Scoot Henderson scored 23 points off the bench and the Portland Trail Blazers never trailed in rolling to a 130-99 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.
Deni Avdija recorded 18 points and seven assists and Jerami Grant also scored 18 points as Portland (37-37) won for the sixth time in its past eight games. Donovan Clingan had 14 points, 15 rebounds and four steals, Matisse Thybulle had 14 points off the bench, and Jrue Holiday produced 13 points and eight assists.
The Trail Blazers have won their past two games by an average of 33 points and are in a tough battle with the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth spot in the Western Conference, sitting a half-game behind LA. The two teams still face each other two more times — Tuesday at Los Angeles and April 10 in Portland.
Ryan Rollins scored a career-high 36 points and made six 3-pointers for the Bucks, who played without star Giannis Antetokounmpo (left knee) for the fifth straight game.
Ousmane Dieng had 16 points, Taurean Prince scored 13 off the bench and Jericho Sims had 12 for Milwaukee (29-43), which lost for the 12th time in its past 15 games.
Portland shot 52.5% from the field, including 19 of 41 from 3-point range (46.3%), while beating Milwaukee for the fifth consecutive time. Toumani Camara added 10 points one game after scoring a career-best 35 points against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Bucks made 40.4% of their attempts and hit 14 of 45 from behind the arc (31.1%). Milwaukee finished a 1-3 road trip in which all the setbacks were by more than 30 points.
Grant scored 16 points in the first half as the Trail Blazers led 71-49 at the break. Grant missed the previous two games with a foot injury.
Portland scored the first 10 points of the game and later tallied the final eight of the first quarter to take a 42-27 lead.
Grant’s 3-pointer just past the midway point of the second quarter gave the Trail Blazers a 61-36 lead.
In the third quarter, Portland scored 11 of the first 14 points to push its lead to 82-52 on Camara’s layup with 9:11 remaining.
The Trail Blazers led 104-81 entering the final quarter before scoring the first 10 points. Henderson’s trey capped the burst to make it a 33-point margin with 9:05 to play and Portland cruised to the finish.
