NBA

Lillard’s fadeaway lifts Blazers in OT

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Damian Lillard’s spinning fadeaway with one-tenth of a second left in overtime lifted the Portland Trail Blazers to a 111-109 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night.

Lillard was guarded well by Rodney Stuckey as he tried to drive to the basket, but he was able to hit a tough fadeaway from about 8 feet for the victory. Detroit couldn’t get off a shot before the buzzer.

“Stuckey did a great job, but they told me that I was going to have to make a double move to get anything off,” Lillard said. “He blocked my first move, and I knew he wouldn’t let me get to the basket, so I just spun off my other shoulder and put up a fadeaway. It felt good when I let it go, but a lot of shots felt good tonight and didn’t go in.”

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points for Portland, which rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Lillard finished with 23 points.

Josh Smith scored 31 points, his most since signing with the Pistons as a free agent in the offseason.

Moments before Lillard’s winner, Stuckey tied the game for Detroit with a shot from near the free-throw line. Portland, which made 21 shots from three-point range in Saturday’s rout of Philadelphia, went 7 of 26 on Sunday.

The Blazers trailed by 13 early in the fourth, but cut the deficit to 94-92 before Smith scored on the block while being fouled by Wesley Matthews. The three-point play pushed the lead to five, but Detroit couldn’t close out the game.

Matthews finally tied it with two free throws with 30.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Detroit had the ball with 1.1 seconds left, but Kyle Singler’s inbounds pass was stolen, sending the game to overtime.

The Blazers led by 11 early in the second quarter, but Detroit rallied behind Smith and fellow big men Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond to take a 51-50 lead into halftime.

Smith is shooting under 27 percent from three-point range this season, and the presence of Monroe and Drummond has seemed only to encourage him to shoot more from the perimeter. But he attempted only two three-pointers on Sunday, and the Blazers couldn’t handle him in the post for most of the night.

Smith’s three-point play made it 75-66 in the third, and Detroit led 84-73 heading into the final period.

Detroit outscored Portland 68-42 in the paint, but the Blazers held the Pistons to 15 points in the fourth quarter and slowly chipped away at the lead.

Nicolas Batum scored 18 points for the Blazers, who fought Detroit’s tough front line almost evenly on the boards. The Pistons outrebounded Portland 53-47 with Drummond pulling down a game-high 14.

Sports, Pages 20 on 12/16/2013

Upcoming Events