Westbrook, Thunder top Lillard, Trail Blazers in OT
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Russell Westbrook had 37 points and Paul George added 32 points and 14 rebounds for the Oklahoma City Thunder in a chippy 129-121 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.
The victory gave the Thunder a four-game series sweep of the Blazers this season.
Damian Lillard had 51 points for the Blazers, while Jusuf Nurkic added 13 points and 17 rebounds before he was sent off with his second technical with under a minute to go in regulation.
The teams had gone into the game knotted for third in the Western Conference — along with the Houston Rockets — with identical 39-25 records.
Westbrook's 3-pointer in overtime put the Thunder up 118-117 and he made a pair of free throws to extend the lead. After George made the second of a pair of free throws, Westbrook's layup gave Oklahoma City a 123-117 lead.Regulation ended with a wild final minute when George appeared to elbow Nurkic, who was knocked to the floor as Terrance Ferguson made a layup that put the Thunder up 113-111. Portland players protested, but no call was made.
Words were then exchanged between Nurkic and George under Portland's basket. After a review both received offsetting technicals, and a foul was called on the Thunder. Because Nurkic already had a technical, he was ejected and the Thunder chose Blazers reserve Skal Labissiere to make the free throws. He missed both, but a loose-ball foul was called on the Thunder and Al-Farouq Aminu made both shots to tie it at 113 with 2.9 seconds left.
After a turnover by the Thunder, the game went to overtime.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points and Khris Middleton added 27 to help the Bucks bounce back from their first consecutive losses of the season.
Milwaukee, which improved to an NBA-best 49-16, was coming off back-to-back losses to Utah and Phoenix after opening a five-game road trip with three victories.
The Bucks gained control with a 12-0 spurt early in the fourth quarter. Kyle O'Quinn opened the final period with a floater from the lane to bring the Pacers within 10 at 84-74. Ersan Ilyasova hit a 3-pointer to trigger the run, capped by Antetokounmpo's drive to make it 96-74 with 8:21 left.
Myles Turner had 22 points and Bojan Bogdanovic 17 for the Pacers.