Portland’s Damian Lillard scored a career-high 43 points, including 16 in the added periods, to lead the Trail Blazers to a 129-119 victory at San Antonio on Friday, handing the Spurs their second straight defeat in triple overtime.
The Trail Blazers moved within half a game of Memphis for second place in the NBA’s Western Conference, after the Grizzlies were beaten on their home court by Chicago.
Elsewhere, Denver hit late 3-pointers to prevail in a see-sawing contest against the Los Angeles Clippers, and Eastern Conference leader Toronto handed Detroit its 12th straight home defeat.
San Antonio became the first team to play consecutive triple-overtime games since the Baltimore Bullets in 1951, and frustratingly lost yet another close encounter, having dropped their previous two games by a combine three points.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 16 rebounds, and Wesley Matthews added 16 points as Portland notched a fourth-straight win.. Lillard scored the first nine points in the third overtime.
Tim Duncan had 32 points and 10 rebounds, and Danny Green added 27 points for San Antonio.
