Lillard scores 61 to push Blazers into 8th
Damian Lillard tied his career high with 61 points, and the Trail Blazers beat the Mavericks 134-131 on Tuesday night at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida to move into eighth place in the Western Conference.
The Blazers will clinch a spot in the play-in series for the last playoff spot in the West with a win Thursday against the Nets.
Lillard made nine 3-pointers in his sixth 50-point game of the season. He’s the 12th player in NBA history to score 50 points in back-to-back games after dropping 51 on the 76ers on Sunday.
Carmelo Anthony added 26 points on 10-of 17 shooting for the Blazers.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 36 points and Luka Doncic had 25 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Mavs, who will finish No. 7 in the West.
■ Keldon Johnson had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and the Spurs kept alive their chance of becoming the first team in NBA history to make 23 consecutive playoff appearances with a 123-105 victory over the Rockets. DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points for the Spurs, who have won five of seven since arriving at Disney. The Spurs will need help to be one of the teams in the play-in series, but made sure they couldn’t be eliminated Tuesday with their win. Russell Westbrook had 20 points and seven turnovers in his first game back in the lineup for the Rockets after missing two games with a bruised right quadriceps. The Rockets played without guards James Harden (rest) and Eric Gordon (ankle) . ... Devin Booker scored 35 points and the Suns protected their playoff hopes by beating the 76ers 130-117 to remain undefeated at Disney. Booker became the Suns’ career leader with his 91st 30-point game, breaking a tie with Walter Davis. Mikal Bridges added 24 points for the Suns, who are 7-0 at Disney and in the mix for the final spot in the West . ... Jayson Tatum scored 29 points, and the Celtics beat the Grizzlies 122-107 victory. The Grizzlies missed another chance to guarantee themselves a spot in the play-in series. They dropped to ninth in the conference. The Celtics won their fourth straight game.
Colleges: A court decision the NCAA says will hurt college sports by allowing certain student-athletes to be paid “vast sums” of money as “educational expenses” will go into effect after the Supreme Court declined to intervene at this point. Justice Elena Kagan denied the NCAA’s request to put a lower court ruling on hold at least temporarily while the NCAA asks the Supreme Court to take up the case. It plans to do so by mid-October. Kagan declined to put on hold a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In May it upheld a lowercourt ruling prohibiting the NCAA from limiting compensation for education-related expenses for studentathletes. The ruling applies to D-I football and basketball.
Tennis: Top-seeded Serena Williams needed to rally to win in her comeback following a six-month layoff, beating Bernarda Pera 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky. Williams, 38, advanced to a second-round showdown against older sister Venus, 40, who beat Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-2.