Portland Trail Blazers edge Houston Rockets in overtime

Houston, April 21 (IANS): Portland Trail Blazers edged past the Houston Rockets 122-120 in overtime at the Toyota Center, claiming their victory in first round of the NBA post-season.

The hosts started the contest slow as usual Sunday, being out-scored by the Blazers 27-20 in the first quarter. The Rockets came alive in the second quarter. They had a couple of surges, cut the deficit and overtook the Blazers, once enjoying a double-digit lead. But Portland made a few runs at the end of that quarter and narrowed the gap to just one point entering halftime, reports Xinhua.

Both teams made several runs in the third quarter and the Rockets were able to maintain the lead. They appeared to get the upper hand in the fourth quarter and had double-digit leads but the Blazers’ last-minute effort tied the score at 106 and pushed the game into overtime.

The Rockets opened the overtime with strong offensive only to be overtaken by Blazers. With 24.5 seconds remaining, Houston was one point ahead when Damian Lillard shot two free throws and turned the tables. James Harden missed a couple of shots in the last few seconds and gave the victory to Blazers.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored a franchise playoff-record 46 points and 18 rebounds for the Blazers while Lillard added 31 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Harden and Dwight Howard each scored 27 points for Houston and Howard grabbed 15 rebounds. Chandler Parsons chipped in with 24 points and Jeremy Lin with 14.