Kevin Garnett returned from injury to help the Boston Celtics rally for a nail-biting 98-95 overtime victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
Garnett scored 13 points following his 10-game absence with a knee problem and then watched as teammate Ray Allen drained the go-ahead three-pointer to put the Celtics up 96-95 with 41 seconds left in the extra session.
“You know he’s going to knock that shot down,” Portland coach Nate McMillan told reporters. “He missed a first one and that usually doesn’t happen again.”
Allen then assisted on a Tony Allen dunk to provide the winning margin, and the Trail Blazers’ final attempt was a Rudy Fernandez three-pointer that was off the mark.
Portland (26-18) had trailed by five points with two minutes, 35 seconds to go in regulation, but Martell Webster made a three-pointer and then a 6.7m shot to send the contest into overtime.
Webster finished with 19, while Andre Miller recorded 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the absence of the Blazers’ leading scorer Brandon Roy (hamstring).
Paul Pierce tallied a team-high 24 for Boston (28-13), which snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Celtics had been inconsistent and gone 4-6 without the presence of Garnett, the 2007-08 Defensive Player of the Year.
In his first game since Dec. 28, Garnett battled foul trouble in the first half but Boston jumped out early and led by as much as 11 in the second.
Despite shooting just 38 percent from the field, Portland chipped away at the lead and finally caught the home team in the fourth. Forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Blazers.
Rajon Rondo had 19 and nine assists while Allen persevered through a 3-for-14 shooting game to hit the big shot in the end.
■LAKERS VS KNICKS
AFP, NEW YORK
Kobe Bryant marked his return to Madison Square Garden by scoring 27 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 115-105 win over the New York Knicks on Friday.
Bryant put up big numbers in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points but it was far short of his last visit to the Garden when he scored an arena-record 61 points.
Bryant said he’s trying not to think about individual records at this point in the National Basketball Association season.
Pau Gasol added 20 points, which translated into US$20,000 for the Haiti earthquake victims. Gasol said earlier he would contribute US$1,000 for each point he scored on Friday.
“We had to fight through fatigue,” Gasol said. “At the beginning we were allowing too many layups.”
Bryant came in averaging 30.5 points in his previous 11 games in New York.
He has five 40-point games in New York, but was never close to that in this one, scoring only 14 points on 14 shots through three quarters .
He finished only eight of 24 from the field on the fourth anniversary of his 81-point game.
Andrew Bynum finished with 19 points for Los Angeles, who lost to LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
The Lakers are just two games into an eight-game road swing.
In other NBA play, it was:
• Hawks 103, Bobcats 89
• Rockets 116, Spurs 109
• Grizzlies 86, Thunder 84
• Bulls 115, Suns 104
• Magic 100, Kings 84
• 76ers 92, Mavericks 81
• Raptors 101, Bucks 96
• Heat 112, Wizards 88
• Hornets 96, Timberwolves 94
• Pacers 105, Pistons 93
• Warriors 111, Nets 79
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