National Basketball Association

Lillard scores 21 to help Portland beat Houston 96-79

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:04 p.m. ET

foxsports

HOUSTON (AP) Damian Lillard had 21 points and 10 assists to lead a balanced scoring attack and the Portland Trail Blazers built a big lead early and rolled to an easy 96-79 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

The Trail Blazers were up by 19 at halftime and scored the first six points of the third quarter to make it 61-36 with about 10 minutes left in the quarter.

James Harden made four quick points after that before the Trail Blazers used a 13-2 run - with 3s from Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Al-Farouq Aminu - to push the lead to 74-42.

The Rockets scored the last 11 points of the quarter, with the first nine from Harden, to cut the lead to 74-53 entering the fourth. But Portland opened the fourth with an 8-2 spurt.

Harden led the Rockets with 33 points.