Community Picks: Portland 0% vs New Orleans 0%

This was the year the Trail Blazers were going to break through. Portland is on the verge of being bounced in the first round for the third time in four years. If Portland is going to turn this series around, it starts with Lillard, something I discuss in this latest PBT Extra. Continue to Article

April 19, 2018 8:00:am EST

This series was supposed to be about the Portland Trail Blazers' dynamic backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Instead, it has been a referendum on the best guard on the court -- New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday -- whose relentless defensive pressure and unstoppable drives into the lane have earned New Orleans a commanding 2-0 advantage with Game 3 of the best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series set for Thursday night at the Smoothie King Center. "I may be a little bit biased, but if you can tell me a better two-way player in the league right now ... I'm willing to listen," New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry said after Holiday scored a playoff career-high 33 points and had nine assists in a 111-102 victory in Portland on Tuesday night. Continue to Article

April 18, 2018 9:37:pm EST

Removed from the turbulence that marked his previous seasons in New Orleans, Jrue Holiday is in a good place — and it shows. Holiday had a career playoff-high 33 points as the Pelicans took a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers with a 111-102 victory on Tuesday night. Then in early 2016 he took a leave of absence when doctors discovered that his wife, former U.S. national soccer team player Lauren Holiday, had a brain tumor while she was pregnant with the couple's first child. Continue to Article

April 18, 2018 2:29:am EST

If only for one night, Jrue Holiday silenced his critics. New Orleans now owns a 2–0 lead over the Blazers as their first-round series shifts to the Bayou for Game 3 on Thursday. The Pelicans were roundly criticized for re-signing Holiday to a five-year, $125 million deal last summer. Continue to Article

April 18, 2018 2:00:am EST

Anthony Davis scored 35 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the visiting New Orleans Pelicans held off the Portland Trail Blazers to win the opener of their first-round Western Conference playoff series 97-95 Saturday night. Jrue Holiday scored 21 points, Nikola Mirotic collected 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo contributed six points, eight rebounds and 17 assists for the sixth-seeded Pelicans. CJ McCollum scored 19 points and Damian Lillard 18 for the Trail Blazers, who rallied from a 19-point, third-quarter deficit but could never take the lead. Continue to Article

April 15, 2018 1:13:am EST