Barcelona retakes lead of Spanish league after Sevilla slips
SAN ANTONIO — DeMar DeRozan had a season-high 36 points and the San Antonio Spurs overcame a big game by Damian Lillard, rebounding from a pair of lopsided losses to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 131-118 on Sunday night (Monday, PHL time).
The Spurs held a practice Saturday morning (Sunday evening, PHL time) following consecutive losses of 39 points and 31 points and the team responded with its highest point total in two weeks.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 29 points and Rudy Gay had 18 as the Spurs snapped a two-game skid.
Lillard scored 37 points for Portland, and C.J. McCollum had 24.
DeRozan scored 26 points in the second half as the Spurs rallied from a seven-point deficit in the third quarter after blowing a 12-point lead in the first half.
Portland opened the second half on a 24-10 run in taking a 79-72 lead. San Antonio aided the spurt by committing four turnovers and missing five of its first six shots.
Al-Farouq Aminu tied a season high, scoring 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter. Aminu also finished with nine rebounds.
DeRozan scored 18 of San Antonio's final 20 points to close the third quarter, giving the Spurs a 97-90 lead entering the fourth.
The Spurs made four threepointers in the fourth to fend off the Blazers.
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Trail Blazers: At Dallas on Tuesday night (Wednesday, PHL time).
Spurs: At Utah on Tuesday night (Wednesday, PHL time).
BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona retook the lead of the Spanish league on Sunday after beating Villarreal 2-0 while Sevilla was held to a draw at Alaves.
Barcelona’s first win in three rounds left it one point above second-placed Sevilla, which rallied to a 1-1 draw at fourthplaced Alaves.
Injury-depleted Barcelona got goals from Gerard Pique and rarely used reserve player Carles Alena in each half at Camp Nou.
With the hosts missing striker Luis Suarez, France forward Ousmane Dembele led Barcelona with his speedy incursions from the right flank.
Dembele crossed for Pique to head in his 36th-minute opener. The defender sent the ball off the turf and past goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, who got a hand on the ball but couldn't keep it out.
Lionel Messi was the playmaker in the 87th for Alena, who had come on for Arturo Vidal.
Alena recovered the ball in midfield and laid the ball off to Messi. The Argentine returned it by meeting Alena's run forward with a threaded pass through four defenders. The 20-year-old Alena completed the move with a fine finish by chipping the ball over the onrushing Asenjo.
Villarreal's only clear scoring chance came early when Gerard Moreno hit the post after some lax defending by Clement Lenglet.