Houston Rockets’ James Harden (13) pushes up against Portland Trail Blazers’ Wesley Matthews, left, in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday in Houston. AP PHOTO
HOUSTON — Rookie Damian Lillard scored 20 points, including eight in overtime, and the Portland Trail Blazers slowed down James Harden in a 95-85 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
Lillard and Nicolas Batum each made a 3 to help Portland open an 87-81 lead early in overtime. Harden then made a pair of free throws before Lillard converted a reverse layup. His second 3 of overtime pushed Portland’s lead to 93-85 with 1:25 remaining.
Harden led the Rockets with 24 points in his home debut, but he wasn’t as dominant as he was in the first two games. He scored 37 and a career-high 45 points in his first two games after he was acquired in a deal with Oklahoma City last week. The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year signed a five-year, $80 contract extension on Wednesday.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Wesley Matthews had 16 points, and J.J. Hickson added nine points and 12 rebounds.
Jeremy Lin had 13 points and seven assists in his home debut for the Rockets, who lost for the first time this season.
The game was tied with 1:17 to go before Lin made a layup while being fouled by Hickson. He sunk the free throw to give Houston an 81-78 lead.
Matthews tied it again with a 3 with just under a minute left.
Houston had a chance to win it in regulation, but Portland knocked the ball out of Harden’s hands seconds before the buzzer.
Defending champions the Miami Heat bounced back from a defeat in New York the night before to beat the winless Denver Nuggets 119-116.
Ray Allen’s four-point play with 6.7 seconds left proved the difference and sent Denver to its third straight loss to start the season.
Chris Bosh was dominant with 40 points, while LeBron James finished with 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Allen scored 23 for the Heat.
The Boston Celtics got their season started by downing the under-manned Washington Wizards 89-86, with Paul Pierce scoring 27 points for the Celtics.
Missing key starters, point guard John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft, and center Nene the Wizards struggled to score, going 1-for-14 shooting at the start, which barely improved throughout the evening.
Washington’s only scoring in the first 8 minutes came on Kevin Garnett’s goaltending call, and Pierce hit a key 3 down the stretch to help Boston improve to 1-2.
Washington dropped to 0-2 after its home opener in front of a sellout crowd of 20,308 that occasionally included folks chanting “Let’s go, Celtics!”
At Dallas, O.J. Mayo scored 30 points to keep the Dallas Mavericks unbeaten against the Charlotte Bobcats, 126-99.
Mayo made a career-high seven 3-pointers, including one that put the Mavericks ahead for good late in the second quarter as Dallas improved to 16-0 all-time against Charlotte.
The Indiana Pacers needed two overtime periods to see off the Portland Trailblazers in Indianapolis.
George Hill scored 18 points, including the first four in the second overtime, after Sacramento forced overtime with Marcus Thornton’s 3-pointer with 48.6 seconds left in regulation. He did it again in overtime, hitting another tying 3 with 26.4 seconds left.
Thornton scored 26 points and DeMarcus Cousins had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Sacramento.
In other games Saturday, the New Orleans Hornets toppled the Chicago Bulls 89-82, the Brooklyn Nets gave some cheer to a storm-battered New York area with a 107-100 win over the Toronto Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks edged out the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-102.
Also Saturday, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 110-100, while in a late game the Golden State Warriors downed the L.A. Clippers 114-110.