ATLANTA — Damian Lillard scored 36 points, Al-Farouq Aminu added 17 and 11 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers extended their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 118-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
Portland took charge with a 16-0 run in the third quarter that pushed the lead to 21 points. The Hawks pulled within 10 early in the fourth on Trae Young’s runner, but Zach Collins’ follow dunk and Jake Layman’s difficult three-point play made it 97-82 to remove any remaining suspense.
Lillard, with his 26th game of at least 30 points, outplayed Young, who scored 18 of his 26 points in the first quarter.
The Blazers have won 9 of 10 and are in third place in the Western Conference.
Atlanta’s three-game winning streak, tying its longest of the season, was snapped.
Aminu has double-doubles in consecutive games for the first time this season. He had 12 points and 11 boards against Chicago on Wednesday.
NUGGETS 115, THUNDER 105: Jamal Murray scored 27 points as Denver beat host Oklahoma City.
Nikola Jokic added 23 points and 16 rebounds for the Nuggets, who won all four meetings with Oklahoma City this season.
Russell Westbrook had 27 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Paul George had 25 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder.
NOTES
KNICKS: Guard Frank Ntilikina is expected to miss the rest of the season with a groin injury, ending a disappointing second year for the former lottery pick.
Ntilikina had just returned from a nearly two-month absence but left again during a loss to the Clippers on Sunday because of more soreness.
CELTICS: The Boston Celtics have banned a fan from their games for two years for being verbally abusive toward the Warriors during their only visit to Boston this season.
The team says it didn’t enforce a lifetime ban because its investigation couldn’t prove that the fan used a racial slur toward Golden State forward DeMarcus Cousins.
According to a Yahoo! report, Cousins said the fan “muttered” a racial slur at him on Jan. 26.
The Celtics say the fan, who is a minor, was ejected from the game immediately after they received the complaint. The team says it reviewed videotape and spoke with fans, police and security in the area and concluded the fan was verbally abusive toward the Golden State bench.
The investigation found that “none of the interviewed parties were able to verify the use of racially offensive language, and video evidence proved inconclusive.”
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