Associated Press
Associated Press
HOUSTON — The way LaMarcus Aldridge was playing on Saturday night, Damian Lillard knew the Rockets would focus on the Trail Blazers’ star in overtime.
When the rookie started getting more open looks, he delivered.
Lillard scored 20 points, including eight in overtime, and the Trail Blazers slowed down James Harden in a 95-85 win over Houston.
“(Aldridge) had it rolling, he was dominating the game offensively, and I just wanted to make sure I was in the position to knock the shots down,” Lillard said. “(Aldridge) got going and I was able to get easier shots.”
Aldridge finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks for the Trail Blazers. All but four of Lillard’s points came in the second half. He also had nine assists and six rebounds.
Lillard and Nicolas Batum each made a 3 to help Portland open an 87-81 lead in the extra session. Harden then made a pair of free throws before Lillard converted a reverse layup. His second 3 of overtime pushed Portland’s lead to 93-85 with 1:25 remaining.
“He made big shots for us, and that’s what we need from him,” Aldridge said of the first-round pick.
Harden led the Rockets with 24 points in his home debut, but he wasn’t as dominant as he was in the first two games. He scored 37 and a career-high 45 points after he was acquired in a deal with Oklahoma City last week. The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year signed a five-year, $80 contract extension on Wednesday.
Batum had 17 points, Wesley Matthews scored 16 and J.J. Hickson added nine points and 12 rebounds for Portland.
Jeremy Lin had 13 points and seven assists in his home debut for the Rockets, who lost for the first time this season.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game today and I think both sides struggled to hit shots,” Lin said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
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 3 with just under a minute left. He also guarded Harden most of the night.
“When you put up 45 the night before, it kind of wears you out,” Matthews said. “We are friends, but when it’s tipoff time there are no friends.”
Houston had a chance to win it in regulation, but Portland knocked the ball out of Harden’s hands seconds before the buzzer.
“It was good defense,” he said. “I just lost the ball.”
Portland led by five early in the fourth quarter before Marcus Morris hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Houston a 69-68 lead.
“We didn’t get quality shots,” Houston coach Kevin McHale said. “We got to get better at that.”
Dozens of fake beards made to resemble Harden’s trademark look dotted the sellout crowd of 18,140. The Rockets were selling them at the team store on Saturday night to take advantage of the excitement created by their newest acquisition. Houston’s mascot Clutch even got in on the fun during a break in the third quarter and donned a fake beard, too.
Harden said he tweaked an ankle in the game and it slowed him a bit.
“But I don’t like to make excuses,” he said. “I had opportunities to make plays and to make shots and I just didn’t.”
Portland used a 12-4 run at the beginning of the second half to tie it at 49 as the Rockets struggled to find a rhythm in the third quarter.
Harden didn’t score after halftime until he converted a three-point play with just over four minutes remaining in the third, giving Houston a 58-57 lead.
The Trail Blazers answered with seven straight points.
An alley-oop dunk by Morris got Houston rolling again and it trailed 64-63 entering the fourth quarter.
Harden grabbed a microphone and welcomed fans to the game before the national anthem, and got the team going by scoring Houston’s first six points. He had 10 at the end of the first quarter to help the Rockets lead 19-17.
Houston opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run. The Trail Blazers’ first points in the second came on a 3 by Matthews less than eight minutes before halftime.
That was the first of seven straight points for Portland before Lin got Houston going again by hitting a nifty one-handed layup and the foul shot.
The Rockets led 45-37 at halftime.
HEAT 119, NUGGETS 116
MIAMI — Ray Allen had a four-point play with 6.7 seconds left that put Miami ahead for good, and Chris Bosh scored 40 points for the Heat.
LeBron James finished with 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Allen scored 23 for Miami (2-1), which escaped when Danilo Gallinari’s 3-point try with 2 seconds left bounced off the rim.
Kenneth Faried and Andre Iguodala each scored 22 for Denver, which fell to 0-3. Andre Miller made his first eight shots and finished with 17 for the Nuggets, who also got 16 points from JaVale McGee and outrebounded Miami 47-32.
The 40 points were a Heat-high for Bosh, and they needed every one of them.
SPURS 110, JAZZ 100
SAN ANTONIO — Tony Parker had 24 points and 10 assists to lift the Spurs to the victory.
Tim Duncan added 19 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio (3-0). Danny Green had 21 points and Kawhi Leonard 13.
Duncan and Parker combined to score seven points in the final 4 minutes to preserve the victory and give the Spurs their best start since the 2007-2008 season.
Mo Williams scored 29 points for Utah (1-2), leading the team’s rally in the third quarter. Paul Millsap added 17 points, Al Jefferson had 16 and Gordon Hayward 15.
San Antonio squandered a 19-point lead in the third quarter when Utah went on a 24-5 run to tie the game.
WARRIORS 114, CLIPPERS 110
LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry and reserve Carl Landry had 23 points apiece and the Warriors held on for the victory.
Klay Thompson had 17 points and eight rebounds for Golden State, which handed the Clippers their first loss of the season. The narrow win came after the Warriors learned reserve small forward Brandon Rush, their best perimeter defender, will miss the rest of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the first quarter of Friday night’s 104-94 home loss to Memphis.
Chris Paul scored 27 points for Los Angeles, going 19 for 20 at the free-throw line. Reserve Jamal Crawford also had 27 points, and Blake Griffin finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
MAVERICKS 126, BOBCATS 99
DALLAS — O.J. Mayo scored 30 points and the Mavericks remained unbeaten against the Bobcats.
Mayo made a career-high seven 3-pointers, including one that put the Mavericks ahead for good late in the second quarter and another that capped a 24-8 run that made it 76-61 in the third.
Dallas improved to 16-0 all-time against Charlotte.
Chris Kaman made his Mavericks debut as a reserve, but the spark off the bench came from Vince Carter. The 14-year veteran got the crowd going with a powerful dunk and did it again later with a spectacular blocked shot.
Ramon Sessions led Charlotte with 22 points.
HORNETS 89, BULLS 82
CHICAGO — Greivis Vasquez scored 18 points and the Hornets got the win with top overall draft pick Anthony Davis sidelined by a mild concussion.
Robin Lopez and Jason Smith scored 16 apiece. Ryan Anderson added 12 points and 13 rebounds, and the Hornets hit 20 of 23 free throws.
Luol Deng had 19 points and eight rebounds for Chicago. Nate Robinson scored 15 and Marco Belinelli added 13 against his former team, but the Bulls shot 33 percent.
Davis, a Chicago product, was being examined in New Orleans after taking an inadvertent elbow to the head from teammate Austin Rivers in the first half of Friday’s win over Utah.
Hornets coach Monty Williams blasted the NBA’s protocols for determining when a player can return from a concussion, saying: “Now, they treat everybody like they have white gloves and pink drawers and it’s getting old. It’s just the way the league is now.”
CELTICS 89, WIZARDS 86
WASHINGTON — Paul Pierce scored 27 points to lead the Celtics to their first victory of the season.
A night after what their coach called a “flat game,” the Celtics held the Wizards to 1-for-14 shooting at the start, then were barely better at the end.
Washington’s only scoring in the first 8 minutes came on Kevin Garnett’s goaltending call, and Pierce hit a key 3 down the stretch to help Boston improve to 1-2.
Washington dropped to 0-2 after its home opener in front of a sellout crowd of 20,308 that occasionally included folks chanting “Let’s go, Celtics!” Bradley Beal, the No. 3 overall pick this year, missed all five of his shots and scored two points for the Wizards, while backup Jordan Crawford led the hosts with 21 points.
PACERS 106, KINGS 98, 2OT
INDIANAPOLIS — George Hill scored 18 points and Indiana used its staunch defense to close out the double-overtime win.
David West also had 18 points for the Pacers (2-1), including the clinching free throws in the second overtime, and 18 rebounds. Paul George added 16 points and 17 rebounds, and Gerald Green scored 17 points.
Marcus Thornton scored 26 for Sacramento (0-3), and DeMarcus Cousins collected 21 points and 13 rebounds.
It was Indiana’s first double-overtime game since Dec. 19, 2008.
BUCKS 105, CAVALIERS 102
MILWAUKEE — Brandon Jennings hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bucks the victory.
The referees used video replay to confirm the shot left Jennings’ hand with one-tenth of a second left on the clock.
Mike Dunleavy had 29 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for Milwaukee.
Kyrie Irving scored 27 points for Cleveland, tying the game with seven-tenths of a second remaining on a driving layin over Ersan Ilyasova.
The Bucks (2-0) used a late 12-2 run to take overtake Cleveland (1-2), which was opening a six-game road trip.