Deni Avdija recorded 31 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 115-99 victory over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
Avdija matched season highs for boards and 3-pointers (five) as Portland (31-39) won its third straight game. Anfernee Simons scored 22 points, Shaedon Sharpe produced 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Toumani Camara had 15 points for the Trail Blazers.
Duop Reath had 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Portland, which is two games behind the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks in the battle for the final Western Conference play-in berth.
Desmond Bane scored 20 points and Scotty Pippen Jr. added 18 off the bench for the Grizzlies (43-27), who lost their second straight game. Santi Aldama had 16 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. tallied 14 but was just 5 of 18 from the field.
Memphis star Ja Morant sat out his third straight game. He missed the first two due to a right shoulder injury and sat out in Portland because of left hamstring soreness.
The Grizzlies, who are in fifth place in the West, scored just 10 points in the final quarter. Memphis made 3 of 23 shots (13 percent) in the quarter and shot 40.2 percent overall. The Grizzlies were just 8 of 30 from 3-point range.
The Trail Blazers shot 41.7 percent from the field and were 18 of 46 from behind the arc.
Portland went on an 11-3 run early in the third quarter to take an 82-61 lead.
The Grizzles responded by scoring 24 of the next 33 points; they pulled within 91-85 on two free throws by Zach Edey with 1:35 left in the period.
Bane’s basket just before the buzzer allowed Memphis to trail 96-89 entering the final quarter.
The Trail Blazers held the Grizzlies to five points over the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter. Memphis missed 20 of its 21 field-goal attempts until Marvin Bagley III flipped in a short-range shot with 44.4 seconds to play.
It was a 10-point margin before Portland ripped off 11 straight points to put the game away.
Camara drained a 3-pointer, and Sharpe and Simons each made two free throws to make it 111-94 with 3:36 left. Reath scored on a tip-in and Camara added a dunk to make it 115-94 with 2:05 left.
Avdija made five first-half treys while scoring 26 points as Portland led 71-58 at the break. Pippen scored 12 in the half for Memphis.
–Field Level Media
