Damian Lillard scored 30 of his 40 points in the first half to help the Portland Trail Blazers roll to an easy 127-115 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.
Lillard drained eight 3-pointers while reaching the 40-point mark for the 11th time this season. He also had six rebounds and five assists as Portland won for the seventh time in its past 11 games. Shaedon Sharpe scored 15 points off the bench for Portland while Anfernee Simons and Matisse Thybulle added 14 apiece.
Anthony Davis paced the Lakers with 19 points, 20 rebounds and three blocked shots, while Malik Beasley scored a team-high 22 points off the bench. LeBron James (sore left ankle) sat out his third consecutive game.
Los Angeles shot 61.9 percent from the field in the third quarter and still couldn’t dent its large deficit. The Lakers trailed 101-79 entering the final stanza. Lillard reached 40 points on a driving hoop to make it 113-89 with 7:40 remaining in the fourth. He exited the game 38 seconds later, and Los Angeles cut into the margin in the final minutes.
