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Sports Breaking

Lillard has 33 points, Blazers beat Nets, win 3rd straight

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard (0) drives past Brooklyn Nets’ Thaddeus Young, second from right, and Wayne Ellington, second from left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, in New York.

NEW YORK >> Damian Lillard had 33 points and 10 assists, reserve Allen Crabbe added 19 points and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Brooklyn Nets 116-104 on Friday night for their third straight victory.

Portland trailed 92-86 with 8:41 left in the fourth quarter after a pull-up jumper by Andrea Bargnani, but backup center Ed Davis and Lillard combined for 16 points during a 19-2 run that gave the Blazers a 105-94 lead with 4:26 remaining.

Brook Lopez scored 25 points for the Nets, who have lost 11 of their last 12 games at Barclays Center. Point guard Donald Sloan came up just short of his first career triple-double, scoring 15 points with nine rebounds and nine assists.

After Davis, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, extended Portland’s lead to 105-94 with a put-back dunk off Lillard’s missed 3-point attempt, the Nets scored five straight to cut it to 105-99 on Sloan’s 3-pointer with 3:35 remaining.

But the Trail Blazers, who had lost their previous two games to Brooklyn, then pulled away for good with an 11-5 run to seal the first game a three-game East Coast road trip.

TIP-INS

Trail Blazers: Lillard has had at least 10 assists in three of his last five games, including his last two. He came up one short in the other two games.

Nets: Sloan, who celebrated his 28th birthday by getting his third straight start at point guard in place of injured starter Jarrett Jack, played a season-high 32 minutes. . Brooklyn outrebounded Portland 46-42. . All five starters for the Nets scored in double figures.

LATE NIGHT SPECIAL

After scoring 17 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s come-from-behind victory over Oklahoma City, Lillard struck again the final period against the Nets, scoring 14 points on 4 of 5 from the field, including a pair of 3s in almost eight minutes.

BACK TO WHERE IT STARTED

Trail Blazers starting center Mason Plumlee watched last June’s NBA draft at Barclays Center. By the time he left the building, former Nets general manager Billy King had called to let him know he had been traded along with the draft rights to Pat Connaughton for Steve Blake and the rights to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Plumlee, a 2013 first-round selection by the Nets, pick has started each of Portland’s first 42 games this season, averaging 9.2 points and 7.8 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Trail Blazers: Visit Philadelphia on Saturday night.

Nets: Visit Atlanta on Saturday.

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