The Portland Trail Blazers took down the Dallas Mavericks 125-122 in a game that came down to the wire. After jumping out to an early lead in the first quarter that they sustained most of the contest, Portland allowed the Mavericks to fight back and take the lead in the fourth.

Portland was led in scoring by Deni Avdija who finished the game with 27 points. He was supported by Caleb Love and Shaedon Sharpe who both scored 24 in the game.

Dallas was led by the 25 points of Max Christie and the 22 points of Brandon Williams.

Caleb Love finished the game with 24 points on 8-15 shooting from the field and 6-10 from three. He had a couple big plays in the fourth quarter as the Blazers fought to keep their lead. He had 12 points in the final period, including a pair of threes in the final five minutes.

I also want to mention Donovan Clingan who scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the game. He was perfect from inside the three-point arc for the second straight game and added a pair of threes to his total. His rebounding on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball is incredibly important to Portland’s success.

It turns out that making the threes they are taking is pretty important to Portland’s success. They made 7/13 from deep in the first quarter en route to a season-high 42-point first frame. They extended that to 12/22 from behind the arc for the first half. However, that percentage plummeted to 4/19 in the second half. Without a consistent strokie from deep, the Blazers sputtered and allowed the Mavericks to fight back into the contest.

A couple of timely threes late in the game helped Portland stay ahead in the fourth and eventually come away with the win despite the shooting dropoff.

The Blazers jumped out to an early lead and kept it through most of the game. For most of the first three quarters Portland held Dallas at arm’s length with a 10-point lead. However, a run from the Mavericks late in the third quarter pushed them right back into the game and led to a competitive fourth quarter.

Not being able to leverage their lead and close the door on Dallas led to a very hard-fought fourth quarter. The Blazers eventually prevailed, but the outcome was in question far longer than it should have been.

The Blazers head back on the road to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, December 31 at 5:00 p.m. PST.