CJ McCollum scored 41 points as the Portland Trail Blazers pulled out a 140-137 victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets in four overtimes Friday night in the longest NBA playoff game since 1953.
Damian Lillard added 28 points for the Trail Blazers, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-finals.
Jamal Murray scored 34 points, and Nikola Jokic collected 33 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists for the Nuggets in a game that featured 24 lead changes.
Game 4 is scheduled for today in Portland.
Will Barton split a pair at the line, giving Denver a 134-133 lead with one minute left in the fourth OT, but Rodney Hood’s baseline jumper pushed Portland in front 135-134 with 44.9 seconds to go. Paul Millsap’s layup lifted the Nuggets into a 136-135 advantage with 27.6 seconds to play.
Hood swished a 3-pointer to give the Blazers a 138-136 edge with 17.8 seconds remaining. Jokic made 1 of 2 foul shots to make it 138-137 with 5.6 seconds on the clock.
Portland’s Seth Curry hit a pair at the line for a 140-137 lead with 2.8 ticks left. Denver’s inbounds pass was intercepted, and the game was Portland’s.
At the end of regulation, Lillard scored on a driving layup to give the Blazers a 102-100 edge with 31.6 seconds left. Barton’s layup tied it again at 102-102 with 28.6 seconds remaining. Portland’s Al-Farouq Aminu missed a 3-point attempt, and it was on to overtime.
In the first overtime, Millsap scored on a jump hook to pull the Nuggets ahead 109-107 with 47.1 seconds to play. After misses at both ends, McCollum evened the score at 109-109 on a floater with 8.7 ticks left.
After a timeout, Jokic missed a desperation 3-point attempt, forcing a second extra session.
In the second OT, McCollum’s step-back jumper made it 118-116 Portland with 1:26 remaining, but Barton tied it on a layup with 1:03 left. Neither team scored again, and it was on to a third overtime. Millsap made it 129-125 on a turnaround jumper with 32.2 seconds remaining in the third extra session. Lillard scored on a driving layup to trim the difference to 129-127 with 27.3 seconds left. After a Denver turnover, Lillard converted another driving layup to square it at 129-129 with 8.4 ticks left. Murray’s desperation 3-point try missed as time expired, and a fourth extra session loomed.

Bucks power past Celtics for 2-1 series lead
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Milwaukee to a 123-116 victory in Boston that put the Bucks 2-1 up in their NBA playoff series against the Celtics.
The top-seeded Bucks scored 40 points in the third quarter and pulled away for a victory that saw them regain home-court advantage in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference second round series, in which they were stung at home in game one.
“I’m just trusting myself, I just have confidence in myself,” said Milwaukee’s Most Valuable Player candidate Antetokounmpo. “That’s what my teammates want me to do.
“They want me to stay aggressive, they want me to make the right play - that’s what I’m going to keep doing the whole series.”
Boston led 56-55 at halftime, leading by as many as 12 before the Bucks battled back to narrow the gap. Milwaukee’s 40 third-quarter points were the most scored by either team in a single period in the series.
They connected on 11 of 18 from the field with Milwaukee guard George Hill draining a pair of three-pointers in a 12-0 scoring run.
Boston scored 31 points in the period, but Milwaukee held the Celtics without a field goal in the final 3:44 of the quarter – then opened the fourth on an 11-3 scoring run, stretching their lead to as many as 17 points.
The Celtics again cut the deficit to single digits, Al Horford’s three-pointer with 10.6 seconds left pulling Boston within 116-121. 
But Antetokounmpo, who scored half his points at the free throw line, made two last foul shots to close it out.
Antetokounmpo added eight assists and three blocked shots.
Hill connected on nine of 12 from the field to score 21 off the bench and Khris Middleton added 20 points for the Bucks.
Kyrie Irving led Boston with 29 points. Jayson Tatum contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Jaylen Brown finished with 18 points for the Celtics, who will try to turn the tables when they host game four on Monday.
“We definitely have a lot of momentum,” Antetokounmpo said. “We’ve got to keep playing good basketball, we’ve got to keep defending.”

Results 
NBA playoffs (best-of-seven):
Eastern Conference
Milwaukee 123 Boston 116
(Milwaukee leads series 2-1)
Western Conference
Portland 140 Denver 137 4OT
(Portland leads series 2-1)