The high expectations for the Trail Blazers this season were tempered somewhat when Greg Oden was injured in Portland’s 20-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener.
Facing another Western Conference power on Friday night, the short-handed Blazers hung on for a hard-earned win.
Michael Finley’s shot at the buzzer for San Antonio rimmed out and the Blazers edged the Spurs 100-99.
“When he missed the shot, I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking overtime or something because it just didn’t feel right. But I looked up and realized that we had finally beaten the Spurs,” guard Brandon Roy said.
In other NBA games, it was Philadelphia 116, New York 87; Toronto 112, Golden State 108 in overtime; Miami 103, Sacramento 77; Memphis 86, Orlando 84; Boston 96, Chicago 80; and Denver 113, L.A. Clippers 103 in overtime.
The Blazers’ victory snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Spurs. Nate McMillan had never defeated the Spurs as Portland’s coach.
3, Roy hit a pull-up jumper, but San Antonio’s Roger Mason answered with a 22-footer to tie it again.
After Rudy Fernandez missed one of two free throws, Tony Parker’s reverse layup with 1:29 left gave the Spurs their first lead of the second half, 97-96.
Roy made a pair of foul shots to put the Blazers in front before LaMarcus Aldridge hit a shot from the top of the key to make to put Portland up 100-97 with 35 seconds left.
After Parker hit a pair of free throws, Travis Outlaw’s missed a bank shot for the Blazers. Mason took the ball to the other end and passed off to Finley, who missed as the buzzer sounded.
“I had a really good opportunity to knock it down,” Finley said. “I had a great look at it. But I rushed it a little bit and it didn’t feel good when it left my hands.”
Roy had 26 points and seven assists for the Blazers.
Oden, who is expected to be out two to four weeks, had a boot on his sprained right foot but did not have a noticeable limp when he arrived at the Rose Garden. He watched the game in street clothes from the bench.
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 27 points and 10 rebounds and Parker had 24 points and 11 assists.
Nuggets 113, Clippers 103, OT
deficit to beat Los Angeles.
Nene added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets before fouling out for the second time in two games. Kenyon Martin missed nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 13 points. But he grabbed 13 rebounds, made a key defensive stop to send the game into OT and made a 3-pointer in the final minute to secure the victory.
Al Thornton had 30 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers. Tim Thomas added 20 points and Chris Kaman had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Heat 103, Kings 77
Dwyane Wade had 20 points and eight assists, Michael Beasley finished with 17 and Miami scored 41 points off turnovers to easily win its home opener.
It was the biggest victory margin for Miami (1-1) since beating Chicago by 33 on March 7, 2007. The win helped the Heat reach a place last year’s club never saw: the .500 mark. The 26-point win also matched Miami’s biggest victory in a home opener.
Celtics 96, Bulls 80
Kevin Garnett became the youngest player in NBA history to play 1,000 games and scored 18 points to help the host Celtics get the win.
Garnett reached the 1,000-game mark at 32 years, 165 days. He broke the record of 33 years, 24 days set by Shawn Kemp on Dec. 20, 2002.
and led by at least 10 points throughout the final three quarters.
The Bulls made only 10 of 45 shots (22.2 percent) in the first half and went 25-for-84 (29.8 percent) from the field for the game.
Derrick Rose had 18 points for Chicago and Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon each scored 11.
Grizzlies 86, Magic 84
Rudy Gay hit an 18-foot jumper as time expired to lift host Memphis.
Gay scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Grizzlies to their first win in a home opener since moving to Memphis before the 2001-02 season.
Rookie O.J. Mayo had 17 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies.
Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 23 points, and Hedo Turkoglu finished with 18 points and seven assists. Dwight Howard had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Raptors 112, Warriors 108, OT
Chris Bosh scored 31 points, Anthony Parker had 23 and host Toronto beat Golden State.
Reserve Andrea Bargnani had 19 points, Jose Calderon had 16 points and 13 assists and Jamario Moon added 11 for the Raptors.
Al Harrington led Golden State (0-2) with 26 points, adding 11 rebounds, while Stephen Jackson finished with 19 points. Andris Biedrins had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors.
76ers 116, Knicks 87
and eight assists to lead visiting Philadelphia.
Willie Green had 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting for the 76ers, who shot 59.1 percent (52-for-88) from the field and never trailed. Lou Williams added 15 points and Thaddeus Young had 13 for the 76ers.
Jamal Crawford led five Knicks in double figures with 14 points. David Lee added 13 points and 11 rebounds for New York.
The Knicks played without former All-Star Stephon Marbury, who was deactivated prior to the game.
Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni and Marbury met Friday and Marbury asked the coach if he was going to play. When told he would not be seeing action, Marbury reportedly requested he be put on the inactive list and D’Antoni and the guard mutually agreed to take that action for Friday’s game.
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