Lillard’s three-point dagger lifts Portland over Lakers

(The Sports Xchange) – Damian Lillard’s three-point shot with .7 of a second left lifted the Portland Trail Blazers to a 113-110 win over the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night at Moda Center.

Lillard scored 32 points and hit his game-winner after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a game-tying three-pointer off an inbounds pass with 15.5 seconds remaining.

Jusuf Nurkic had a season-high 28 and CJ McCollum added 22 for the Trail Blazers (5-4).

Damian Lillard

Brook Lopez led the Lakers (3-5) with 27 points and rookie Kuzma came off the bench for 22.

Los Angeles rallied from an 18-point deficit in the first half, trailed by four at halftime, took a six-point lead in the third before Portland carried an 87-85 edge into the final period.

Warriors 112, Spurs 92

Klay Thompson had 27 points as the Golden State Warriors roared back from a 19-point deficit to beat the reeling San Antonio Spurs 112-92 on Thursday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio in the first matchup of the season between last year’s Western Conference finalists.

Golden State outscored the Spurs 34-23 in the third quarter to erase a five-point halftime deficit and take control of the game after a shaky beginning in both ends of the floor.

Thompson scored seven of the Warriors’ first nine points of the fourth quarter as Golden State (6-3) forged a 12-4 run to assume a 96-82 lead with 6:41 to play and held on without much pressure from San Antonio to close out the game.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich wasn’t around for the end of the game after being ejected with back-to-back technical fouls with 4:47 remaining.

Kevin Durant added 24 points, Stephen Curry hit for 21 and Draymond Green poured in 16 on seven of eight shooting for the Warriors. Both Durant and Curry pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds for Golden State.