PORTLAND’S Damian Lillard scored a career-high 43 points, including 16 in the added periods, to lead the Trail Blazers to a 129-119 victory at San Antonio on Friday, handing the Spurs their second straight defeat in triple overtime.
The Trail Blazers moved within half a game of Memphis for second place in the NBA’s Western Conference, after the Grizzlies were beaten on their home court by Chicago.
Elsewhere, Denver hit late 3-pointers to prevail in a see-sawing contest against the Los Angeles Clippers, and Eastern Conference leadersToronto handed Detroit their 12th straight home defeat.
San Antonio became the first team to play consecutive triple-overtime games since the Baltimore Bullets in 1951, and frustratingly lost yet another close encounter, having dropped their previous two games by a combine three points.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 16 rebounds, and Wesley Matthews added 16 points as Portland notched a fourth-straight win. Lillard scored the first nine points in the third overtime.
Tim Duncan had 32 points and 10 rebounds, and Danny Green added 27 points for San Antonio.
Chicago ended Memphis’ six-game streak with a 103-97 win, with Jimmy Butler scoring 31 points for the Bulls in a clash of divisional leaders.
Nikola Mirotic added a season-best 27 and Chicago snapped Memphis’ six-game winning streak.
Butler went 11 of 21 from the field and Nikola Mirotic connected on all six of his shots beyond the arc, setting a season standard for 3-pointers. He had a season-best 27 points for the Bulls.
Results: Utah 101 Orlando 94, Charlotte 109 Philadelphia 91, Boston 114 Minnesota 98, Cleveland 95 Brooklyn 91, Toronto 110 Detroit 100, Washington 105 Miami 103, Chicago 103 Memphis 97, Portland 129 San Antonio 119, Denver 109 LA Clippers 106, Oklahoma City 104 LA Lakers 103. AP