Blazers’ Nicolas Batum sends it to overtime (video)

For the second consecutive night, the Los Angeles Clippers were involved in an excellent game with a Western Conference contender and for the second consecutive night, they came away with a loss. On Christmas night, they fell to the Golden State Warriors 105-103. On Thursday night, it was the Portland Trail Blazers who dealt the Clippers a heat breaking loss with a 116-112 victory in overtime.

The Trail Blazers held an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, but an 11-0 Clippers’ run tied the game at 91. The teams went back-and-forth from there before a series of jumpers from Chris Paul gave the Clippers a 99-98 lead and then extended the lead to 101-98 with 9.3 seconds to play. On the ensuing possession, Nicolas Batum inbounded the ball to LaMarcus Aldridge, who gave it right back to Batum. Batum got a good, albeit off-balance look from beyond the arc and hit a three-pointer to tie the game with 5.3 seconds to play.

Paul missed a jumper at the buzzer and the game went to overtime where the Blazers earned a 116-112 victory.

Batum finished with 21 points.