National Basketball Association
Portland 134, Brooklyn 133
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, August 13, 2020
Where: AdventHealth Arena, Orlando, Florida
Officials:
#50 Gediminas Petraitis, #42 Eric Lewis, #72 JT Orr
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Damian Lillard scored 42 points, and the Portland Trail Blazers escaped with a 134-133 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night near Orlando to clinch the eighth seed in the Western Conference and a berth in the play-in series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Following games of 51 and 61 points, Lillard helped Portland (35-39) clinch by scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer from the edge of the NBA logo at halfcourt. He produced his 11th game of at least 40 points this season by shooting 13 of 22, including 8 of 14 on 3-point attempts.
Portland will host the ninth-seeded Grizzlies on Saturday, needing just one win to ensure a playoff berth. If the Blazers lose, the teams will play again Sunday, with the winner claiming the final playoff spot. The winner will draw the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.
Lillard's biggest play down the stretch actually came on the defensive end. Portland took a 134-130 lead on a jumper by C.J. McCollum with 53.4 seconds left, after Lillard poked the ball from behind while defending Caris LeVert just past midcourt.
Rebounding from Lillard's steal, LeVert converted a 3-point play with 37.7 seconds left to cut the deficit to one. Following a missed 3-pointer by Carmelo Anthony, the dramatic game ended when LeVert's step-back attempt over McCollum was short with three-tenths of a second remaining.
McCollum added 25 points, while Jusuf Nurkic collected 22 along with 10 rebounds for Portland, which went 6-2 in the restart. Gary Trent Jr. and Hassan Whiteside contributed 16 apiece for the Trail Blazers, who shot 48.1 percent.
LeVert led the Nets with 37 points on 16-of-29 shooting, including a jumper with 4:18 remaining that gave Brooklyn a 124-119 lead. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Joe Harris added 19 points each, and Tyler Johnson chipped in 16 for Brooklyn (35-37), which will face second-seeded Toronto in Game 1 of the first-round on Monday.
Portland held an 82-74 lead on a spinning layup by Whiteside with 9:36 left in the third, but the Nets came back and outscored the Blazers 30-15 the rest of the quarter to get a 104-97 lead entering the fourth. Brooklyn took its first lead since early in the second quarter on a tip-in by Jarrett Allen with 5:21 left in the third and built a 102-92 lead on a 3-pointer by Luwawu-Cabarrot with 1:48 to go in the frame.
Neither team led by more than six points, and both teams shot over 50 percent as the first quarter ended in a 31-31 tie. Lillard scored 12 points in the second quarter, and Portland took a 73-67 lead at halftime.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Portland |
|
Brooklyn |
|
Damian Lillard 42 |
Scoring |
Caris LeVert 37 |
|
Damian Lillard 12 |
Assists |
Caris LeVert 9 |
|
Jusuf Nurkic 10 |
Rebounds |
Jarrett Allen 11 |
|
Damian Lillard 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Jarrett Allen 4 |
|
CJ McCollum 3 |
Steals |
Caris LeVert 2 |
|
Hassan Whiteside 2 |
Blocks |
Jarrett Allen 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Portland
|
134 |
48.1 |
13-39 |
21-24 |
25 |
42 |
4 |
10 |
9 |
| Brooklyn
|
133 |
55.2 |
14-33 |
13-19 |
28 |
46 |
5 |
5 |
14 |
Upcoming Games
-
Brooklyn will play their next game on the road against Toronto. The Nets have a W/L % of .471 after a win and .500 after a loss.
-
Portland will play their next game at home against Memphis. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .424 after a win and .512 after a loss.
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