Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard made three free throws with a second remaining on Thursday night to complete yet another fourth-quarter win this season.
Trevor Ariza of Miami missed Lillard when he tried to score a three-pointer with the score tied at 122-122, and Lillard converted on the free-throw line to give the Blazers a 125-122 victory.
The victory ended a two-game crash for Portland, which began a four-game trip against the Heat.
Lillard finished with 22 points and nine assists. But the stars of the night for Portland were CJ McCollum and Enes Kanter.
McCollum, who had trouble shooting four of his first five games with a broken foot, hit 14 out of 25 shots and 6 out of 14 trios to finish with 35 points, the best in the game. Kanter had 18 points and 16 rebounds with nine offensive rebounds.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (26-18) again drew with Denver (26-18) for sixth place in the Western Conference.
ENDED WHEN
McCollum in the first half hit 11 of 13 shots, going 6 of 8 in three, to score 29 points in 18 minutes, while leading the Blazers to a 59-58 lead at halftime. The leadership was not greater because Miami made 8 out of 18 trios (44.4%) and hit 52.4% in total in the first half.
The Heat continued to shoot well in the third quarter. Miami turned a 64-64 draw into a 76-70 lead before Blazers striker Robert Covington hit three to reduce Portland’s disadvantage.
The Blazers took a 91-88 lead with seconds remaining for the third quarter, but then Tyler Herro from Miami hit a three on the buzzer to tie the game.
Miami started better in the fourth period and led 110-100 with 6:19 remaining. The Blazers responded with an 11-0 streak that ended with a McCollum tray followed by a Lillard tray that gave the Blazers an 111-110 lead with 3:48 remaining.
The teams went and returned from there until Kanter got huge. First, he recovered a three lost to Carmelo Anthony from the left and kicked the ball back to Covington from top to right for a three that gave Portland a 117-116 lead. Then, losing 118-117, Kanter recovered an error from McCollum and put the ball back up to give the Blazers a 119-118 lead with 40.4 seconds remaining.
But Bam Adebayo of Miami returned for another short shot to give the Heat back the lead, 120-119.
At the other end, McCollum came in and found Derrick Jones Jr., who dived into Duncan Robinson, who was charged with a foul. Jones made the free throw against his former team to give Portland a 122-120 lead with 13.9 seconds remaining.
Once again, however, Adebayo found a way to score from the inside to tie the game at 122-122 with 10.8 seconds remaining. This led to Lillard’s last bidding attempt and decisive free throws.
SHOWN AND SHOWN
Anthony left the bench for 20 points when making 4 of 7 trios. Anfernee Simons, who has not played since McCollum returned six games ago, had 20 minutes of action and scored nine points by making 3 of 6 trios.
Herro had 29 points and eight assists for the Heat. Adebayo hit 13 of 16 shots for 29 points and made seven assists and nine rebounds.
The Heat shot 47.1% in three (16 of 34) and 56% overall. Of the team’s 47 field goals (84 attempts), 35 came for assists.
NEXT (Blazers programming)
The Blazers’ four-game trip continues Friday in Orlando (15-29).
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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