Shabazz Napier leads dramatic second half comeback for Blazers over 76ers

LOS ANGELES, USA – The Portland Trail Blazers had to battle back from an 18-point deficit to beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-110 on Thursday, December 28 (Friday Manila time).

CJ McCollum scored 34 points, Shabazz Napier added a season-high 23 and Jusuf Nurkic chipped in 21 points with 12 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who erased an 18-point third-quarter deficit.

Joel Embiid scored 29 points and pulled down 9 rebounds for the 76ers, who lost for the 10th time in 12 games.

For Portland it was a first home win in 7 games, and it came despite the absence of two-time All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, who missed his third straight game with a right hamstring injury.

The Milwaukee Bucks engineered another big comeback, overcoming a 20-point second-half deficit to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 102-96.

Eric Bledsoe drained a three-pointer with 2:25 left to play to give the Bucks their first lead of the night.

Bledsoe scored 26 points and Giannis Antetokounpo added 22 with 10 rebounds for Milwaukee.

The Bucks got off to a ragged start, turning the ball over four times in the first 4 minutes to fall into a quick 17-6 hole.

They trailed by 10 at halftime, and by the time they were down 74-54 with 7:13 left in the third quarter their home fans were booing them.

“I’d have booed us, too,” admitted Milwaukee forward John Henson.

But Henson and Bledsoe scored 10 points each in the third as the Bucks plugged away, finally bringing Minnesota’s 5-game winning streak to an end.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 22 points. Andrew Wiggins added 21 and Jimmy Butler chipped in 20.

But Wiggins was held scoreless in the fourth when Butler and Towns combined for just 10 points.

A three-pointer by Towns with 4:19 remaining put the Timberwolves up by three, but the Bucks scored the last 12 points of the game. – Rappler.com