The Trailblazers played host to the last-place Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, beating them fairly easily and playing well while doing it. The big story was that center Jusuf Nurkic, pictured above, got his first ever triple double, notching 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the game. It had been five years since a Trailblazer posted a triple double (Nic Batum did it in 2014). Jusuf Nurkic's t-shirt is based on a hashtag started by teammate Damian Lillard, by the way. The Blazers won it 129-112.

No team in this season's NBA has experienced as dramatic a fall from grace as the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was just last year that they were fighting it out in the finals, vying for the national championship. And now they sit dead last. This is mostly due, of course, to the departure of Lebron James, who left town to join the Los Angeles Lakers over the summer. If you ask most Cleveland fans, they hold little malice towards King James for heading west. He did deliver on his promise to bring home a championship back in 2016, and for now Cleveland appears content to dwell in the bottom. This game remained competitive throughout the first half, with seven lead changes and strong offensive by both teams. The Blazers led by seven points at the break.

Here's a look at the fans wandering the hallways at halftime. Most notable was the complete lack of Cleveland fans in the house. Last season, with Lebron James on the squad, the place was full of Cavs jerseys and loud cheers when the away team scored. On this night it was all Blazers.

The second half of this game saw the Blazers pull away with relative ease. Cleveland, who had been fighting hard to stay close, appeared to let their collective foot off the gas. Meanwhile the Blazers took care of business. Damian Lillard had been listed as questionable up until an hour before tipoff due to a sore hand. He seemed fine though, scoring 33 points, hitting three for six from deep. Young forward Jake Layman had another nice game, scoring 18. This is a nice trend for the Blazers as they desperately need some production from their wing players. Layman may well have cemented his starting spot with Moe Harkless suffering knee, and scoring issues throughout this season.

With the Blazers leading by as much as 21 late in the third quarter, it looked as if the bench players would be finishing the game and Jusuf Nurkic wasn't going to get his shot at a triple double. But Cleveland made a little run to bring it within 10 points and coach Stotts returned the starters the the game. That's when Nurkic, who had just four points going into the final quarter, when on a bit of a run himself. He scored six quick points and then set to work gathering three more assists to complete the double digit trifecta. His final assist came on a handoff to Lillard, who drained a three pointer just as Stotts was preparing to bring back the bench players. The Moda Center crowd, who'd been keenly aware of the statistics chase, gave Nurkic a standing ovation and he was greeted by hugs and pats on the back from his teammates and coaches.

Afterwards, Nurkic downplayed the accomplishment, preferring instead to focus on the victory itself.
"“People said the first (you) always remember," he said, "But if I lost and I got a triple-double, I’d be mad as hell.”

The Blazers now sit in fourth place in the Western conference. They host Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night in what could be an exciting matchup. Both teams are fighting for a playoff spot, and the Blazers owe New Orleans a little payback for the whooping they handed them in the first round last year.