Deni Avdija recorded 33 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a convincing 137-117 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz on Monday night.
Shaedon Sharpe made five 3-pointers while contributing 29 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who won for the fifth time in the past six games. Donovan Clingan collected 17 rebounds to go with 12 points for Portland.
Toumani Camara scored 15 points and reserves Sidy Cissoko and Caleb Love added 14 apiece for the Trail Blazers.
Lauri Markkanen scored 22 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 21 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for the Jazz, who lost their fourth consecutive game and eighth in the past 10.
Keyonte George tallied 15 points, Kyle Filipowski added 13 points and fellow reserve Isaiah Collier had 10 off the bench as Utah dropped to 0-3 on a four-game road trip.
Portland shot 52.7% from the field, including 19-of-48 from 3-point range, to start a stretch in which eight of 10 games are at home. Kris Murray had 10 points for the Trail Blazers, who received four treys from both Avdija and Cissoko.
The Jazz made 48.9% of their attempts and were 13-of-31 from behind the arc.
Sharpe scored 11 first-quarter points as Portland started strong and held a 36-26 lead.
Avdija’s layup gave the Trail Blazers a 63-41 lead with 4:29 left in the second quarter. A trey by Sharpe pushed the lead to 23 with 2:01 left before Cissoko drained a trey to give Portland a 78-57 halftime advantage.
Avdija had 23 points in the half and Sharpe added 17. Markkanen scored 13 in the first half for Utah.
George drilled a 3-pointer to pull the Jazz within 84-67 with 10:27 left in the third quarter before the Trail Blazers went on a 19-4 surge. Advija capped the spurt with a reverse layup to make it 103-71 with 4:21 left.
Utah responded with nine straight points. However, Portland finished the quarter with a 11-3 run with Sharpe hitting a 3-pointer as time expired to make it 114-83 entering the final stanza.
The Trail Blazers led comfortably throughout the fourth quarter with the Jazz finally cutting the deficit under 20 on Cody Williams’ fast-break dunk with 3:34 remaining. But Portland closed it out and has scored 136 and 137 points while beating Utah twice this season.
