McCollum’s Trail Blazers silence Thunder
CJ MCCOLLUM scored 27 points and passed off seven assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers over Oklahoma City 117-106 in an NBA matchup on Tuesday.
Shabazz Napier added 21 points and Bosnian big man Jusuf Nurkic had 20 for the Trail Blazers (22-18), who edged ahead of the host Thunder (22-19) for fifth place in the Western Conference.
Damian Lillard missed his second game in a row with a strained right calf, with Napier starting in his place.
“That was a big win. It was for fifth place,” said McCollum (pictured, AFP). “Damian will be coming back any day now. We’ve got to keep the ship afloat until he gets back.”
McCollum sparked a Portland surge in the third quarter that kept Oklahoma City at bay the rest of the way,
“I just try to play at my pace, let the game come to me, and when I have to take a big shot I’m not afraid of it,” McCollum said. “Guys did a great job of setting me screens and I was able to get to the middle.”
Russell Westbrook and Paul George each had 22 points to lead the Thunder, with Westbrook adding game highs of 12 assists and nine rebounds, while Carmelo Anthony contributed 19 points and New Zealand centre Steven Adams had 16 in a losing cause.
Punches thrown in Toronto
In a thriller at Toronto, Miami’s Wayne El l i ngton scored inside with 0.3 of a second remaining to give the Heat a 90-89 victory.
Back-to-back baskets by DeMar DeRozan gave the host Raptors an 87-86 edge with two minutes to play, but Mi a mi ’s G o r a n D r a g i c answered on a driving layup with 19 seconds remaining to lift the Heat ahead 88-87.
But DeRozan, who led the Raptors with 25 points, wasn’t finished. He answered by tipping in his own miss with three seconds remaining to put the Raptors in front again, setting up Ellington’s clutch heroics.
Slovenian guard Dragic led Miami with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while Ellington had 15 points off the bench, Heat reserve Bam Adebayo added 16 and Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Spanish forward Serge Ibaka of Toronto and Miami forward James Johnson were ejected for throwing punches at each other during a third-quarter altercation that began when the two began wrestling with each other.
The Raptors fell to 28-11, second in the Eastern Conference and three games behind Boston, while Miami climbed to 23-17, matching Washington for fourth in the East.
German star Dirk Nowitzki and Dennis Smith Jr each scored 20 points to power the Dallas Mavericks over visiting Orlando 114-99.
Nowitzki played i n hi s 1,435th NBA game, all with the Mavericks, moving past Karl Malone into second on the alltime list of most games with one club, just 69 games behind John hn Stockton’s record. rd.
M a l o n e a n d Stockton set their marks wit h t he Utah Jazz.
Aaron Gordon came off the Magic i c bench to o l e a d O r l - ando with h 19 points.
At Los Angeles, ngeles, Julius Randle dle had 2 2 p o i n t s , 1 4 rebounds and six a s s i s t s , w h i l e Lonzo Ball ll added f i v e poi nt s s, , 1 1 r e b o u n d s , 1 1 assists and nd f i ve steals as the host Lakers defeated efeated S a c r a m e n t o 99-86.
Serbian reserve guard Bogdan Bogdanovich led the Kings with 19 points. On Monday, the M Minnesota Timberwolves route routed LeBron James and the Cleveland C Cavaliers, leadi leading by as many as 41 p points on the way to a 127-99 win in Min Minneapolis. Andrew Wiggins scored 2 25 points to pace a Timberwolves team that led from start to finish a against a Cavs t team e t hat went to the l ast three NBA NB Finals, winning th the title two seasons ago ago.
The Cav Cavs f el l t o 26-14. They They’re third in the East beh behind Thomas’s form former team, the Boston Ce Celtics, and the Toronto Raptors – who edge edged the Nets 114-113 i n overtime in a bruising e n c o u n t e r i n Brooklyn Brooklyn.