have it, and 2.5 games ahead of the Blazers for eighth place in the Western Conference.
Just shy of the midway point of the season, it's safe to say the Jazz have started to peek at the standings and know the importance of breathing room and tiebreakers.
The Blazers now hold a 2-1 lead in the season series with Utah; the Jazz will make one more trip to Portland next month.
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