PORTLAND, Ore. _ The Orlando Magic were greeted at the Moda Center on Friday by a giant painting on the wall just inside the players' entrance that read, "Welcome to Rip City."
It was appropriate.
The Trail Blazers, celebrating '80s night during their 50th anniversary season, ripped Orlando 118-103, sending the Magic home for Christmas with their fourth loss during a five-game road trip. The Magic (12-17) have lost six of their past seven games after starting the month with four straight victories.
The Blazers shook the Magic all night long and Orlando was shooting like Madonna was living on a prayer. They missed 16 of their first 20 shots to dig themselves a hole from which they could never recover.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum saw to that, combining for 67 points and the Magic had no answer.
Orlando's top players had the most trouble shooting. Aaron Gordon made just 4 of 17 shots, Nikola Vucevic improved as the night went on but still made just 9 of his 20 shots and Evan Fournier was 7 of 17 as the Magic barely made it to 36% for the night. Vucevic did end up with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Gordon had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Orlando shot just 7 of 28 (25%) from 3-point range.
The Magic tried to climb back in it before halftime. The Blazers had built a 20-point lead near the end of the first quarter when Orlando finally started to find its shooting touch. The Magic made just 6 of 28 shots in that opening period, but finally got it going.
Terrence Ross and D.J. Augustin led a Magic surge off the bench. Orlando outscored Portland 16-2 to get within 33-27 with 9:00 left in the first half, but that was as close as Portland would allow.
Then came the Damian Lillard show. The Portland guard went on a third-quarter scoring spree and the Magic had no answer. He had 15 points at halftime, but in a red-hot third quarter, Lillard hit 6 of 10 shots for 16 points. As if that wasn't enough, C.J. McCollum was also lighting up the Rip City nets, scoring 10 third quarter points and Portland led 93-75 to start the final quarter.
Lillard ended the game with 36 points on 13 of 21 shooting, while McCollum added 31 points. The lethargic Magic had 11 shots blocked, five by former Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside.
