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Saturday, March 4, 2017
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PORTLAND – The Trail Blazers huddled in a timeout with just more than 17 seconds left against Oklahoma City, and the overwhelming sentiment was simple: relax.
The Thunder had trimmed Portland’s lead to 110-109, but the Blazers refused to get rattled and came away with a 114-109 victory Thursday night.
”Even though it got scary there at the end, we were still able to calm ourselves down and get the win,” said Damian Lillard, who finished with 33 points.
Russell Westbrook scored 45 on 12-of-36 shooting for the Thunder, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Oklahoma City newcomer Taj Gibson added 15 points, including a high-arching buzzer-beater from 61 feet away to put the Thunder up 60-57 at halftime.
Alex Abrines’ 3-pointer gave the Thunder their biggest lead at 97-89 with 7:48 left, but Al-Farouq Aminu made a layup that tied it at 101 with 3:43 to go. He missed the free throw, but Jusuf Nurkic got the tip-in to give Portland the lead.
Lillard’s 3-pointer extended it to 106-101 before Westbrook’s driving layup and free throw pulled Oklahoma City to 110-106.
Abrines’ 3-pointer with 17.7 seconds left narrowed it to 110-109. After the timeout, Lillard was fouled twice in the final seconds and made all four free throws before Westbrook and Doug McDermott missed 3-pointers at the end.
Westbrook hit all 15 of his free throws. He had eight rebounds and four assists, ending a streak of four straight triple-doubles.
”Difference tonight was we just couldn’t make our shots,” Westbrook said. ”We missed the same shots that we’ve been making every game.” (AP)
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Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) dunks against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half of their NBA clash on Thursday .AP
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