Lillard pours in 71 pts, Blazers down Rockets
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Damian Lillard set franchise and career highs with 71 points — tied for the most in the NBA this season — and 13 3-pointers and the Portland Trail Blazers snapped a two-game skid with a 131-114 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
Lillard tied Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell for the most points in a game this season after Mitchell also scored 71 in a win over Chicago on Jan. 2. Lillard broke his own franchise mark of 61 points, which he’d done twice, on a 3-pointer with 4:42 left that also topped his career record for 3s in a game with 11.
Lillard’s 13 3-pointers were one shy of the NBA record set by Golden State’s Klay Thompson in 2018. Thompson’s Warriors teammate Stephen Curry (2016) and Chicago’s Zach LaVine (2019) also made 13 3s.
Lillard left the game with 44 seconds left, tied with Mitchell, Elgin Baylor (1960) and David Robinson (1994) for the eighthmost points scored in a game in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain has the league record with 100 for Philadelphia against New York on March 2, 1962, at Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Alperen Sengun had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, sitting in last place in the Western Conference with just 13 overall wins and nine straight losses.
BUCKS 104, SUNS 101
Jrue Holiday scored 33 points, Brook Lopez made a tiebreaking layup with 24.8 seconds left and Milwaukee edged Phoenix for its 14th consecutive victory.
The nationally televised game didn’t include Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo or Phoenix’s Kevin Durant.
Antetokounmpo was out with a bruised right quadriceps after leaving in the first quarter of the Bucks’ 128-99 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday. Durant has yet to appear in a game for the Suns and hasn’t played since Jan. 8 because of sprained right medial collateral ligament.
Lopez had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks, and Khris Middleton added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
LAKERS 111, MAVERICKS 108
Anthony Davis had 30 points and 15 rebounds, including a putback dunk for the late lead, and Los Angeles erased a 27-point deficit to beat Dallas.
LeBron James scored 26 points as the Lakers won their fourth in five games by turning a showcase of stars from a laugher into a thriller that featured 13 lead changes in the fourth quarter.
Luka Doncic scored 26 points for the Mavs, but the youngest of the four superstars was limited and frustrated after a 14-point first quarter that sent Dallas on its way to the huge lead.
Kyrie Irving had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas, but didn’t take over in the fourth quarter the way he did in his first victory with Doncic since the trade from Brooklyn – over lowly San Antonio.
HAWKS 129, NETS 127
Trae Young sank a buzzerbeating jumper over Spencer Dinwiddie to lift Atlanta over Brooklyn a few hours before the Hawks announced they hired Quin Snyder to replace the fired Nate McMillan as coach.
Young finished with 34 points for the Hawks, who recovered after blowing an 18-point lead to overcome four Nets scorers with at least 20 points.