PORTLAND, Ore. _ The Philadelphia 76ers played better than expected.
With a roster depleted by injuries, the belief was that they would be vastly overmatched against the hot Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night. Instead, they displayed the grit that has been their staple under fourth-year coach Brett Brown.
As a result, the Blazers needed overtime to prevail, 114-108, at the Moda Center.
The loss dropped the Sixers to 23-41. They have lost three straight and six of their last seven matchups.
For the Sixers, this was another unsuccessful trip to Rip City. They have lost six of their last seven games to the Blazers here and have a 21-35 road record against them.
A victory, however, would have provided their first season-series sweep of Portland since the 2008-09 season. The Sixers beat the Blazers, 93-92, on Jan. 20.
Portland (28-35) won Thursday's matchup in large part because of Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard.
The two teammates combined to score 13 of the 17 points in the extra session. Nurkic scored the Blazers' first seven points in overtime. Then Lillard added six.
Nurkic finished with career highs of 28 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists and six blocks. Lillard added 24 points, four assists and two blocked shots.
Dario Saric had another stellar game.
The Sixers power forward finished with a career-high 28 points to go with nine rebounds. It was his 14th consecutive game with 10 or more points.
Robert Covington added 24 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and one block.
Jahlil Okafor returned after missing the previous two games with right knee soreness. The center finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Gerald Henderson came off the bench to add 14 points, while Okafor's backup, Richaun Holmes, had 10 points.
The Sixers backcourt of T.J. McConnell and Nik Stauskas had a night they would like to forget.
Stauskas missed all six of his field-goal attempts and finished with three points. McConnell was held scoreless on 0-for-8 shooting.
But Covington forced overtime with a tip-in, knotting the score at 97 at the buzzer.
Lillard hit a pair of foul shots to give the Blazers a 106-104 lead with 1:53 left in the overtime. Saric committed an offensive on the ensuing possession.
The Blazers took advantage as Lillard scored on a layup to make it a four-point game with 1:18 to play. After Henderson made a pair of foul shots, Lillard made a pair to give Portland a 110-106 advantage with 40 seconds remaining.
The Sixers responded by turning the ball over on the ensuing possession. Allen Crabbe then made a seven-foot floater to give the Blazers a six-point cushion with 20.9 seconds left.
