Damian Lillard scored 34 points, dished 11 assists, and made the decisive three-pointer as the Portland Trail Blazers weathered 44 points from Luka Doncic to beat the host Dallas Mavericks, 121-118, on Sunday, February 14 (Monday, February 15, Manila time).
Portland took a 13-point lead with 6:50 left when Enes Kanter scored 2 of his 14 points, but a scoring drought of more than 5 minutes resulted in a 12-0 Mavericks’ run.
Dorian Finney-Smith knocked down a three-pointer on one of Doncic’s 9 assists with 49.5 seconds remaining, forcing a tie at 116. Finney-Smith finished with 14 points.
His basket set the stage for Lillard’s go-ahead three-pointer, a top-of-the-key step-back in isolation with Finney-Smith defending with 32.8 seconds left.
Doncic responded with a quick dunk, but Carmelo Anthony beat Doncic on the other end to draw out Kristaps Porzingis. Anthony fired a no-look pass to Derrick Jones Jr for an uncontested layup and the game’s final points.
Doncic got a wide-open look at a would-be, game-tying three-pointer off of a sideline inbounds play, but the shot rimmed off.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Mavericks, while extending the Trail Blazers’ own streak to 4 games. The win kicks off a swing of 3 consecutive road games and 6 of 7 away from home for Portland.
Gary Trent Jr scored 17 points for the Trail Blazers and Robert Covington added 15. Anthony scored 15 points off the bench and Anfernee Simons notched another 12 points in reserve.
Porzingis scored 18 points for Dallas and matched Kanter’s game-high with 8 rebounds. One game removed from hitting a career-high 8 three-pointers, however, Porzingis went 0-of-3 from long range.
Portland outshot Dallas as a team from beyond the three-point arc, 18 of 40 to 14 of 41. The Trail Blazers were 45 of 85 (52.9%) from the floor in total to the Mavericks’ 40 of 81 (49.4%).
Dallas missed just one free throw, going 24 of 25 from the line. Portland made just 13 of 19 free throw attempts. – Rappler.com
via PK
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