Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter set a franchise record with 30 rebounds to lead his team to a 118-103 win Saturday night over the Detroit Pistons at the Moda Center.
Kanter, starting in place of Jusuf Nurkic (knee), also scored 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting and had 12 offensive rebounds.
“Enes is such a great guy you could see the bench’s reaction and how happy the team was for him,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said.
The franchise’s previous record for rebounds in a game was 27, set by Sidney Wicks in 1975 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Damian Lillard had 27 points and 10 assists.
The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Blazers.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (31-21) remained in sixth place, 1 1/2 games behind the fifth-place Los Angeles Lakers (33-20), who won 126-101 at Brooklyn on Saturday.
IT WAS OVER WHEN
After falling behind 14-11, the Blazers went on a run to win the first quarter 33-23 thanks mostly to Lillard’s 12 points in the quarter and Kanter’s seven points and 10 rebounds (five offensive).
The Blazers began the second quarter with an 8-2 run to take a 41-25, lead but the Pistons answered with a 17-4 run to make the score 45-38.
The Pistons continued to play well and got the score to 47-46 before Lillard scored on a vicious dunk that started a 12-4 run to make the score 59-50 at halftime.
Detroit Pistons center Mason Plumlee, left, and Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter, right go up for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Saturday, April 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) APAP
The Blazers continued to leave no doubt that they were the superior team and Kanter continued to do whatever he wanted against the Pistons in the third quarter.
The Blazers built their lead to 86-68 with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter when Kanter scored inside shortly after CJ McCollum scored on a floater.
The Blazers ended the third quarter up 95-76. At that point, Kanter had 23 points and 23 rebounds.
The Pistons got to within 111-97 in the fourth, but the Blazers were never in serious jeopardy of letting Detroit back into the game.
SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT
Lillard made 9 of 20 shots and 4 of 8 threes. McCollum hit on 11 of 21 shots for 26 points.
Nassir Little went 5 of 5 off the bench for 11 points.
The Blazers shot 44.8% on threes (13 of 29).
Josh Jackson led Detroit with 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting and he made 5 of 6 threes.
SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED
Normal Powell had his worst game as a member of the Blazers making just 2 of 10 shots for nine points. He also committed five turnovers.
The Blazers committed 15 turnovers.
RONDAE HOLLIS-JEFFERSON
Signed Thursday to a 10-day contract, forward Hollis-Jefferson played seven minutes, missed his only field goal attempt but made one free throw and had one assist.
NEXT UP (Blazers schedule)
The Blazers host Miami on Sunday and then Boston on Tuesday.
— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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