Blazers outpace Indiana in NBA titans clash

Portland Trail Blazers down Indiana Pacers 106 -02, after top two basketball teams face off in thriller.

Trail Blazer LaMarcus Aldridge grabs a rebound against the Indiana Pacers [AFP]

The Portland Trail Blazers have inflicted only the second loss of the season on the Indiana Pacers when they beat them 106 -02, as the top two teams in the eastern and western conferences faced off in the NBA.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points and 10 rebounds and Damian Lillard finished with 26 points to help the Portland Trail Blazers end the Indiana Pacers’ seven-game winning streak on Monday.

Paul George had a career-high 43 points for Pacers (16-2), who own the NBA’s best record.

The Blazers pulled in front until early in the fourth quarter but the Pacers kept it close, and George hit consecutive 3 pointers that narrowed it to 98-96 with 1:37 left.

Lillard answered with a three-pointer and Nicolas Batum made a pair of free throws for the Blazers before George hit another three-pointer that got Indiana within 103-99 with 21 seconds to go.

Lillard hit free throws and George made yet another 3 with 10 seconds to go to make it 105-102, but the Pacers couldn’t get closer.

Utah’s double delight 

Portland (15-3) is off to its best start since the 1998-99 season and is now tied with San Antonio for the best record in the Western Conference.

New Orleans’ Jrue Holiday made a three-point play with 2.6 seconds remaining in the third overtime to give the Pelicans a dramatic 131-128 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Holiday had 19 points and 12 assists for the Pelicans. He made an 18-footer with 3.9 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 103 and force overtime.

Ryan Anderson had a career-high 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including 7 for 11 on 3-pointers. Eric Gordon added 23 points for New Orleans.

Luol Deng led the Bulls with 37 points and also had eight rebounds and seven assists.

The San Antonio Spurs held on for a 102-100 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, with Tim Duncan making the game-winning jumper with 0.4 seconds left.

Duncan finished with 23 points and 21 rebounds as San Antonio dominated the middle against the younger and more athletic Atlanta front court.

Boris Diaw had 16 points and Tiago Splitter finished with 11.

Atlanta had all five starters score in double figures. Jeff Teague had 19 points, Al Horford added 18 and DeMarre Carroll finished with 17.

Teague drained a 3 over Kawhi Leonard to tie the game at 100 with 4.7 seconds left, but Duncan curled off a pick and hit a jumper near the free-throw line to put San Antonio ahead to stay.

Washington’s Trevor Ariza scored 24 points and John Wall had 16 points and 13 assists as the Wizards beat the Orlando Magic 98-80 to get to .500 in the standings for the first time since it split its first four games of the 2009-10 season.

Nene scored 14 points and Marcin Gortat finished with 13 for Washington (9-9).

Utah’s Marvin Williams scored five points in the final two minutes and Gordon Hayward broke out of a shooting slump to score 29 points as the Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 109-103 to earn their first back-to-back wins of the season.

James Harden had 15 of his season-best 37 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Rockets close, but they couldn’t get enough defensive stops down the stretch.

 

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies