Los Angeles Lakers lose to Sacramento Kings without LeBron James; Zach LaVine drops 36 in Chicago Bulls win over New Orleans Pelicans; Trae Young inspires 19-point comeback for Atlanta Hawks against Orlando Magic
Thursday 4 March 2021 08:01, UK
Damien Lillard's late-game heroics lifted the Portland Trail Blazers to a dramatic 108-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
Damian Lillard swished a 29-foot three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining, then took a charging foul on Draymond Green to negate a potential game-tying hoop with 4.1 seconds left, allowing the host Portland Trail Blazers to overtake and then hold off the Golden State Warriors for a 108-106 victory.
Green gave Golden State a 106-103 lead with a three-pointer with 1:43 to go before Lillard scored the game's final five points.
Lillard's two free throws with 51.5 seconds left cut the Portland deficit to one, after which Stephen Curry saw a driving floater go in and out.
The Trail Blazers then put the ball in the hands of Lillard, who despite having shot just 5-for-16 to that point was able to drill what turned out to be the game-winner from well beyond the three-point arc.
The Warriors had a chance to tie, but Lillard slid in front of a driving Green near the hoop as the Warriors big man was scoring a layup.
Golden State challenged the charging call, but the foul was upheld.
The Warriors caught a break when Robert Covington missed two potential clinching free throws with 3.5 seconds to play. However, the Warriors had exhausted their final timeout challenging the Green foul and could get no better than a desperation 37-footer from Damion Lee that was off the mark.
Lillard finished with 22 points to tie Carmelo Anthony for team-high honours for the Trail Blazers, who won a second straight game after losing four in a row.
Covington and Gary Trent Jr added 15 points apiece, and Enes Kanter recorded 11 points and 14 rebounds for Portland.
Curry totalled a game-high 35 points for the Warriors, who lost a second in succession after three straight wins.
Harrison Barnes scored the decisive basket with 30.1 seconds left to help the Sacramento Kings wrap up a 123-120 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers.
Buddy Hield registered 29 points, six rebounds and six assists as Sacramento won for just the second time in the past 12 games. De'Aaron Fox had 23 points and eight assists before fouling out, Barnes scored 20 points and Richaun Holmes added 16 points and nine rebounds.
Dennis Schroder had season highs of 28 points and nine assists as Los Angeles played without LeBron James for the first time this season. Montrezl Harrell matched his season-high 26 points and collected 12 rebounds, while Kyle Kuzma scored a season-best 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
The Lakers have dropped seven of their last 10 games and are just 3-6 since Anthony Davis (Achilles, calf) was side-lined. James wasn't with the team and was listed out with a left ankle injury.
Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr scored 19 points each to lead the host Dallas Mavericks to an 87-78 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It was the lowest-scoring game of the season for both teams. The Mavericks head to the All-Star break having won nine of their last 11 games.
Dallas won Wednesday without star guard Luka Doncic, who missed the game with lower back tightness. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said before the game that Doncic has been dealing with the soreness for more than two weeks.
Without Doncic, Porzingas came up big, going 7 of 15 from the floor, hitting three three-pointers and recording 13 rebounds. Josh Richardson added 16 points for Dallas while Jalen Brunson, starting for Doncic, had 11.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 15 points, going just 5 of 15 from beyond the arc. Darius Bazley had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Luguentz Dort and Bazley were a combined 4 of 20 from the floor.
Zach LaVine scored 36 points as the visiting Chicago Bulls held off a New Orleans Pelicans fourth-quarter comeback in a 128-124 victory.
LaVine, who had 46 points in a 129-116 victory against the visiting Pelicans on February 10, made 12 of 19 shots. Coby White added 25 points, Thaddeus Young scored 18 and Patrick Williams had 13 and Denzel Valentine 11.
Zion Williamson scored 28, JJ Redick had 22, Brandon Ingram scored 21, Josh Hart had 13, Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe had 12 each and Jaxson Hayes 10 to lead the Pelicans.
Ingram scored seven consecutive points to start the third quarter. That enabled New Orleans to cut Chicago's lead from 19 to 12.
The Pelicans got within 12 twice more but couldn't get any closer before the Bulls took a 96-79 lead at the end of the quarter. New Orleans used a 15-5 run to pull within 112-104 with five minutes remaining, and eventually closed to within four.
But Wendell Carter Jr's tip-in with 1:05 remaining and LaVine's layup 25 seconds later gave Chicago a 121-113 lead.
New Orleans kept attacking, closing to within 126-124 on an Ingram three-pointer, but White hit two free throws to seal the victory.
Trae Young scored 32 points and made the two winning free throws with eight seconds remaining to complete a 19-point second-half comeback and give the visiting Atlanta Hawks a 115-112 win over the Orlando Magic.
The Magic had a chance to win it when Terrence Ross missed a runner with 1.1 seconds and Atlanta's John Collins grabbed the rebound. Collins was fouled and made both free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining.
The Hawks took the lead for the first time on Tony Snell's three-pointer with 1:09 remaining. But the Magic regained the lead after Nikola Vucevic scored on a rebound of Al-Farouq Aminu's missed layup with 18 seconds left.
Young was 9-for-19 from the floor, 10-for-11 at the line, and had eight assists. Undersized Danilo Gallinari was forced to start at center when Clint Capela was idled by a sore foot, and he came up with 23 points, five three-pointers, and nine rebounds. Collins added 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Magic got 29 points, 18 in the first half, and nine rebounds from Vucevic. Ross scored 28 points, including four threes, and Michael Carter-Williams scored 20. Aminu scored a season-high 14. Orlando were a perfect 27-for-27 from the line.
