Sabonis scores 20 points, Pacers beat Trail Blazers, 106-100

 Domantas Sabonis had 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 106-100 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.

Malcolm Brogdon had 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds while T.J. Warren and Victor Oladipo scored 15 points each for the Pacers, who have four of their last five.

CJ McCollum had 28 points and eight assists, Gary Trent Jr. had 20 points and five rebounds, and Hassan Whiteside had 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who have lost five of six.

The Pacers were able to hold off the Blazers' late push.

“We started being aggressive,” Sabonis said. “We didn’t have enough energy in the first half. We’ve got a lot of weapons and when we get stops, it’s tough to guard us in transition.”

Portland then went on an 18-7 run to cut the deficit. After Brogdon made a jumper to give Indiana a 103-93 lead with 1:54 remaining, the Trail Blazers scored seven straight. McCollum’s floater made it 103-100 with 30 seconds to go.

Myles Turner drilled a 3-pointer with 9 seconds remaining to seal it.

“It felt like it was a winnable game, that’s for sure,” McCollum said. “We had a chance. Probably shouldn’t have let them get that run, but we were able to withstand it and come back.”

The Trail Blazers went on a 10-1 run late in the first half to push ahead.

McCollum made a 3-pointer to give Portland a 42-40 lead with 3:13 to go in the second quarter. After a free throw by Oladipo, McCollum made another 3 and then a fadeaway to put the Trail Blazers in front 47-41.

Portland led 49-43 at halftime.

FINDING HIS WAY

Oladipo was back in the lineup after missing the last two games with a sore lower back. He missed the first 47 games of the season while recovering from a right knee injury.

“He’s still working his way back and I thought he had a better third quarter,” McMillan said. “I thought he had a couple attacks in transition, which is what we want to see. We want to advance and allow him to get to the basket. We had 15 fast break points in the third quarter, so we got to the tempo we wanted to play and Vic was a big part of that.”