Deandre Ayton had a double-double, Dalano Banton scored all 20 of his points in the fourth quarter and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers pulled away to a 118-100 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.
Ayton finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, Anfernee Simons scored 24 and Jerami Grant and Toumani Camara had 16 each.
Brandon Ingram, the Pelicans’ leading scorer and the only one of its top five scorers healthy enough to play, had 27 points, Brandon Boston Jr. scored 20, Jose Alvarado had 18, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had 12 and Jaylen Nowell added 11 off the bench.
Ayton made three field goals to start a 12-2 run at the outset of the third quarter, which gave the Blazers a 60-59 lead. Minutes later, Yves Missi and Ingram scored four points each and the Pelicans took a four-point lead.
Simons scored seven consecutive Portland points to give his team a one-point lead at 71-70 before Nowell scored the next five to give New Orleans a 75-71 lead on its way to an 82-79 edge at the end of the third quarter.
Grant made a 3-pointer to tie the score at 84 and the lead changed hands three times before Banton scored four points to give the Blazers a 94-89 lead. Portland wound up outscoring the Pelicans 39-18 in the fourth quarter.
Ingram scored eight points, Alvarado and Robinson-Earl had five each and Boston had four as the Pelicans took a 22-12 lead.
They increased the lead to 13 points on two occasions, but the Blazers made four free throws and Scoot Henderson added a layup to cut the lead to 30-21 at the end of the first quarter.
New Orleans scored the first five points of the second quarter before Portland used an 8-0 run to get within 35-29. Robinson-Earl ended the run by making a 3-pointer, but the Blazers pulled even at 46 after Simons scored five straight points.
Boston had five points and Ingram four in a closing 9-2 run that gave the Pelicans a 55-48 halftime lead.
