PORTLAND, Ore. – Deni Avdija had 27 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Shaedon Sharpe added 24 points as the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 125-122.
Caleb Love also scored 24 for the Blazers off the bench, including six 3-pointers and the go-ahead free throws with under a minute remaining, AP reported.
Klay Thompson´s 3-point attempt to tie the game at the buzzer missed as Portland avoided blowing a 17-point lead.
Max Christie led the Mavericks with 25 points and Brandon Williams scored 22. Cooper Flagg had 15 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
The teams exchanged the lead eight times in the fourth quarter. Portland led 95-84 with 1:30 left in the third before the Mavericks went on a 9-2 run, capped by a running 3 with 0.7 seconds left by Thompson to make it 97-93.
Thompson then tied the game at 99 on a 3 with 9:35 remaining. Christie gave the Mavericks their first lead of the second half at 106-105 on a 3-pointer with 6:56 to play.
Dallas led by four before Avdija’s layup and a 3 by Love put Portland back ahead 118-117 with 2 1/2 minutes left.
Christie’s 3-pointer gave Dallas a 122-121 edge with 1:09 remaining, but the Mavericks never scored again. Love sank two free throws with 53.2 seconds left, Naji Marshall missed a pair of 3s for Dallas, and Sharpe added two foul shots with three seconds remaining for the final margin.
Portland pushed its lead to 17 multiple times in the second quarter before taking a 75-63 advantage into halftime.
