Blazers dig deep, add to lead over Thunder

Portland two up on Oklahoma City in West

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Thunder could regret this missed opportunity.

C.J. Mccollum scored 34 points to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat Oklahoma City 108-105 on Sunday. Portland doubled its lead to two games over the Thunder for third place in the Western Conference.

The Thunder had several chances to win.

Oklahoma City got possession trailing by two with 18.5 seconds left. Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony got trapped in the cornerandforcedhiswaythrough before turning the ball over.

Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook then fouled Portland’s Al-farouq Aminu with seven seconds to play and fouled out. Aminu made the first free throw and missed the secondtogivethethunderachanceto force overtime, but Anthony missed a 3-pointer as time expired.

Thearenahadtheenergyofaplayoff game, especially in the second half. Mccollum liked the way the

Trail Blazers had to scrape and claw togetthewininahostileenvironment.

“Being down and having to compete, going on runs, coming back and just having to get stops down the stretch,” he said. “They are a good team and made the game very difficult.”

Damian Lillard had 24 points and Jusuf Nurkic 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who swept all four games with the Thunder this season.

Westbrook led the Thunder with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Steven Adams had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Jerami Grant added 17 points.

Oklahoma City trailed 44-29 in the second quarter before going on a 16-0 run to take the lead. Portland regrouped and led 57-52 at halftime.

“Ithoughtitwasahellofabasketball game,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “You can tell this meant a lot to both teams. I thought we made a lot of good plays defensively. We were very good when we needed to be.”

Cavaliers 121, Nets 114 —

At New York, Lebron James had 37 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for Cleveland, which won its fifth straight. James, who made 14 of 19 shots, reached 2,000 points in a season for the 10th time, joining Karl Malone and Michael Jordan as the lone NBA players to do that.

At Oakland, Calif., Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 15 rebounds for Utah, which benefited from the absences of four Golden State All-stars — including two-time MVP Stephen Curry, who was ruled out for the first round oftheplayoffswithaleftkneesprain.

At Indianapolis, Victor Oladipo had 23 points and five assists for Indiana, which clinched its seventh playoff berth in the past eight seasons. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra missed the first game of his career after learning his wife, Nikki, was in labor.

At Houston, James Harden had 18 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in three quarters for Houston, which didn’t trail for a second straight game en route to its ninth straight win and 60th of the season.

At Sacramento, Calif., Terry Rozier scored a career-high 33 points in his sixth start for Boston in place of injured All-star point guard Kyrie Irving, making 12 of 16 shots, including 8 of 12 3-pointers.

At Toronto, Lou Williams scored 26 points against his former team for

Los Angeles, which overcame an 18-point first quarter deficit. Toronto fell to 30-7 at home, still the league’s best home mark.

At Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from an ankle injury to score 25 points for Milwaukee, which led by 15 with eight minutes left and held on to halt San Antonio’s sixgame win streak.

At Washington, Trey Burke had 19 points in his first start in exactly three years, leading eight scorers in double figures for New York, which handed Washington its third consecutive loss.

Jazz 110, Warriors 91 — Pacers 113, Heat 107, OT — Rockets 118, Hawks 99 — Celtics 104, Kings 93 — Clippers 117, Raptors 106 — Bucks 106, Spurs 103 — Knicks 101, Wizards 97 —