Lillard’s late layup sends Blazers past Dallas Mavericks, 121-119
DALLAS — Damian Lillard’s twisting layup with 26 seconds remaining proved to be the winner as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Dallas Mavericks 121-119 on Sunday night.
Lillard’s basket gave the Blazers a 120-119 lead. Dallas’ Luka Doncic then missed a 3-point attempt and Portland won a challenge of a call that would have sent the Mavericks’ Dorian Finney-Smith to the foul line.
Instead, there was a jump ball. The Blazers’ Kent Bazemore got the ball and was fouled. He made the first of two free throws. Doncic rebounded and passed to Tim Hardaway, whose shot from about midcourt rattled off the front of the rim a time expired.
Lillard, who scored 67 points in Portland’s first two games, finished with two points in the first half on 1-for-7 shooting. He scored 26 in the second half, finishing with 28.
CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 35 points. Rodney Hood had 20 points, Bazemore 11 and Zach Collins 10.
The Mavericks’ Kristaps Porzingis scored 32 points and Doncic finished 29 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Maxi Kleber had 14 points, Seth Curry 12 and Hardaway 11.
Portland never held the lead through the first three periods, but rallied to tie the game at 95 on one of two free throws by Lillard eight seconds before the end of the third quarter.
Dallas struggled through a 2-for-19 shooting spell and fell behind by as many as six points before Curry hit a 3-pointer that tied the game at 107.
After Portland tied the score at 25 with 3:19 remaining in the first quarter, Dallas went on an 18-0 run for a 43-25 lead early in the second.
Dallas led at halftime 71-59.
Thunder 120, Warriors 92
OKLAHOMA CITY — Dennis Schroder scored 22 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder rout the Golden State Warriors 120-92 on Sunday for their first victory of the season.
The blowout matched Oklahoma City’s largest margin of victory over the Warriors since the franchise moved from Seattle before the 2008-09 season.
Danilo Gallinari added 21 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder. They opened the season with losses to Utah and Washington.
Stephen Curry scored 23 points for the Warriors, making 7 of 18 shots while his teammates made just 23 of 74. Golden State was coming off a season-opening home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 32 points for Dallas, and Doncic had 29 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
Grizzlies 134, Nets 133, OT
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jae Crowder hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired in overtime, lifting Memphis past Brooklyn for its first victory of the season.
Rookie Ja Morant led the Grizzlies with 30 points and had his ninth assist on Crowder’s winning basket. Morant also blocked Kyrie Irving’s shot at the end of regulation to keep the score tied at 120-all.
Irving had 37 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Timberwolves 116, Heat 109
MINNEAPOLIS — Andrew Wiggins made four 3-pointers in the final six minutes, finishing with 25 points to propel undefeated Minnesota past Miami.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Wolves. At 3-0, they matched the second-best start in the long-languishing franchise’s history. They were 6-0 in 2001-02 and 3-0 in 2013-14.
Kendrick Nunn had 25 points for Miami.