Lillard-less Blazers best Thunder
Mccollum scores 27 in Portland’s victory
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OKLAHOMA CITY — While Damien Lillard tries to get past a lingering injury, the Portland Trail Blazers are relying on each other to fashion a nice run of positive results.
CJ Mccollum had 27 points and seven assists, and the Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 117106 on Tuesday night in the opener of a four-game trip.
Shabazz Napier added 21 points and Jusuf Nurkic had 20 points and eight rebounds for Portland, which moved past Oklahoma City into second in the Northwest Division standings with its seventh win in its last nine games against the Thunder.
Portland has won four of five overall despite playing most of that stretch without Lillard, who sat out for the seventh time in the last nine games with a left calf strain.
“There’s not as much pressure,” Mccollum said. “Obviously, you’re down a guy like Damien, who’s able to do everything . and can take over a quarter and bail us out at times. When we come on a road trip like this, the guys are like, ‘Oh, Damien’s hurt. We’re not supposed to win.’ I think everybody plays a little bit looser, understanding that we’re playing against upper-tier Western Conference competition.
“Executing and playing the right way has been big for us and being comfortable with making aggressive mistakes, then moving on.”
Russell Westbrook had 22 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for Oklahoma City, which is slumping a bit after Str Home Away Conf playing well for most of December. The Thunder have dropped four of six, with three of those losses coming at home and another at Phoenix on Sunday.
At Los Angeles, Julius Randle had 22 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and Los Angeles won its second straight after a ninegame losing streak. Brook Lopez added 18 points for the Lakers.
At Toronto, Wayne Ellington made
Lakers 99, Kings 86 — Heat 90, Raptors 89 —
a go-ahead driving layup with less than a second remaining, and Miami stopped Toronto’s 12-game home winning streak. It was the only basket of the second half for Ellington.
At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki and rookie Dennis Smith Jr. each scored 20 points, and Dallas stopped a three-game slide. The Mavericks got their first win since Dec. 31 against Oklahoma City.
Mavericks 114, Magic 99 —