C.J. McCollum scored 32 points and Damian Lillard had 31 as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Dallas Mavericks 125-119 on Friday.
The All-Stars for each team, Lillard and Luka Doncic (38 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) had big nights, but Lillard had much more help from his costar, as Kristaps Porzingis finished with just 11 points and did not make a field goal until early in the third quarter.
“That was my ninth time playing basketball since January 16th,” McCollum said after his best game since returning from a broken foot. “It’s hard to find a rhythm in a season like this. I was on a minutes restriction, I was rushing, I wasn’t playing with pace. I kind of settled in today. I got 23 shots up in 28 minutes.”
Photo: Soobum Im-USA TODAY
The teams meet again today, when Dallas will expect more from Porzingis, their second-leading scorer.
“He got off to a slow start and we have just got to involve him a little bit more,” coach Rick Carlisle said.
With 4 minutes, 25 second left in the second quarter, Porzingis was called for a technical foul after arguing a call with the officials. Seconds later, Doncic was also assessed a technical foul.
Lillard made both technical free throws and the Blazers led 64-60 at halftime.
“We made him have to work and have to make plays, and I think that frustrated him,” Robert Covington said of Portland’s job against Porzingis. “He doesn’t like people to get up under him.”
Portland coach Terry Stotts earned his 500th career victory.
“After my first two years in Atlanta, I didn’t think I’d get to 100 wins,” Stotts said.
Lillard collided with two Mavericks players with 2:37 left in the third quarter, staying on the ground and grabbing his left knee for a few minutes, but staying in the game.
The Mavericks led by as many as eight in the fourth quarter before Rodney Hood’s three-pointer cut the Mavericks’ lead to 110-109 with 4:26 left.
A dunk by Carmelo Anthony with 4:04 left wrestled the lead back for the Blazers.
Lillard’s jumper with 3:23 remaining pushed Portland’s lead to 113-110 and he followed with a layup for a five-point lead.
Doncic’s floater ended Portland’s 9-0 run to make it 115-112 with 2:36 left, but McCollum isolated against Porzingis to hit a three-pointer to put Portland ahead 118-112 with 1:17 to play.
In Orlando, Florida, Aaron Gordon scored a season-best 38 points and Evan Fournier added 31 as the Orlando Magic held off Brooklyn’s furious fourth-quarter rally to beat the Nets 121-113.
The Magic overcame Kyrie Irving’s season-best 43 points to end a nine-game losing streak and stop Brooklyn’s winning streak at six games.
The Nets also had their franchise-record, eight-game road winning streak halted.
In Houston, Texas, Frank Jackson had a season-high 23 points as the Detroit Pistons won 113-100 to hand the Houston Rockets a franchise-record 19th straight loss.
Winless since Feb. 4, Houston struggled to find answers for Detroit’s ball movement and the shooting of Jackson, who was five of five from three-point range and seven of 10 overall.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Jazz 115, Raptors 112
‧ Nuggets 131, Bulls 127
‧ Suns 113, Timberwolves 101
‧ Celtics 96, Kings 107
‧ Cavaliers 110, Spurs 116
‧ Grizzlies 103, Warriors 116
‧ Heat 110, Pacers 137
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB