Trail Blazers beat the Jazz 124-114 to close in on the Warriors for 9th in the West

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson each scored 25 points, Donovan Clingan had 21 points and 15 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Utah Jazz 124-114 on Friday night.

With Golden State’s loss to Minnesota, the Trail Blazers moved within a half-game of the Warriors for the ninth seed in the Western Conference.

Brice Sensabaugh led Utah with 31 points.

After Utah jumped out to a 33-15 lead, the Trail Blazers found their footing and went on a 27-5 run to take control.

Portland’s Sidy Cissoko’s 3-pointer hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second to make it 38-34, part of a 14-0 run to open the periodr. Portland took its first lead on a 3-pointer by Holiday, and led 66-58 at halftime.

The Jazz made several runs to cut into the lead in the second half. A layup by Oscar Tshiebwe made it 91-89 with 2:01 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Jazz would get.

Sensabaugh’s sixth 3-pointer making it 106-101 with 5:49 left. Portland answered with consecutive 3s by Holiday and Henderson to make it 114-103 with 3:28 left.

Utah’s Ace Bailey was ruled out after seven minutes because of concussion symptoms. He had eight points.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was in attendance for Friday night’s game. The sale of the Trail Blazers is expected to be finalized at the upcoming NBA Board of Governors meeting. Silver did not speak to reporters.

Up next

Jazz: At Sacramento on Sunday night.

Trail Blazers: At Philadelphia on Sunday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba