Associated Press
Damian Lillard scored 37 points, including the go-ahead floater with less than a second remaining in overtime, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 115-113 on Saturday night in a game that featured a nearly 27-minute delay in the fourth quarter due to a power surge.
Lillard blew past big man Kenneth Faried in the lane and floated in a shot with 0.3 seconds left. Lillard had tied the game on a runner in regulation with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Denver led 90-85 early in the fourth quarter when a bank of lights went out near the ceiling at the Pepsi Center. The teams shot jumpers until the game was restarted. Portland shot lights out in its return to the court - the Nuggets not as much, squandering a nine-point lead down the stretch.
CJ McCollum had seven of his 23 points in overtime to provide a spark for Portland.
Nikola Jokić led six Denver players in double figures with 23 points and he had a career-high 17 rebounds in the home opener for Denver.
Trailing 70-59 at 9:35 of the third quarter, the Nuggets went on a 17-0 run to take a lead that held up until Lillard's layup off an inbounds pass from Mason Plumlee.
Denver falls in overtime to the Portland Trail Blazers in their home opener.
Wilson Chandler had a chance to seal the game in the closing seconds of regulation but missed two free throws.
Denver honored Dikembe Mutombo at halftime by retiring the No. 55 jersey of the finger-wagging, shot-blocker extraordinaire. The team even brought out their "Rainbow Skyline" throwback uniforms for the occasion.
The Nuggets were 18-23 at home last season and 4-12 against teams in their division. Coach Michael Malone made sure to mention those two shortcomings to his team before Saturday's home opener.
"We talk about wanting to be a playoff team. To be a playoff team, you have to do (those) two things," Malone said.