Toumani Camara’s career night helps Blazers trounce Nets
Toumani Camara established career highs of 35 points and nine 3-pointers to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a convincing 134-99 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
Camara scored 23 points on flawless shooting in the first half to get Portland started toward its fourth win in the past five games. Deni Avdija scored 18 points, Kris Murray added 16 points off the bench, and Donovan Clingan had 15 rebounds and seven blocked shots to go with seven points for the Trail Blazers (36-37), who are a half-game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.
Scoot Henderson had 13 points, Jrue Holiday added 11 points and seven assists, and reserve Matisse Thybulle had 10 points for Portland, which posted its largest winning margin of the campaign.
Reserve Tyson Etienne scored a team-high 18 points, Ziaire Williams scored 16 and Josh Minott added 15 for the Nets (17-55), who lost their eighth straight contest and 18th in their past 20. Backup Chaney Johnson had 12.
Camara missed just 2 of 11 3-point attempts as Portland was 18 of 38 from long range. Overall, the Trail Blazers made 55% of their shots.
Brooklyn connected on 41.2% of its attempts and hit 8 of 29 from behind the arc. Jalen Wilson added 11 points and Nic Claxton and reserve Ben Saraf had 10 apiece.
Portland led by 18 points at halftime and Camara's sixth 3-pointer of the game elevated the lead to 76-55 with 9:44 left in the third quarter.
Later in the quarter, Camara improved to 7-for-7 when he sank a trey to make it 93-71 with 1:57 to go.
The Trail Blazers led 97-73 entering the fourth before Holiday and Camara opened the quarter with treys to make it a 30-point margin.
At that point, Camara was 8-for-8 from 3-point range and in position to set a club record for most makes in a game without a miss. But he missed his ninth attempt with 10:27 left, allowing franchise legend Terry Porter (7-for-7 against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 14, 1992) to keep his mark.
Camara promptly buried another trey with 9:27 left to make it 106-73. He exited 26 seconds later and the Trail Blazers led by as many as 38 while finishing off the win.
Camara was 6-of-6 shooting -- including hitting five treys -- as Portland held a 69-51 halftime lead. He ended the half with a flourish by converting a three-point play with 1:04 remaining and draining a 3-pointer with 41.6 seconds left.