The Portland Trail Blazers (35-38) beat the Los Angles Lakers (21-52), 97-81, Sunday evening at STAPLES Center in LA to surpass the Denver Nuggets for eighth place in the Western Conference standings. Denver fell on the road earlier in the day in New Orleans before the Blazers completed a third consecutive season sweep of the Lakers to put Portland ahead in the playoff picture on the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two sides.
Portland came out the gates struggling to shoot just 32.6% in the first half, but led 40-32 at the break thanks to a 34-24 rebounding advantage leading to eight second-chance points for the visiting Blazers.