THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
Trail Blazers 112, Magic 103: Damian Lillard scored 33 points, C.J. McCollum added 22 and Portland beat Orlando to snap a threegame losing streak. After trailing for much of the game, the Trail Blazers rallied in the fourth quarter behind Lillard’s 17 points. Orlando led by as many as 14 points, but the breakdowns on the interior defense and the inability to get consistent points outside of Nikola Vucevic plagued them down the stretch.
Pistons 114, Hornets 108, OT: Kentavious CaldwellPope scored 33 points, including three 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter during a pulsating Detroit rally, and the Pistons outlasted Charlotte in overtime. Caldwell-Pope scored Detroit’s last 11 points of regulation, and his 3pointer with 18.2 seconds to play tied the game at 100.
Charlotte was without 7-footer Cody Zeller, who was out with quad soreness.
Rockets 129, Pelicans 99:
The Boogie-and-Brow era in New Orleans is off to a highly inauspicious start. The Pelicans’ tandem of newly acquired All-Star DeMarcus Cousins and All-Star game MVPAnthony Davis were no match for the surging Houston Rockets. Reserve LouWilliams hit seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points in his Rockets debut.
Omri Casspi has broken his right thumb in his first game with New Orleans. Casspi says he’s expected to miss about four weeks but hopes he can return a little sooner than that.
Cavaliers 119 Knicks 104:
LeBron James recorded his 48th career triple-double and Kyrie Irving scored 23 points, leading Cleveland to a victory over New York, who hung on to superstar Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose at Thursday’s trade deadline. James scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds with 15 assists for his sixth tripledouble of the season.
Kings 116, Nuggets 100:
Willie Cauley-Stein had a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds to help Sacramento, playing for the first time since trading DeMarcus Cousins, beat Denver. Newcomers Buddy Hield scored 16 points and Tyreke Evans had 15 for Sacramento, Darren Collison had 15 points and 10 assists. Seldom-used rookie Skal Labissiere had a season-high 12 points, Ben McLemore 10.