CJ McCollum had a huge smile on his face as he reached out to give Trevor Ariza a high-five after sinking an open three-pointer in transition midway through the third quarter Wednesday night.

The shot gave the Portland Trail Blazers a 16-point lead over the Houston Rockets – a lead that the Blazers weren’t about to relinquish given how well they were playing.

The Blazers put together one of their best performances of the season Wednesday to beat the Rockets 125-112 at the Moda Center. The Blazers have now won three of their last four games and are playing their best basketball in what has thus far been a highly disappointing season.

After entering the week with just five wins this season against teams with winning records, the Blazers have now won back-to-back games against teams with winning percentages above .500.

The Blazers took control of Wednesday’s game in the second quarter, going on a 22-3 run to take a comfortable lead before Eric Gordon finally sank a three-pointer for the Rockets with 1:25 left in the first half. The Blazers finished the first half with 71 points, surpassing their previous season-high for points in a first half.

Damian Lillard continued to lead the way for the Blazers, finishing with 36 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to record the first triple-double of his career.

Lillard, who was named the Western Conference Player of the Week Monday after averaging 52.7 points over a three-game stretch, has scored 30-plus points in each of the last six games. Lillard is the first player in Blazers’ history to score 30-plus points in six consecutive games.

While Lillard has stepped up over the last six games, it is also unlikely a coincidence that the Blazers have had two of their best performances of the season this week after trading for Trevor Ariza. Ariza scored 21 points Wednesday, while continuing to provide solid defense and bringing much-needed height to what had been an undersized starting lineup.

The Blazers also got production from their bench Wednesday with Gary Trent Jr. and Nassir Little finishing with 10 points apiece. The team was aided on defense by key blocks from Hassan Whiteside, who recorded 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in the game.

Carmelo Anthony scored six points Wednesday to move up to 17th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, passing Kevin Garnett.

Russell Westbrook led the Rockets with 39 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 6 assists, but the Blazers did well to limit the impact of James Harden, who leads the NBA in points per game. Harden finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Westbrook and Harden helped the Rockets go on a 7-0 run in the third quarter to cut the deficit, but the Blazers responded with an 8-0 run of their own, taking a 16-point lead on McCollum’s three-pointer. The Rockets never came close to getting back in the game again.

The Blazers will now travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. PT at the Staples Center. Friday’s game will be the Lakers’ first game since the tragic death of Kobe Bryant Sunday. The coaching staffs for both the Blazers and Rockets wore Kobe sneakers in honor of Bryant Wednesday night.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg

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