National Basketball Association
New Orleans 131, Portland 123
When: 5:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 21, 2018
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials: #10 Ron Garretson, #5 Kane Fitzgerald, #56 Mark Ayotte, #19 James Capers
Attendance: 18544
Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday each achieved career playoff scoring highs as the New Orleans Pelicans held off the Portland Trail Blazers 131-123 Saturday at Smoothie King Center.

Davis scored 47 points and Holiday 41 as the Pelicans clinched the best-of-seven playoff series with a four-game sweep. Rajon Rondo dished out 16 assists to go with seven points and seven rebounds for New Orleans.

CJ McCollum had 38 points, Al-Farouq Aminu scored 27 points, Damian Lillard added 19 and Jusuf Nurkic contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers.

Portland lost despite shooting 52.6 percent from the field and turning the ball over just six times. But the Blazers could not stop New Orleans, which shot 57 percent and assisted on 28 of their 45 baskets.

"The crowd was amazing," Davis told reporters after the game. "It feels great to be able to go out and sweep these guys, be able to play the way I played, have Jrue play the way he played, and the entire team for the entire series."

Davis and Holiday each scored 14 points and E'Twaun Moore added 12 as New Orleans took a 58-56 lead into intermission. McCollum and Aminu each had 15 points and Evan Turner 12 for the Blazers before the break.

The Pelicans scored 42 points in breaking things open in the third quarter. They hiked their advantage to 87-72 late in the quarter. The difference was 100-87 heading into the fourth quarter.

Portland scored the first five points of the final period to draw within 100-92.

Nurkic and Holiday traded baskets, and Davis' dunk gave New Orleans a 110-104 edge with seven minutes to go. Aminu hit a 3-point shot to cut it to 110-107, but Holiday scored on a drive to make it 112-107 with 6:33 to play. McCollum made a short jumper, and Aminu scored off a fast break to get Portland to within 112-111. But Davis converted a three-point play to give New Orleans a 115-111 lead with 4:56 remaining.

Nurkic made a reverse layup, but Davis drilled a 3 to make it 118-113. Lillard's jumper got the Blazers to within 118-115 with 4:07 left. Nikola Mirotic split a pair at the line to make it 119-115 with 3:51 to go. McCollum scored on a drive to cut it to 119-117, but Davis dunked a rebound for a 121-117 lead with 3:24 to play.

Turner hit a pair at the line to make it 121-119 with 3:06 left, but Holiday's 3-point shot pushed the Pelicans' lead to 124-119 with 2:44 to go. Davis made two free throws for a 126-119 edge with 2:29 remaining.

"It's a disappointing end for us," Lillard said. "It's not how we envisioned it happening for us, especially having home court. But they played a great series, you've got to give them credit for how they executed offensively. And they came in with a great defensive game plan, they threw something at us that we hadn't seen and it worked out for them. We just didn't play great."

Aminu's driving layup drew Portland to within 126-121 with 1:47 remaining. Holiday made one of two foul shots to make it 127-121 with 1:09 left. McCollum's driving layup cut it to 127-123 with one minute to go, but Holiday's jumper pulled the Pelicans ahead 129-123 with 40.4 seconds left.

When Davis sank a pair at the line with 20.9 ticks on the clock, the issue was decided.

Portland jumped to a 9-3 lead. New Orleans took a 26-25 advantage into the second quarter.

The Pelicans extended the margin to 35-29, but the Blazers came back to tie it at 35-35. New Orleans carried a two-point edge into halftime.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Portland   New Orleans
CJ McCollum 38 Scoring Anthony Davis 47
Damian Lillard 6 Assists Rajon Rondo 16
Jusuf Nurkic 11 Rebounds Nikola Mirotic 11
CJ McCollum 6 Free Throws Made Anthony Davis 15
Jusuf Nurkic 3 Steals E'Twaun Moore 3
Jusuf Nurkic 2 Blocks Anthony Davis 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Portland 123 52.6 10-27 13-16 20 33 2 8 6
New Orleans 131 57.7 9-25 32-39 28 43 6 5 14
Upcoming Games
  • New Orleans will play their next game on the road against Golden State. The Pelicans have a W/L % of .617 after a win and .543 after a loss.