Cavs hold off Spurs surge; Portland win in OT
The Cleveland Cavaliers, fueled by 29 points from Jarrett Allen, held off a late charge from Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday for a 117-115 NBA victory. Allen added 16 rebounds and Caris LeVert scored 23 points off the bench for the Cavs, who handed the Spurs a fifth straight defeat. French prodigy Wembanyama scored 24 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked five shots in less than 25 minutes on court, and made an impression on seven-year veteran Allen. "He's talented," Allen said. "He can take people off the dribble, excellent shot-blocker, post-up – he's got it all." But Wembanyama, playing under a minutes restriction as he recovers from an ankle injury, couldn't get the Spurs over the hump, although they gave it a run after Cleveland pushed their lead to 16 points on an Allen dunk with less than six minutes to play. San Antonio closed the contest on an 11-0 run. They needed overtime to settle it in Brooklyn, where the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Nets 134-127. Portland guard Anfernee Simons scored 19 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to help the Trail Blazers withstand a 42-point performance from Brooklyn's Mikal Bridges. Bridges's fade-away jumper with 1.5 seconds left in the fourth forced overtime, and Brooklyn took a quick lead before the Blazers stormed back in the extra session, connecting on six of seven shots from the floor. (AFP)