Heat evaporate in tight loss to Trail Blazers

(Reuters) – Guard Wesley Matthews buried successive three-pointers to cap a stunning late rally as the Portland Trail Blazers stunned the NBA champion Miami Heat with a tense 92-90 win on Thursday.

Trailing 80-68 with just over eight minutes left, Portland finished with a rousing 24-10 run to record their fourth straight win and their ninth in a row at home, improving to 20-15 for the season.

Matthews’ heroics put Portland ahead 91-90 and a LaMarcus Aldridge free throw then made it 92-90 with 10.4 seconds remaining.

Guard Mario Chalmers missed a late three-point attempt as the Heat slipped to their fifth defeat in their last eight games for an overall record of 23-11.

Nicolas Batum led the way for the Trail Blazers with 28 points, forward LaMarcus Aldridge contributed 20 points and 15 rebounds while Matthews finished with 18 points on seven-of-18 shooting.

Though Chris Bosh scored a game-high 29 points for Miami and Dwyane Wade weighed in with 18, the visitors paid the price after being outscored 29-22 in the final quarter.

LeBron James was restricted to 15 points on six-of-16 shooting, ending a run of 54 games including the playoffs with at least 20 points dating back to last season