Oklahoma City Thunder vs Portland Trail Blazers Match Player Stats On Apr 23, 2019

Damian Lillard capped a 50-point game by sinking a long 3-pointer as time expired to give the Portland Trail Blazers a 118-115 victory over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night and a five-game series win.

Lillard set a franchise playoff scoring record as the Trail Blazers clinched the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Paul George scored 36 points for the Thunder, and Russell Westbrook collected 29 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.

Oklahoma City led by 15 points with 7:45 left.

Portland got back to within 107-98 on back-to-back dunks by Moe Harkless, the latter coming with 5:50 remaining. Enes Kanter got the Blazers within 108-100 on a layup with 5:14 to play.

Lillard drained a 3-pointer, but Westbrook answered with a trey of his own to make it 111-103 with 4:26 left.

Harkless sank a pair at the line to cut it to 111-105, but George scored on a twisting layup to up the Thunder lead to 113-105 with 3:52 to play.

CJ McCollum scored on a runner to trim the difference to 113-107, then banked in a shot to make it 113-109 with 1:39 to go. Two foul shots by Harkless cut it to 113-111 with 1:22 remaining.

McCollum tied it at 113-113 on a jumper with 57.1 seconds left, but George pushed Oklahoma City back ahead 115-113 with a basket with 39.4 seconds to go.

Lillard evened the count on a layup with 32.8 ticks left. After a Westbrook miss, the Blazers rebounded and got it to Lillard, who hit the series-clinching bomb at the buzzer.

McCollum and Harkless each finished with 17 points for Portland, and Kanter had 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Dennis Schroder added 17 points off the bench for Oklahoma City, and Jerami Grant finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. George's line also included nine rebounds and three assists.

Oklahoma City jumped to a 16-6 lead in the first four minutes, with George hitting his first four shots and scoring nine points. George was 6 of 6 before missing, staking the Thunder to a 37-29 advantage after one quarter. George had 15 points and Lillard 19 in the quarter.

Lillard kept going, scoring 15 more points in the second quarter as Portland took a 61-60 halftime edge. George had 20 points and Westbrook 12 for the Thunder before the break.

Portland used a 12-2 run to go in front 84-75. Oklahoma City responded with a 15-2 tear to go ahead 90-86 late in the third quarter. The Thunder took a 90-88 lead into the final period.

--Field Level Media