PORTLAND (Oregon) • Terry Stotts notched his 200th career regular-season victory as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday at Moda Centre, and few were as sweet as their 102-86 romp past the Cleveland Cavaliers.
C.J. McCollum scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, and Allen Crabbe came off the bench for 24 points as the Trail Blazers led almost wire to wire against the defending National Basketball Association champions.
"I'm very proud of it," said Stotts, who is 200-169 in his 51/2 seasons at the Portland helm. "A lot of players and coaches went into it. If you had told me when I got the job I would get 200 wins, I don't know if I'd have believed you."
McCollum hit the 25-point barrier for the seventh straight game, the first Blazer with such a hot streak since Clyde Drexler in 1987.
Crabbe was nine-of-11 from the field as Portland (18-23) won consecutive games for the first time since winning three straight from Nov 30 to Dec 5.
"We did a great job defensively on McCollum and (Damian) Lillard in the first half, but then Crabbe killed us," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said.
LeBron James collected 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Kevin Love had 17 points and eight boards for the Cavaliers, who lost for the second straight night and are 2-2 on their six-game road trip.
"We didn't show any fight, but it's nothing we can't correct," Love said. "When we play faster, we're a better team. We got away from that tonight."
Cleveland (28-10) shot a season-low 34.1 per cent from the field, including nine-of-30 from the three-point range.
"We missed a lot of shots we normally make," Lue said. "We shot 34 per cent, but coming into half-time, we were shooting 29 per cent and down only eight. We just could never get over the hump.
"Right now, we're not scoring, we're not moving the basketball like we're accustomed to doing."
The Blazers felt as if they should get at least partial credit for the Cavaliers' shooting woes.
"We did a great job defensively," said Portland's Evan Turner, who had only two points but contributed eight rebounds and a season-high 11 assists.
"We came out focused. We withstood their runs by playing physical and setting the tone."
REUTERS
