Rookie Damian Lillard scored 20 points, including eight in overtime, and the Portland Trail Blazers slowed down James Harden in a 95-85 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
Lillard and Nicolas Batum each made a three to help Portland open an 87-81 lead early in overtime. Harden then made a pair of free throws before Lillard converted a reverse layup. His second three of overtime pushed Portland’s lead to 93-85 with 1:25 remaining.
Harden led the Rockets with 24 points in his home debut, but he was not as dominant as he was in the first two games. He scored 37 and a career-high 45 points in his first two games after he was acquired in a deal with Oklahoma City last week. The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year signed a five-year, US$80 contract extension on Wednesday.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Wesley Matthews had 16 points, and J.J. Hickson added nine points and 12 rebounds.
Jeremy Lin had 13 points and seven assists in his home debut for the Rockets, who lost for the first time this season.
The game was tied with 1:17 to go before Lin made a layup while being fouled by Hickson. He sunk the free throw to give Houston an 81-78 lead.
Matthews tied it again with a three with just under a minute left.
Defending champions the Miami Heat bounced back from a defeat in New York the night before to beat the winless Denver Nuggets 119-116.
The Boston Celtics got their season started by downing the under-manned Washington Wizards 89-86, with Paul Pierce scoring 27 points for the Celtics.
In Dallas, O.J. Mayo scored 30 points to keep the Dallas Mavericks unbeaten against the Charlotte Bobcats, 126-99.
Mayo made a career-high seven 3-pointers, including one that put the Mavericks ahead for good late in the second quarter as Dallas improved to 16-0 all-time against Charlotte.
The Indiana Pacers needed two overtime periods to see off the Portland Trailblazers in Indianapolis. George Hill scored 18 points, including the first four in the second overtime, after Sacramento forced overtime with Marcus Thornton’s 3-pointer with 48.6 seconds left in regulation. He did it again in overtime, hitting another tying three with 26.4 seconds left.
Thornton scored 26 points and DeMarcus Cousins had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Sacramento.
In other games on Saturday, the New Orleans Hornets toppled the Chicago Bulls 89-82, the Brooklyn Nets gave some cheer to a storm-battered New York area with a 107-100 win over the Toronto Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks edged out the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-102.
Also on Saturday, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 110-100, while the Golden State Warriors downed the L.A. Clippers 114-110.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set