Lillard scores 31 as Trail Blazers top Thunder 115-104

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 31 points in the final 4:11 to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-104 on Tuesday night.

The Trail Blazers squandered a 24-point lead in the second half, then regained control behind Lillard, who made all four of his 3-point tries during the closing run while playing with five fouls.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points and Enes Kanter had eight points and 21 rebounds for Portland, which has won five straight. Lillard is averaging 30.2 points during the streak.

Portland has been rolling despite C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic being out for the past month. McCollum has a fracture in his left foot and Nurkic has a fractured right wrist.

Lu Dort scored 23 points and Hamidou Diallo added 17 for the Thunder. Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the team’s leading scorer, missed his fourth consecutive game with a sprained left knee.

The Thunder trailed by 22 in the second quarter before finishing strong and cutting the deficit to 64-50 at the break. Anfernee Simons scored all of his 15 points in the first half for Portland.

Oklahoma City, as has been customary this season, was hard to shake. The Thunder made a run, but Portland still took a 93-79 lead into the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma City stayed hot, and Dort’s 3-pointer put the Thunder up 98-97 midway through the fourth.

Portland scored four points in almost eight minutes to start the period before getting its offense going again. The Blazers closed the game on an 18-2 run.

TIP-INS

Trail Blazers: Former Thunder player Carmelo Anthony scored 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting. … Anthony was called for a technical in the second quarter. … Lillard picked up his fourth foul with 1:05 left in the first half and his fifth with 4:48 remaining in the game.

Thunder: Rookie point guard Theo Maledon returned after missing four games due to health and safety protocols. He played 28 minutes and scored seven points. … Isaiah Roby had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Trail Blazers: Visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.

Thunder: Visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.