Trail Blazers 139, 76ers 105
PHILADELPHIA -- One of the NBA's most explosive offensive teams met the one featuring the most porous defense Saturday night, with predictable results.
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 16 rebounds and the Western Conference-leading Portland Trail Blazers drilled a franchise-record 21 3-pointers en route to a 139-105 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Guard/forward Nicolas Batum added 17 points and nine assists for the Blazers, who hit a season-high point total while improving to 20-4. The victory was their third straight.
Guard Damian Lillard added 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and ex-Sixer guard/forward Dorell Wright had a season-high 15 points on 5-for-5 3-point marksmanship.
Eight players cracked double figures for Portland, which shot 21-for-37 from 3-point range (56.8 percent) and 56.3 percent in all.
The NBA record for 3-pointers in a game is 23. Portland had established its previous franchise high for triples just four games ago, nailing 17 (in 23 attempts) against Utah.
Guard Tony Wroten had 18 points to pace Philadelphia (7-18), which allowed more points than in any game this season while extending its season-worst losing streak to six games. Wroten has been filling in for rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams (skin infection, right knee) for that stretch. The Sixers are 1-9 without Carter-Williams this season.
Center Spencer Hawes had 16 points for Philadelphia, all in the first half, while forward Thaddeus Young had 15.
The Blazers began the night averaging 106.4 points and had made 219 3-pointers, each of which was second-most in the league. The Sixers were allowing 109.3, by far the most in the league, and had yielded 221 triples, which was also worst.
Aldridge scored 12 points and Lillard seven in the third quarter, when Portland outscored Philadelphia 40-15 to stretch a 71-64 halftime lead to 111-79.
The Blazers were up by as many as 37 in the fourth quarter.
The teams traded salvos during a freewheeling first half, one that saw 15 ties and 17 lead changes. The Blazers, who shot 11-for-20 from 3-point range in the half, used a 12-4 flurry at the end of the second quarter to establish a 71-64 lead at the break.
The 71 points were the most Portland had scored in any half this season, while the Sixers scored more than in any other first half.
In addition to Hawes' 16 first-half points, Young and Wroten had 13 each. Philadelphia went 6 of 7 from the arc, including the first career 3-pointer by third-year forward Lavoy Allen.
Batum notched all 12 of his first-half points in the opening quarter. Guard Mo Williams had 11 off the Blazers' bench.
Blazers center Meyers Leonard and Sixers center Daniel Orton were each ejected with 7:19 left, after Leonard was assessed a second-degree flagrant foul for throwing Orton to the floor and Orton was assessed a technical foul for retaliating.
NOTES: Sixers coach Brett Brown reiterated that there is no timetable for the return of G Michael Carter-Williams from a skin infection on the front of his right knee. Brown did say, however, that "at some point in the not-too-distant future he'll start practicing and we'll build him up to a playing level. I think that's getting closer." ... Blazers G C.J. McCollum has been cleared to play three-on-three. McCollum, the team's first-round draft pick last June, has yet to play this season because of a fractured left foot. Coach Terry Stotts said there is no timetable for McCollum's return while adding that he has made "good progress" in his rehabilitation. ... Brown pronounced himself a fan of Portland F LaMarcus Aldridge, noting that he is a terrific jump shooter at 6 feet 11. "He's one of these guys that contradicts (the belief that) long twos aren't good," Brown said. "He can post, and he can pick-and-pop, and he can play, and he does it with such extraordinary feel for a man of his length and size. ... I think he's just a very hard player to guard, in a bunch of ways."
