Ed Davis Beasts in Portland’s Romp over Dallas, 107-93

ThePortland Trail Blazersweren’t quite dominant, but handily held off a strugglingMaverickssquad 107-93 Friday on the road in Dallas. The win improves the Blazers to a season-best five games over .500 at 27-22, currently sitting at 7th place in the Western Conference standings.

It seemed to take about two and half quarters for Portland to find its rhythm, as both sides looked sluggish for a good deal of the contest, but the Blazers jumped out early in the final frame and ran away with it to escape with a relatively easy win.

The Blazers were led byDamian Lillard(29 points) and C.J. McCollum (20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds).

The Mavericks were led byHarrison Barnes(21 points, 7 rebounds) andDennis Smith Jr.(18 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds).

Box Score

• Get EDucated.Ed Davishas been a beast off the bench lately for the Blazers and tonight he put up his second straight double-double with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. Dallas likes to go for stretches with the 39-year-oldDirk Nowitzkiat center and Davis just straight overwhelmed them with his physicality. Along with owning the boards, he had a share of highlight dunks to go along with it. Career game from Ed.
• Dennis the Menace.The brightest spot of the entire Mavs roster has to be the young rookie Dennis Smith Jr., who is quickly establishing himself as quite an exciting player to watch. Like Lillard, he is a highly clever scorer and has sneaky athleticism, which he will get a chance to showcase next month in the dunk contest. For the second straight game against Portland, Smith was the best player for Dallas.
• Coming into his own.He didn’t necessarily have a spectacular line, butZach Collins继续成为一个令人印象深刻的新秀。在15分钟内，这位20岁的年轻人得到9分，其中包括2-2，3个篮板，2个助攻，一个抢断，一个盖帽，地板上的+10，毫不奇怪，主要是与戴维斯一起。柯林斯通常看起来在正确的时间位于正确的位置，并带来了所有众所周知的无形资产，这些无形资产不会出现在盒子分数中。这个年轻人有未来。

Highlights:

What’s Next

The Blazers will get the weekend off before heading down to Los Angeles Tuesday to take on the剪子in a nationally televised game on TNT - Late tip is set for 7:30 p.m.