NBA: Nurkic, Trail Blazers power past Celtics

Jusuf Nurkic had 29 points and 17 rebounds as the visiting Portland Trail Blazers held the Boston Celtics without a field goal for the final 7:19 of the game in a 109-105 victory Friday night.

Robert Covington hit a 3-pointer to give Portland a 103-102 lead with 32 seconds left before Jayson Tatum made 2 foul shots 6 seconds later to put Boston ahead.

Nurkic's hook shot gave the Blazers the lead with 13 seconds left, and he sealed the victory with 2 free throws with 0.8 seconds left.

CJ McCollum contributed 24 points, Anfernee Simons added 21, and Ben McLemore had 12 for Portland, which avenged a 145-117 loss to the Celtics on December 4.

Tatum scored 27 to pace Boston, which lost its 2nd straight and fell 1 game under .500 at 23-24. Jaylen Brown scored 22 points, Grant Williams added 13 and Romeo Langford had 12.

Boston took its biggest lead of the game at 100-89 with 7:19 to play after Langford and Payton Pritchard hit consecutive 3-pointers and Williams scored on a layup.

Portland answered with 11 straight points and tied the game at 100 on Nassir Little's dunk with 1:37 remaining.

Brown made 2 foul shots with 41.5 seconds left to break a Celtics' scoring drought that lasted nearly 7 minutes.

Portland made 6 of its first 8 3-point attempts and took a 30-25 lead into the 2nd quarter. The Blazers extended their lead to 15 before Boston responded with a 22-5 run.

Brown drilled a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Celtics a 58-54 advantage at the half.

Robert Williams III returned following a 2-game absence and had 5 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, which shot 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) from 3-point range.

Tatum was 0-for-6 from 3-point range and has missed his last 20 shots from beyond the arc.

Boston played its sixth straight game without forward Marcus Smart, who is working on his conditioning following a stint in the health and safety protocol.

-reuters

Nuggets hold on for 102-99 win over Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota—As Minnesota Timberwolves forward Nemanja Bjelica let a 3-pointer fly at the buzzer, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone was already preparing for overtime.

“After the last couple games, it’s kind of like here we go again,” Malone said. “To see it actually in and out was kind of nice for us to get a favorable bounce.”

Wilson Chandler scored eight of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and Bjelica’s 3 rattled out to help the Nuggets outlast the Timberwolves in a 102-99 victory.

Danilo Gallinari scored 19 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 18 as Denver erased a 15-point deficit in the first half. The Nuggets outscored Minnesota 45-23 off the bench and shot 48 percent for their second win of the season.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and 14 rebounds and Andrew Wiggins scored 25 for the Timberwolves, who gave away a lead of at least 15 points for the third time in four games this season. Bjelica scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

“It’s like we have half of the puzzle done and we don’t finish the puzzle,” Towns said.

Denver led by 13 with eight minutes to play, but Bjelica’s scoring flurry helped the Wolves pull within 102-99 with 90 seconds to go.

Emmanuel Mudiay responded with a three-point play and the Wolves missed three 3-pointers that would have tied the game in the final 30 seconds to help the Nuggets hold on. Jameer Nelson had 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Mudiay finished with 12 points and six rebounds.

“It was a sloppy game,” said Mudiay, who had six of Denver’s 22 turnovers. “It was a bad game for us personally but we picked it up and we did what we had to do.”

Minnesota led by 17 in the season opener against Memphis and 18 at Sacramento, but lost both games.

Denver outscored Minnesota 33-14 in the third quarter to surge to a 13-point lead, with Nurkic bulling his way to the paint and Gallinari knocking down 3s from the perimeter.

But the Nuggets have been just as shaky with the lead in this young season, including letting an eight-point lead slip away against Portland in the final 90 seconds before losing in overtime.

“The third quarter is haunting us right now,” Wiggins said.

source: sports.inquirer.net