Lillard scores 30 to help Trail Blazers hold off Thunder
Oakland’s Damian Lillard scored 30 points as the Portland Trail Blazers held off the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder to win 104-99 on Sunday in the opener of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.
CJ McCollum added 24 points, and Enes Kanter contributed 20 points and 18 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who led by as many as 19 points in the first half.
Paul George collected 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Russell Westbrook compiled 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Thunder, who made only 5 of 33 3-point attempts in the game.
McCollum scored 16 points, and Lillard added 12 as the Blazers carried a 54-48 lead into intermission.
OKC cut the difference to 66-62 late in the third quarter, but the Blazers took a 76-69 edge into the final period.
The Thunder got to within 84-81 on a Dennis Schroder floater with 8:43 to go, but Kanter sank a pair at the line, and Lillard followed with a long-range 3-pointer and a runner to make it 91-81 with 6:20 remaining.
OKC scored six straight points, the last two on a left-handed layup by Westbrook to cut it to 9187 with 3:51 left. Lillard knocked down a pair at the line to make it 93-87 with 3:33 to play. ROCKETS 122, JAZZ 90 >> James Harden scored 17 of his 29 points in the first half and Houston routed Utah in the Western Conference first-round series opener.
Harden also had 10 assists and finished two rebounds shy of a triple-double. Seven Rockets scored in double figures.
Clint Capela added 16 points and 12 rebounds while grappling with Jazz center Rudy Gobert (22 points, 12 rebounds). Houston made headway by holding its own on the glass and defending with vigor, limiting Utah guard Donovan Mitchell to 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting and the Jazz to 39.0 percent shooting. Utah finished just 7-for-27 on 3-pointers and committed 19 turnovers.
BUCKS 121, PISTONS 86 >> Giannis Antetokounmpo racked up 24 points, 17 rebounds and four assists in only 23 minutes as topseeded Milwaukee overwhelmed visiting Detroit in their Eastern Conference playoff opener.
George Hill had 16 points off the bench for the Bucks, who led by 27 at halftime. Eric Bledsoe scored 15 points, Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton had 14 apiece, and Sterling Brown added 11 along with a team-high seven assists.
The eighth-seeded Pistons, making just their second playoff appearance since the 2008-09 season, played without All-Star forward Blake Griffin. He was sidelined by a sore left knee, which also kept him out of four of the last seven regular-season games.
The Bucks were without guards Malcolm Brogdon (foot) and Tony Snell (ankle).
CELTICS 84, PACERS 74 >> Boston held visiting Indiana without a field goal for the first 8 ½ minutes of the second half to rally from a halftime deficit in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
After failing to make even one-third of their shots in the first half while falling behind 45-38, the fourth-seeded Celtics became a defensive force in the third quarter.
Boston scored 15 of the quarter’s first 16 points and when Indiana finally made a field goal — after missing its first 11 attempts in the third quarter with five turnover — Boston had gone ahead 60-48.
Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris scored 20 points apiece for Boston, which won handily despite shooting just 36.4 percent.