Philadelphia 76ers at Portland Trail Blazers final score: 76ers beat Trail Blazers 101-99
The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 101-99 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The 76ers improved to 12-21, and the Trail Blazers fell to 26-8.
Portland headed into the fourth quarter with a 76-69 lead, but struggled to score. The 76ers capitalized, going on a 13-0 run in the middle of the fourth to take a 90-84 lead with 4:28 to go.
With 2:31 on the clock, Robin Lopez went to the line and made both free throws to tie the game at 90. A back-and-forth ensued, and Portland resorted to a fouling strategy down by a point with 22 seconds to go.
Michael Carter-Wiliams made the first free throw, and missed the second. During the rebound, the ball went out of bounds, and the refs overturned their original call, giving the possession arrow back to Philly. Portland fouled again, and after two made free throws by Spencer Hawes, the 76ers led by four.
The Trail Blazers managed to fight back, only down by two with five seconds to play. In the final play of the game, Damian Lillard‘s contested layup failed to go down, and the 76ers pulled off an impressive road victory.
According to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Trail Blazers’ rookie shooting guard C.J. McCollum may make his debut on Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings. McCollum was the 10th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He injured his left foot during training camp, and has not played an NBA game this season. Hopefully, we will see him in action against the Kings.
Blazers rook CJ McCollum will return to Portland after 2-game D-League stint & be activated, source says. He could debut vs Kings on Tuesday
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 5, 2014
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