On Friday night, CJ McCollum and the Portland Trail Blazers took it to the rebuilding Indiana Pacers. McCollum was playing in his first game of the season after serving a one-game suspension from the league. When all was said and done, the Blazers ended up with an 18-point victory, giving them a 2-0 start to their season. Here's a look at the Trail Blazers vs. Pacers recap with top performers, game stats, a standings update, and what's next on their schedules.

NBA game recap

The Trail Blazers took control of tonight's game from the get-go with a 31-25 first quarter.

In the second quarter, they outscored the home team 31-27 and then had a 29-21 third quarter. The two teams each scored 23 points in the final quarter, which meant Indiana didn't have nearly enough to make any sort of comeback. The Blazers ended up with a 114-96 road win to continue a perfect start to the season.

CJ McCollum was nearly unconscious for the visiting Portland Trail Blazers tonight. The former All-Star guard went 12-for-18 from the floor with a 3-for-4 three-point shooting rate. He'd end up with a team-high 28 points and seven rebounds. Damian Lillard had 18 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, while forward Al-Farouq Aminu had 16 points to go with 16 boards. Evan Turner came off the bench to score 17 in the win on 7-for-12 shooting.

For the rebuilding Indiana Pacers, newest team member Victor Oladipo had 17 points, but shot just 5-for-17 from the field. Rookie T.J. Leaf, who played with Lonzo Ball at UCLA, ended up getting 17 points off the bench on 7-for-11 shooting. Starters Darren Collison and Bojan Bogdanovic had 14, and 11 points, respectively. No other Pacers players were able to finish in double digits for their scoring, though.

For the game, Portland knocked down shots at a rate of 48.4 percent for the game, while the Pacers shot 44.9 percent overall. The Blazers were also red-hot from downtown, hitting 47.4 percent of their threes. In terms of rebounding, Portland crushed Indiana there too with a 51-39 advantage. The Trail Blazers also limited their total turnovers to just nine for the game compared to 12 for the home team.

Standings & what's next

Tonight's win has the Portland Trail Blazers at 2-0 to start the season. They've recorded victories over the Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers, though, two teams not expected to be in the thick of any postseason chase this season. Next up for Portland may be their first true test, a road game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

At 1-1, the Indiana Pacers have shown some glimpses of hope, but this is not a team anyone expects to make noise in the Eastern Conference. Still, there could be surprising results if the team starts to gel and overachieve. They'll take on the Heat in Miami on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
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