Portland, OR – LaMarcus Aldridge poured in a game-tying 3- pointer late and then delivered the deciding bucket as time expired to send the Portland Trail Blazers to a 106-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Trail Blazers rallied from a 21-point third quarter deficit before Aldridge stepped back in the corner to drain his first 3-pointer of the season and tie the game at 104-104 with 4.5 seconds left.
After O.J. Mayo was called for an offensive foul at the other end, Aldridge caught the inbounds pass and swished a fadeaway jumper as the buzzer sounded to give Portland to its third victory in four games.
With his 11th double-double in the month of January, Aldridge totaled 29 points and 13 rebounds. J.J. Hickson produced 26 points with 15 rebounds and Wesley Matthews finished with 17 points, while Portland received 10 apiece from Nicolas Batum and Damian Lillard in the victory.
"He's one of the few All-Stars that defends the best player on the other team as well as being productive on the offensive end and he showed up for us tonight," Matthews said about Aldridge.
Dirk Nowitzki knocked down a triple prior to Aldridge's 3-point make to give Dallas the lead with 11.4 seconds remaining. He finished with 26 points on 11- of-21 shooting for Dallas, which had won six of eight games coming in.
"The difference between a good team and a bad team is a couple possessions down the stretch. For some reason, we haven't found a way to win those games consistently," Nowitzki said.
Darren Collison added 17 points, Mayo scored 15 to go with nine assists and seven rebounds and Shawn Marion finished with 12 points in the setback.
Despite blowing a 21-point lead, the Mavericks seemed to have the game in hand after a 13-4 run late in the fourth staked them to a 101-94 advantage. However, Portland rallied to tie the game.
After Aldridge sank a pair of free throws, Matthews came up with a steal and converted a pair at the line before Batum buried a triple to knot the score at 101-101.
The Trail Blazers trailed 69-48 in the third but came all the way back to take the lead midway through the fourth at 90-88 following a triple from Ronnie Price and four straight points from Sasha Pavlovic.
However, Nowitzki immediately put Dallas back in front by draining a triple to spark the 13-4 run, which featured a 27-foot desperation bank shot from Collison with the shot clock winding down.
Dallas carried a 59-42 lead at halftime after closing out the second quarter on a 19-6 surge, with Collison hitting two 3-pointers while scoring the Mavs' final 10 points of the period.
The Mavericks started the third well in building their edge up to 21, but shot just 2-for-8 over the final six minutes of the period.
Portland went on to outscore Dallas by 11 during the stanza and reduced its deficit to 80-74 as Batum, Lillard and Luke Babbitt each hit a three 3-pointer as the Trail Blazers finished the quarter on a 19-6 run.
Game Notes
Portland improved to 16-8 at home this season and will begin a home-and-home series in Utah on Friday ... The Mavericks scored 100 points for the ninth consecutive game ... Each team committed 16 turnovers ... Dallas shot 8-for-15 from 3-point range, while the Trail Blazers made just 10-of-28 from long distance.
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