NBA: McCollum scores 32, seals Blazers' OT win vs. Bulls

CJ McCollum scored 32 points and handed out eight assists as the Portland Trail Blazers notched a 124-120 overtime win against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night at the United Center.

McCollum drained a layup and a pair of free throws in the final minute of overtime to break a tie at 120. Al-Farouq Aminu added 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting for the Trail Blazers, and Jusuf Nurkic contributed a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds.

Portland (19-17) won its third consecutive game in Chicago and improved to 11-7 on the road this season.

  
Kris Dunn led the Bulls with 22 points on 9-of-20 shooting. Lauri Markkanen added 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and Nikola Mirotic posted his third double-double in 14 games with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Chicago (13-24) lost at home for the first time in eight games.

McCollum put Portland on top for good when he attacked the paint and calmly made a 3-foot layup with 56.5 seconds left in overtime. Dunn missed a jump shot on the next possession and Nurkic grabbed the rebound. After another missed jump shot by Dunn with eight seconds left, McCollum sealed the outcome at the free-throw line.

The score was even at 112 at the end of regulation. McCollum hit a driving layup with 57.3 seconds remaining to tie the game and had a chance to win it with a pull-up jump shot from the right elbow, but the ball caromed off the rim to bring on overtime.

The Bulls opened the fourth quarter with an 87-83 lead. A deep 3-pointer by Shabazz Napier in the closing seconds of the third quarter trimmed Portland's deficit from seven points to four.

The Trail Blazers jumped to a 31-23 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Bulls responded by outscoring Portland 30-21 in the second quarter to grab a 53-52 halftime edge.

Portland played without star point guard Damian Lillard, who missed his fifth game in a row because of a right hamstring strain. The two-time All-Star leads the team with 25.2 points per game. His status is uncertain for Tuesday night's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Mavericks down Rockets to stay alive in playoffs

DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks stayed alive in the NBA playoffs on Sunday with a 121-109 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Down 3-0 in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series, the Mavs opted to give J.J. Barea and Al-Farouq Aminu their first starts of the post-season and both produced double-doubles.

Barea scored 17 points and handed out 13 assists, enlivening a starting lineup that has been without injured Chandler Parsons and Rajon Rondo.

Aminu added 16 points -- including five straight in the fourth quarter that helped thwart a Houston rally -- and pulled down 12 rebounds.

Monta Ellis scored 31 points for the Mavs, who will try again to avoid elimination when they visit Houston for game five on Tuesday.

They still face a tough task. No team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven NBA playoff series.

As in game three, the Mavericks dominated the second quarter and led at halftime.

But this time, they kept the pressure on in the third, Ellis scoring 10 points in a 20-4 run to open the second half.

Houston whittled away at a 24-point deficit, with Josh Smith scoring eight unanswered points to help the Rockets pull within 109-99.

James Harden led the Rockets with 24 points, but Houston couldn't get over the hump.

Elsewhere in the West, the Los Angeles Clippers bounced back from the worst post-season game in club history, defeating reigning NBA champions San Antonio 114-105 to knot their best-of-seven first-round series at two games apiece.

Chris Paul produced 34 points and seven assists and the Clippers connected on better than 53 percent of their shots from the floor.

It was a massive turnaround from their 34.1 percent, 73-point shooting performance in game three, both franchise lows for the post-season.

Los Angeles snapped a two-game losing streak in the series and will try to edge ahead when they host game five on Tuesday.

"There is no momentum in this series, as we've learned," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "It's just two good teams fighting."

Paul, who had just seven points in Friday's 100-73 loss, connected on 11-of-19 from the field and scored 22 points in the second half.

Blake Griffin contributed 20 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists, J.J. Redick added 17 points and Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford combined to score 31 off the bench for Los Angeles.

Kawhi Leonard again led the Spurs on offense, scoring 26 points after posting a career playoff high on Friday of 32.

"I think in general we lacked a lot of discipline," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "The only way to stay in those games is to play defense and not make mistakes and we made too many."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com