Trail Blazers Hand Lakers First Loss in Duel of Unbeaten NBA Teams

The Portland Trail Blazers stayed unbeaten on Tuesday night, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 136-129 in a meeting of two teams that had yet to lose this season. It was Portland's third straight win to begin the campaign.

Deni Avdija led a deep scoring effort with 23 points and nine assists, and Ja Morant matched him with 23 points. Jrue Holiday contributed 22 points off the bench and Damian Lillard added 21. Robert Williams III posted 14 points and 10 rebounds, Toumani Camara scored 12, and Donovan Clingan had nine points and 10 rebounds. Avdija, Lillard and Camara each made four 3-pointers as Portland connected on 18 of 36 from long range and shot 59 percent overall.

Luka Doncic scored 41 points with nine assists for the Lakers, just two days after putting up 52 against the Utah Jazz. Austin Reaves had 26 points and seven assists. Sandro Mamukelashvili added 17, Walker Kessler 13 and Ziaire Williams 11. Los Angeles shot 56.2 percent and made 17 of 43 attempts from three-point range, but dropped its first game in four tries.

The Lakers held a 73-68 edge at halftime, with Doncic accounting for 24 points and Morant scoring 15 for Portland. Mamukelashvili hit two threes in a 7-0 run to end the first half, and Reaves and Doncic opened the third quarter with threes to push the lead to 79-68. Los Angeles later led 97-88, but Portland scored 14 of the last 20 points in the period and entered the fourth trailing only 103-102.

Lillard's three-pointer put Portland up 108-105, and Camara's made it 114-106. The Lakers answered with a 10-2 run, and Reaves tied the score at 116 with 5:33 left. Avdija's three made it 128-124 with 2:59 to play, and Williams cut the margin to one 23 seconds later. Morant's floater gave Portland a 130-127 lead, he scored again at 1:24, and Doncic pulled Los Angeles back within three. Lillard then buried a three for a 135-129 lead with 43.1 seconds left. Doncic and Reaves both missed threes on the next possession, and Holiday's split at the free-throw line made it a seven-point game with 18.3 seconds remaining.

Elsewhere, Jayson Tatum hit an elbow jumper as time expired in overtime to give the Boston Celtics a 125-124 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Tatum scored 40 points, including a career-high 18 free throws on 22 attempts, and Paul George added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Michael Porter Jr had 27 points and 12 rebounds for Brooklyn, which fell to 0-4. Mikel Brown Jr had forced overtime with a three-pointer with one second left in regulation.

The New York Knicks avoided an 0-4 start by beating the Detroit Pistons. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 13 of his game-high 27 points during a third quarter in which New York outscored Detroit 37-13, and he grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds. Jalen Brunson added 23 points and seven assists. No defending champion has opened 0-4 since the 1969-70 Celtics. Paul Reed scored 22 for the Pistons, who were chasing their first 4-0 start since 2018-19.

In San Antonio, Victor Wembanyama had 29 points and 10 rebounds in only 27 minutes, and Julian Champagnie hit eight first-half threes on the way to 26 points as the Spurs beat the Sacramento Kings. San Antonio's 80 points, 23 assists and 13 three-pointers in the first half were all league season highs. De'Andre Hunter scored 24 for the Kings, who fell to 0-4, and Zach LaVine added 22. Domantas Sabonis finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.