By SCHUYLER DIXON , AP Sports Writer
DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 28 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. had 24 and the Dallas Mavericks erased a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 102-101 on Sunday.
Damian Lillard scored 21 of his 30 points in the last half of the third quarter to help the Blazers build a lead that grew to 96-81 early in the fourth before the Mavericks mounted their rally.
Dorian Finney-Smith started the comeback by tipping in his own miss, and Doncic’s assist on Dwight Powell’s alley-oop dunk kicked the recovery into another gear by getting Dallas within six. Doncic had nine rebounds and six assists.
After a 3-pointer from Doncic, Hardaway won a scramble for a loose ball along the sideline, and weaved through defenders for an emphatic left-handed dunk to get Dallas within one.
Doncic gave the Mavericks their first lead since early in the second quarter with a finger-roll layup, then put them ahead for good with a 3-point play on a driving layup for a 102-99 lead with 1:28 remaining.
After CJ McCollum made a shot, the teams exchanged misses before Lillard was off on a driving layup just before the buzzer.
Lillard hit eight straight shots and scored 16 straight Portland points during his third-quarter flurry, but missed his last four shots as the Blazers went more than 10 minutes in the fourth quarter without a basket.
Justuf Nurkic had 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out when Hardaway got the Mavericks even at 97-all on free throws. They had been even at 67 in the third before Lillard took over and gave the Blazers a comfortable lead.
Powell had 13 points and eight rebounds and Finney-Smith scored 11.
TIP-INS
Blazers: McCollum was just 6 of 17 from the field and finished with 14 points, ending his career-best three straight games with at least 30 points. … Seth Curry scored four points against his former team. The Mavericks had interest in bringing back Curry this season as a key 3-point threat after he missed the 2017-18 season with a stress fracture in his lower left leg.
Mavericks: C Salah Mejri was re-signed three days after being waived as part of the trade that sent Harrison Barnes to Sacramento. Dallas made the deal for salary-cap relief, acquiring Zach Randolph and Justin Jackson. Randolph was waived the day after the trade. Mejri wasn’t active against Portland. … Hardaway reached 5,000 career points with two buckets in the first quarter. His next two baskets were 3-pointers to give him 700 for his career.
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers: At Oklahoma City on Monday night.
Mavericks: At Houston on Monday night.
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