It was a heartbreaking night for Phoenix Suns, who completed the only perfect 8-0 run in the restart but still failed to make the play-in series.
Damian Lillard scored 42 points and came up with a key late steal as the Portland Trail Blazers edged the Brooklyn Nets 134-133 on Thursday to keep their NBA playoff hopes alive. The scrappy, scintillating win put the Blazers into a weekend play-in series with the Memphis Grizzlies for the final Western Conference playoff berth. Caris LeVert, who led the playoff-bound Nets with 37 points, had a chance to deny them but missed a potential game-winning jump shot as time expired. “So we came out here and earned another win,” said Lillard, who had scored a combined 112 points in the Blazers’ previous two games in the NBA’s season restart in a quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida. “It feels better going into the play-in game knowing that our eight games we had to work for – so we deserve to be where we’re going.” Portland led by two with 1:12 remaining when Lillard ran down LeVert for a steal. CJ McCollum, who scored 25 points for the Blazers, followed with a jump shot that stretched Portland’s lead to 134-130 with less than a minute to play. LeVert responded with a three-point play, but couldn’t put it away at the end. Despite his recent offensive exploits, Lillard said he expected a tough game from the Nets, who will face the reigning champion Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs. “I knew what we were coming into tonight,” he said. “We weren’t going to come in and just get them out of there. They play with a lot of effort, they play together and they believe.
