Jerami Grant scored a career-high 44 points Friday night for the visiting Portland Trail Blazers, who overcame a 14-point deficit in the first half and edged the New York Knicks 132-129 in overtime
Anfernee Simons had 38 points, and Jusuf Nurkic finished with 20 points, including a three-point play that put the Trail Blazers ahead for good with 3:31 left in overtime.
Josh Hart finished with 10 points and 19 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who snapped a four-game losing streak and won for the first time in three games without star guard Damian Lillard, who is out with a right calf injury.
Jalen Brunson scored 32 points but missed a potential game-winning floater from two feet just before the fourth-quarter buzzer for the Knicks, who have lost three of four.
RJ Barrett had 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Julius Randle collected 23 points. Immanuel Quickley had 18 points off the bench, while Mitchell Robinson added 12 points.
Brunson scored 11 points during a 21-10 second quarter run that gave the Knicks a 56-42 lead with 4:49 left, before the Trail Blazers responded with a 20-6 run to end the half and take a 62-61 lead.
The teams swapped the lead four times and were tied twice in the third before the Trail Blazers went on a 9-0 run to take their biggest lead of regulation at 90-82. Portland led 92-86 heading into the fourth, when seven straight late possessions ended with either a lead change or a tie score.
A layup by Grant gave the Trail Blazers a 114-111 lead, but the Knicks scored the next five points, capped by a spinning layup by Brunson with 13.7 seconds left. Simons tied the score with a pair of free throws on Portland’s next trip before Brunson missed the potential game-winner.
Simons and Randle traded 3-pointers to open overtime, before Nurkic’s 3-point play began an 8-0 run for the Blazers in which the Knicks were 0-for-3 with two turnovers.
New York mounted one more run and pulled within 129-127 on Brunson’s layup with 14.6 seconds left, but Grant hit two free throws and Brunson missed a 3-pointer.
–Field Level Media
