NBA review: Portland Trail Blazers defeat San Antonio Spurs
Last Updated: 20/12/14 12:50pm
Portland's Damian Lillard scored a career-high 43 points, including 16 in the added periods, to lead the Trail Blazers to a 129-119 victory at San Antonio on Friday, handing the Spurs their second straight defeat in triple overtime.
The Trail Blazers moved within half a game of Memphis in the race for second in the Western Conference, after the Grizzlies were beaten on their home court by Chicago.
Elsewhere, Denver hit late 3-pointers to prevail in a see-saw contest against the Clippers, and Eastern Conference leaders Toronto handed Detroit their 12th straight home defeat.
San Antonio became the first team to play consecutive triple-overtime games since the Baltimore Bullets 63 years ago, and frustratingly lost yet another close encounter, having dropped their previous two games by a combined three points.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 16 rebounds, and Wesley Matthews added 16 points as Portland notched a fourth-straight win. Lillard scored the first nine points in the third overtime.
Tim Duncan had 32 points and 10 rebounds, and Danny Green added 27 points for San Antonio.
Chicago ended Memphis' six-game streak with a 103-97 win, with Jimmy Butler scoring 31 points for the Bulls in a clash of divisional leaders. Nikola Mirotic added a season-best 27 and Chicago snapped Memphis' six-game winning streak.
Butler went 11 of 21 from the field and Mirotic connected on all six of his shots beyond the arc, setting a season standard for 3-pointers. He had a season-best 27 points for the Bulls.
Washington rallied to win 105-103 at Miami, who were left to rue their failure to take a late chance.
The Heat had a shot to tie the game with 11 seconds left, but Bradley Beal intercepted a pass by Dwyane Wade and made two free throws to clinch the win. Wade hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
Denver's Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari hit successive 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter to give the Nuggets a 109-106 win against the Clippers. The late show got the Nuggets out of jail after having given up a 16-point lead.
Blake Griffin had his second 30-point performance in a row, finishing with 32 for the Clippers, who have dropped their last three games on the road.
Toronto won 110-100 at Detroit, with the Pistons extending their unwanted franchise record for successive home defeats to 12 while Cleveland's LeBron James scored 22 points as the Cavaliers squeezed out a 95-91 home win over Brooklyn.
Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook scored 31 points and hit a key jumper with 38 seconds left to give the Thunder a 104-103 victory over the Lakers and Utah's Derrick Favors had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the Jazz's 101-94 win against Orlando.
Boston won 114-98 over Minnesota in the Celtics first game since trading away star point guard Rajon Rondo and Charlotte's Kemba Walker scored a season-high 30 points to help the Hornets beat hapless Philadelphia 109-91 and end a four-game skid.
