Blazers win fifth straight, one step closer to playoffs, Lillard shines

The Portland Trail Blazers have been the best team in the NBA in the month of March. They finished it with an impressive 13-3 record, with their last win of March coming on a Thursday night over the Rockets. They did so on a nationally televised game in front of a sellout crowd of 20,000 fans at Moda Center. Portland's biggest lead was 13 points, but it was a tied game at 105-105 with 2:28 left to play.

The Blazers finished the game on a 12-2 run and came away with a 10-point victory. It was Portland's fifth straight win, and they are now looking like a team that is ready to make some noise in the playoffs.

Lillard leads the team once again

As expected, Damian Lillard was the leader for his team once again, as he was many times this season. He scored a game high 31 points, dished out also a game high 11 assists and grabbed four rebounds. He played 37 minutes and with this 30-point game he became the first Trail Blazer to record eight games of at least 30 points in a calendar month. "I think we are playing with a sense of urgency.

We expected a battle tonight and I'm happy that we were able to come out with a win," said Lillard after the game.

Six Trail Blazers finished the game in double digit points, and one of them was their starting center Jusuf Nurkic. Following his career night against Denver, he scored 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds against a very good Rockets team.

Coach Terry Stotts said: "I liked the way we stayed engaged defensively." He also added: "Ball movement was really good, we attacked pick and rolls offensively well."

Harden was inefficient

James Harden led the way for the Rockets with 30 points but he was only 11-30 from the field. He missed 11 threes (2-13) and Houston as a team shot poorly from three point land, as they managed to make only 8 of 34 3-point attempts.

Trevor Ariza added 17 and Lou Williams helped with 14 points off the bench. With only seven games remaining in the regular season, the Rockets (51-24) remain in the third spot of the Western Conference standings, while the Blazers (37-38) are still fighting for their playoff chances.