The Sports Xchange
Nov 25, 2017
WASHINGTON -- Damian Lillard scored 29 points and CJ McCollum had seven of his 26 over the final 90 seconds as the Portland Trail Blazers rallied past the Washington Wizards for a 108-105 win on Saturday.
Playing without the injured John Wall, Washington seemingly pulled away with a 16-5 run in the fourth quarter for a 92-75 lead, but McCollum's personal 7-0 run put Portland (12-8) up 106-105 with 21 seconds remaining. Pat Connaughton hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds.
Bradley Beal scored 26 points for the Wizards (10-9), but missed all four of his shot attempts in the closing stretch including a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The collapse was Washington's second in as many games. They fell 129-124 in overtime at Charlotte on Wednesday after leading by nine points with 3:32 left.
The Wizards announced Saturday that Wall would miss approximately two weeks with inflammation in his left knee. Wall had an MRI exam Friday and will received platelet-rich plasma and viscosupplementation injections in an attempt to reduce the inflammation and discomfort with which the four-time All-Star has dealt since making knee-to-knee contact against Dallas on Nov. 7.
Otto Porter Jr. had 18 of his 24 points in the second half for the Wizards. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 13.
Portland arrived in Washington 1-2 on its road trip following a 127-125 road win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday afternoon.
Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points and Connaughton 12 for the Trail Blazers, who shot 51.3 percent from the field.
Tim Frazier replaced Wall in the starting lineup and scored a season-high 11 points. Beal played the distributor role and matched a season-high with seven assists.
"We felt like this was the best thing," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said pregame of Wall's status. "We figure this is the early part of the season, and we're in no rush. Give him the best chance to come back."
Washington led 52-41 at halftime as Portland shot 6 of 22 from the field in the second quarter and extended the lead to 15 points early in the third. After the Blazers pulled within 70-66, Porter scored seven points over the final 3:27 of the period as the Wizards led 83-73 entering the fourth.
NOTES: Blazers F Al-Farouq Aminu (right ankle) missed his 12th consecutive game. ... Wizards G Tim Frazier played 40 games for the Blazers from 2015-16. ... The Blazers and Wizards reconvene Dec. 5 in Portland. ... Wizards C Marcin Gortat started his 101st consecutive game, the third longest active streak in the NBA behind Timberwolves C Karl-Anthony Towns (183) and F Andrew Wiggins (176). ... Portland wraps its five-game road trip Monday at the New York Knicks. ... Washington plays seven of its next eight games on the road starting with Tuesday's matchup at the Minnesota Timberwolves.