They say basketball is a game of runs, and boy was tonight a game of runs. The Portland Trail Blazers were on the right side against San Antonio Thursday.

After a disappointing 118-108 loss to Miami on Tuesday, the Blazers looked like a team on a mission. Portland got the better of the Spurs when it mattered most, 127-118.

From 6:52 to go in the second quarter to 8:51 to go in the third–a span of 15:42–Portland went on a 36-13 run. The run gave the Blazers their largest lead of 21 points, 82-61. In the third quarter, the Spurs took their turn with a 27-8 run to get within two points of the lead, 90-88.

Portland responded with a 28-13 run to go up 118-101 with about five and half minutes to play.

C.J. McCollum scored at least 30 points for the third straight game and led the team in scoring with 30 tonight. Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic scored over 20 points with 24 and 22 respectively.

In his first game with the Blazers, Rodney Hood looked solid. The newest Blazer shot six-of-seven from the floor and scored 14 points. Jake Layman joined the Blazers big three–Lillard, Nurkic and McCollum–in playing 30-plus minutes, and Layman poured in 13 points of his own.

Maurice Harkless only played 15 minutes and scored just two points. Zach Collins seems to have dropped out of the Blazers rotation as well. The Gonzaga big man only played seven minutes tonight after just eight minutes against Miami on Tuesday.

Next up, the Blazers start a big chunk of their road schedule. Nine of the next 10 games are on the road for Portland starting Sunday at the Dallas Mavericks.

@1029TheGame

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