The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 106-95 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, to secure their third straight win.

Without two of core members, Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic, the Trail Blazers managed to come back in the second half on the road, thanks to their improved defense. Having allowed 57 points at the field goal (FG) rate of 48.8 percent by the opponents in the first two quarters, The Trail Blazers enhanced their defensive intensity from the third quarter by making more physical contact and pressuring on the ball more agressively.

As a result, the Pelicans shot 7-for-20 and 6-for-18 from the field in the third and fourth quarters respectively, getting only a total of 38 points while committing 12 turnovers. The team's young star duo, Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, both scored zero points in the third quarter. The Pelicans fell into an unfavorable situation after trailing 27-17 in the third quarter and never came back.

The Trail Blazers' strong rally in the second half was also based on the remarkable offensive performances of Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant. As C. J. McCollum's successor to play as the second-in-command behind Lillard, Simmons had to shoulder both the scoring and playmaking duties in Thursday's game. He didn't do well in the first quarter, 0-for-5 in FGs, but he began to find his 3-point shooting touch and grew more aggressive to get 10 points in the second quarter.

Simons became the Trail Blazers' source of firepower for counterstrike by making three triples in the third quarter. Then in the fourth quarter, Grant took over from him to go 3-for-5 to contribute 10 points in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, he, Josh Hart and Justise Winslow made sure that their small-ball squad didn't crumble on the defensive end despite the apparent size advantage of the opponents.

Having lost the three of their recent four games, the Pelicans had only themselves to blame, especially on Thursday night. With Jonas Valanciunas, Brandon Ingram and Williamson on their roster, the team had every reason to tear the Trail Blazers apart from the interior because, Grant, Winslow and Drew Eubanks are in disadvantage in size, power and athleticism.

Nonetheless, coach Willie Green failed to play well with the good cards he had. Valanciunas played less than 20 minutes on court and took no more than eight FG attempts. Williamson was dominant enough to get 17 points in the final quarter, but he shot only seven times in total in the first three quarters.

Coach Green defended his players in the post-game interview by pointing out that the Pelicans played eight of their 12 games on the road. Thursday's loss was the beginning of a six-home-streak, but they will play against opponents including the Memphis Grizzlies, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.

Other games on Thursday (away teams come first):

Dallas Mavericks 105-113 Washington Wizards

Kyle Kuzma proved to the Wizards that they still had him to count on when Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis were sitting on Thursday's game. Having gone 14-for-26 in FGs including 5-for-11 from downtown, Kuzma scored a double-double of 36 points and 11 rebounds in front of home fans at Capital One Arena. Furthermore, his bench teammates Rui Hachimura, Will Barton and Daniel Gafford outscored their Mavericks counterparts 48-25.

Though he had to appear back-to-back, Luka Doncic still played almost 40 minutes in Thursday's game, not to mention that he had to face double-teaming every time he received the ball during half-court offense. Spencer Dinwiddie's 33 points offset the dominance of Kuzma, but Doncic was too tired to extend his 30+points game streak.

Philadelphia 76ers 95-104 Atlanta Hawks

Joel Embiid shot 9-for-18 from the field to get 26 points and 13 rebounds for the 76ers at State Farm in Thursday's game. The numbers seemed okay, especially considering that James Harden was not there to feed Embiid.

However, Embiid's double-double didn't translate into victory for the 76ers. Despite his advantage in size and power, he only made two shots under the rim while shooting 13 jumpers. He got 10 free throws, but instead of throwing Clint Capela into foul trouble, Embiid found himself in foul trouble and watched Capela drop a double-double of 18 points and 20 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.

Unlike the 76ers which relied on Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to score, the Hawks had six players reach double digit points at home. Trae Young didn't match Embiid's FG efficiency, but he managed to get the whole Hawks involved in offense instead of holding up ball movement.

Charlotte Hornets 112-117 Miami Heat

Jimmy Butler failed to carry his good offensive form to overtime (OT), during which he went 1-for-4 in FGs to get only three points and one rebound. However, he was still able to lead the Heat to victory with defensive efforts. He made Kelly Oubre Jr. travel and Terry Rozier shoot out of the baseline, both in the final 15 seconds. As a result, the Hornets scored no point at all after 1:13 of OT.

Of course, though Butler didn't shine as much in OT as he did in the regular time, was still the best-performing player on the offensive end of both sides. Having shot only one 3-pointer (and missed), Butler scored 35 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. He walked to the free throw line 15 times and saw the ball fall into the net 13 instances there.