|
 Guard Damian Lillard's driving layup with 4.9 seconds left sent
the game into overtime, and Portland scored a franchise-record 22
points in the extra session to pull out a 120-115 victory over the
Milwaukee Bucks at the Moda Center.
Guard Wesley Matthews scored 26 points, including the 3-pointer that
put the Blazers ahead for good in a game that saw 23 lead changes
and 15 ties.
Guard Mo Williams came off the bench for a season-high 23 points,
and forward Nicolas Batum collected 21 points, nine rebounds and
nine assists for the Trail Blazers, who won for only the second time
in seven games.
Guard Brandon Knight scored 24 points, and guard Ramon Sessions came
off the bench to contribute 23 points for the Bucks, who lost their
fifth consecutive game and fell for the eighth time in nine outings.
They own the NBA's worst record, 13-55.
The lead went back and forth in the fourth quarter, and Milwaukee
had chance to put the game away down the stretch. However, the Bucks
made only one of two foul shots four straight times over the final
1:42 of regulation, opening the door for the Blazers (44-24).
"They gave us a new lease on life," Williams said. "We were down. We
were like, 'We can't believe this. We needed this game.' We knew the
magnitude of it. Once we got to overtime, it was like, 'Whoo, we got
the 48 (minutes) behind us. Let's go out and win this game.'"
Matthews' three-point play gave Portland a 105-103 lead with 2:29
left in the extra session, and his steal led to a fast-break dunk by
Lillard and a 107-103 advantage seconds later.
Lillard made two free throws for a 114-107 lead with 25.2 seconds
left, and the Blazers closed out the win with six more foul shots
down the stretch.
"Give Milwaukee a lot of credit," Portland coach Terry Stotts said.
"(The Bucks) have had a long season. (Coach) Larry Drew has done a
great job of keeping them competing and playing hard. They played
hard the whole way.
"But we didn't come out with the urgency we needed. ... I hope we
understand we were very fortunate to win the game."
Down by five at halftime, the Bucks tied it at 60-60 with 7:30 left
in the third quarter, and they grabbed a 71-67 lead late in the
quarter. The Blazers closed the period with an 8-1 run to take a
75-72 advantage.
The lead went back and forth through the fourth quarter, Portland
going ahead 93-92 on two Matthews free throws with three minutes
left.
[to top of second column] |
Lillard hit a floating 3-pointer to up the Blazers' lead to 96-92,
and Knight made one of two at the line to make it 96-93 with 1:42
remaining. Knight again made one of two, and forward Ersan
Ilyasova's rebound basket tied it at 96-96 with 48 seconds to play.
Portland center Robin Lopez scored on a tip-in with 34.5 seconds to
go, but the play was disallowed for basket interference.
Sessions sank one of two free throws to give the Bucks a 97-96 edge
with 18.8 seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Lillard missed a reverse layup, Lopez missed a tip,
and Sessions was fouled with 10.6 seconds left. He made one of two
foul shots to push the margin to 98-96.
After another timeout, the Blazers went to Lillard again, and his
layup curled over the rim and went through to tie the score at 98-98
with 4.9 ticks left.
Sessions' 20-foot jump shot bounced off the rim as time expired, and
it was on to overtime.
"You can look at the (missed) free throws, but we had other
opportunities to win that game," Milwaukee coach Larry Drew said.
"The guys played really hard for four quarters, and even in overtime
we did some really good things. I was proud of the effort. Portland
is a good team even without (LaMarcus) Aldridge."
NOTES: Portland's 22 points in overtime represented the highest
total in the NBA since 2011. ... F Nicolas Batum scored 14 of
Portland's first 18 points and had 16 in the first quarter. ...
Portland G Damian Lillard scored 15 of his 20 points in the fourth
quarter and overtime. He started the game shooting 1-for-10 and
finished 7-for-21 from the field. ... Portland F LaMarcus Aldridge
missed his third straight game with a sore back, and coach Terry
Stotts called him doubtful for Thursday's home date with the
Washington Wizards. ... Bucks F Ersan Ilyasova, who sat out Sunday's
game due to a chronic sore ankle, started Tuesday. The Bucks will
not play Ilyasova in the second of back-to-back games the rest of
the season. ... Milwaukee coach Larry Drew plans to stay with his
three-guard rotation, starting Brandon Knight and Nate Wolters and
bringing Ramon Sessions off the bench. O.J. Mayo, who sat out his
fifth game in a row, is the odd man out. "O.J. got really sick and
never got his conditioning back," Drew said.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
