PORTLAND — A seesaw affair with several lead changes and an exciting finale saw the Portland Trail Blazers defeat the Dallas Mavericks 125-122 Monday at Moda Center.
Portland’s Deni Avdija missed a triple-double by a single point, with 27 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds as he led the charge offensively.
Shaedon Sharpe contributed an impressive 24 points as an added offensive threat alongside Avdija, while Caleb Love’s performance with 24 points off the bench included six three-pointers including the crucial free throws in the final minute of the game.
It was a hard-fought battle by Dallas, who came back from a 17-point lead in the second quarter. Max Christie topped the scoring list with 25 points, followed by Brandon Williams with 22, while Cooper Flagg added 15 points, eight assists, and six rebounds.
The fourth quarter was a seesaw affair, too, as the teams changed leads eight times. The Portland advantage was at 95-84 late in the third before Dallas embarked on a run topped off by a running three-pointer from Klay Thompson with 0.7 seconds left in the period, which pulled the score to 97-93. Thompson was to tie it later at 99-99 with a 3-pointer early in the fourth.
Down the stretch, the Mavericks had a brief 122-121 lead following a Christie triple with 1:09 to play. The Portland response was a love four times over as calmly he sank two free throws with just over 50 seconds left and after back-to-back three misses by Dallas, Sharpe salted away a win that wasn’t pretty with two clutch free throws and three seconds to play.
In the final seconds, an attempt by Thompson came in a 3-point shot, which missed, but this act sealed the win for the Blazers.
Next Steps:
• The Mavericks play at home against the Philadelphia 76ers later in the week. Portland will travel to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder