Lillard has 19 and Blazers defeat Heat 99-92

The Portland Trail Blazers visit the Chicago Bulls Monday night at 5 p.m.at the United Center.

“I thought the first game against (Chicago) was an outlier”, said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “He’s a guy that really gets us out and establishes the tempo for our team, especially in the fourth quarter”.

The Portland Trail Blazers look for a big home victory to get a game above a.500 record.

“We’re taking strides in the right direction and that’s for sure”, said Wayne Ellington, who emerged as a much-needed shot maker during the trip. Aminu started the first eight games of the season before he got hurt November 8 against Phoenix. Speculations point to a possible reunion of the Portland Trail Blazers star with former teammate LaMarcus Aldridge. “All year long we’ve been struggling to put games together”. “Defense is really a priority for us now”. I think we build on this. “But I’ll say this, Rajon, as we’ve all said, has been great”.

“We locked in”, guard Allen Crabbe said.

There’s no doubt that Hassan Whiteside, one of the league best rim protectors, would have helped Portland on the defensive end of the floor.

We just find a way. The 82 points scored by Chicago are its fewest this season, and its second fewest over the last two seasons (77 versus Dallas on January 15, 2016).

Dragic played 35 minutes and went eight-for-19 from the field, missing his only three-pointer and making both of his free throws. Harkless banked in a jumper to give Portland a 94-92 lead. He joined forward Justise Winslow (wrist), guard Dion Waiters (groin) and Josh Richardson (ankle) on Miami’s injured list and left the Heat with only 10 players available for the game. “We’re going to move past it, and again he’ll be back in uniform tomorrow”.

Maurice Harkless and CJ McCollum came up with 17 points each for Portland, which notched its 11th win in 21 games. On the offensive end, the ball stayed moving.

“We knew what we were getting into at the start the season (with the loss of Dwyane Wade)”. Then in the fourth our players had to go out there and play.

The Portland Trail Blazers need to outscore teams to win games, and top scorer Damian Lillard is trying to shoot his team into a winning homestand.

Mirotic capped an 18-4 run with two foul shots, giving Chicago a 75-70 lead with 5:44 left. He finished with 12 points.

They turned that knowledge into their own road win Monday night. Miami is 27 in scoring at 97.4 ppg, but are 7 in points allowed at 98.8 points. The Trail Blazers recently routed the Indiana Pacers at home, 131-109.