ANFERNEE Simons’ 27 points on 9-of-10 shooting from three-point range led a dominant effort by the Portland Trail Blazers during a 133-112 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night in Indianapolis.
The Blazers (33-28) snapped a five-game losing streak as seven players scored in double figures, including Damian Lillard (23 points) and CJ McCollum (20).
The nine made triples were a career-high for Simons and the scoring output was the second-highest ever for the Blazers’ 2018 first-round pick.
Indiana (29-32) had its three-game winning streak snapped and took its 18th defeat at home this season, which guaranteed a .500 or worse record in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That snapped a streak of 31 consecutive seasons with a winning home record for the Pacers.
Oshae Brissett and Malcolm Brogdon led the Pacers with 18 points each. Brissett also grabbed 10 rebounds. Caris LeVert had 16 points and Doug McDermott finished with 13.
Lillard was held under his season scoring average of 28.4 points per game, but he didn’t need to be spectacular as Portland opened things up by outscoring Indiana (79-43) over the second and third quarters.
Lillard contributed six assists and four rebounds in 31 minutes for the Blazers, who led by as many as 43 points in the fourth quarter. McCollum hit 9 of 13 field-goal attempts.
The Pacers continued to compete without a player taller than 6 feet 7 as Domantas Sabonis missed his fifth consecutive game with a lower back strain. Indiana was also without Myles Turner (foot) and Goga Bitadze (ankle) in addition to Jeremy Lamb (knee) and T.J. Warren (foot), who is out for the season.
Portland took advantage of its size advantage as three frontcourt players — Robert Covington (15 points and 11 rebounds), Enes Kanter (12 points and 14 rebounds) and Jusuf Nurkić (11 points and 10 rebounds) — recorded double-doubles. Carmelo Anthony added 13 points.
BUCKS VACCINE
Meanwhile, basketball fans can obtain their first coronavirus vaccine dose in an unusual venue this weekend — at a Milwaukee Bucks game.
Those aged 16 years and older attending Sunday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets will be able to obtain their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a mobile vaccination site inside Fiserv Forum, which the Bucks are opening in partnership with the Milwaukee Health Department.
Tip-off is at 2:30 p.m. but doses will be available from 1 p.m. through the end of the game inside the Panorama Club, one of the 17,341 capacity arena’s VIP lounge areas.
“This is a critical time for all of us to take the necessary step that will help return our lives to normal,” Bucks President Peter Feigin said in a written statement on Tuesday. “Let’s make this happen together.”
The team is widely believed to be the first in the National Basketball Association to offer in-game vaccinations, though numerous stadiums and arenas across the United States opened their doors to inoculate residents during the pandemic, when not performing their usual functions. — Reuters