Blazers’ streak at 5 as Rockets go down
Portland’s Damian Lillard had 31 points and 11 assists, leading the host Trail Blazers past the Houston Rockets 117107 on Thursday night.
Jusuf Nurkic had a teamhigh 11 rebounds to go along with 19 points for the Trail Blazers, who have a fivegame winning streak and a 1½-game lead over the Denver Nuggets for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
James Harden finished with 30 points and eight rebounds to lead the Rockets. Harden’s three-pointer at the end of the first quarter gave the Rockets 1,078 threes, an NBA singleseason record.
Portland held a 96-85 lead into the fourth, but Houston made a run early in the quarter. Trevor Ariza’s dunk tied the game at 105 with 2:29 left, but Nurkic’s post-up gave Portland the lead again with 2:05 remaining.
Allen Crabbe sealed the win with steal on Harden, taking it coast to coast to give the Blazers a 113-105 lead with 1:12 left.
Harden had three turnovers in the fourth quarter.
After Eric Gordon’s threepointer gave the Rockets a two-point lead early in the second quarter, the Blazers outscored Houston 19-6 to reclaim the lead, which they pushed to 12 before taking a 65-56 lead into halftime.
Portland’s reserves, particularly Crabbe and Al-Farouq Aminu, were crucial in creating the lead while combining for 32 points and five threepointers.
Clippers 124, Suns 118: Blake Griffin scored 31 points, Chris Paul added 29 points and 10 assists and Los Angeles held on to hand host Phoenix its 10th loss in a row. Devin Booker scored 33 for the Suns and matched his season high with nine assists, but fouled out with 4:45 to play. The Clippers (4631) pulled a game behind Utah (4629) for the No. 4 playoff spot in the Western Conference. Booker, three games after his 70-point outburst in Boston, was back in the lineup after missing Tuesday’s game with a sore right ankle.
Bulls 99, Cavaliers 93: Nikola Mirotic hit six three-pointers and scored 28 points and Jimmy Butler scored 25 as host Chicago beat Cleveland on a night when LeBron James moved past Shaquille O’Neal into seventh place on the NBA’s career scoring list. James finished with 26 points, giving him 28,599 for his career — three more than O’Neal. But the big night by the four-time MVP couldn’t prevent the Cavaliers from matching a season high with their third straight loss. The Bulls finished 4-0 against Cleveland to complete their first sweep of the Cavs since the 2011-12 season. Timberwolves 119, Lakers 104: Ricky Rubio had 33 points, 10 assists and five rebounds and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 32 points to lead Minnesota to a victory over visiting Los Angeles. The Timberwolves (30-44) have now won more games than they did last season. Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points and D’Angelo Russell had 14 points and seven assists for the Lakers, who have lost 17 of their past 19 games.
Pistons 90, Nets 89: Marcus Morris had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Ish Smith hit the go-ahead threepointer late in the fourth quarter, helping host Detroit beat Brooklyn. Sean Kilpatrick scored 15 and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Jeremy Lin each had 14 points for the Nets. Detroit, the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference, kept its dwindling playoff hopes alive.