PORTLAND, Ore. – CJ McCollum scored 32 points and the Portland Trail Blazers beat some depleted Denver Nuggets 119-110 on Tuesday night, conceding their fifth straight loss.
Damian Lillard finished with 25 points and five assists to help the Blazers reap their fourth straight win, the ninth in a row at home.
Jeff Green was Denver’s best with 24 points.
The decisive stretch of the game came at the end of the second quarter. The Nuggets went ahead 49-48 on the scoreboard with 3:35 left by halftime, but Portland took over and signed an 18-3 run spurred on by four 3-pointers by Lillard and topped off with a layup by McCollum to go into halftime. with a 64-52 a favor.
From there, the smallest lead the Blazers had was eight tallies.
The Nuggets lost another player to injury: PJ Dozier fell to the floor with a left knee injury in the first quarter and had to be helped by his teammates to get to the locker room. He did not return to the court.
Already on the team’s long-term disabled list are NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (right wrist), Jamal Murray (left knee; recovering), Michael Porter Jr. (back) and Bones Hyland (right ankle).
Argentine Facundo Campazzo had eight points, two rebounds and five assists for Denver.
MAVERICKS 112
CLIPPERS 104
LOS ANGELES.- Kristaps Porzingis scored 30 points, Luka Doncic contributed 26 in his return to Dallas’ starting fifth, and the Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 112-104 in overtime on Tuesday night.
The Mavericks held a 102-92 lead at the end of the fourth quarter, but the Clippers made 11 of their last 12 goals to force overtime, including a Paul George 3 on the horn. Dallas had the first seven added points and outscored Los Angeles 9-1 to cut a three-game losing streak.
Porzingis, who broke a personal record by exceeding 20 goals in seven consecutive games, contributed six in extra time. In addition, he made the 10 free throws he had during regulation time.
Reggie Jackson led the Clippers with 31 points and 10 rebounds, while George contributed 26 points.
Doncic, who had missed his team’s last three games due to sprains to his left knee and ankle, had nine rebounds and as many assists in 41 minutes of play.
Dallas was six behind at halftime, but materialized 38 points in the third quarter to reach the final 80-76 in favor.
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