Jalen Williams nails late shot to lift Thunder past Blazers

Jalen Williams drained a game-winning jumper with two seconds remaining to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 111-109 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

After Portland coach Chauncey Billups' ejection helped the Thunder tie the game moments earlier, Williams pulled up from about 18 feet out to hit the jumper.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked off the Blazers' attempted lob at the basket at the buzzer to give Oklahoma City its third consecutive win and its seventh consecutive at home.

Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 33 points and 10 assists, but struggled, going 10 of 24 from the field and missing a season-high four free throws.

Williams finished with 19 points.

The teams traded empty possessions in the final 1:34 after Anfernee Simons tied it with a free throw, before Simons drained a long 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining to put the Blazers up 109-106.

Williams responded with a jumper on the next possession before Portland lost its composure.

Simons was called for a double-dribble with 15.6 seconds remaining as Billups was trying to call a timeout.

Billups argued that he should've been awarded a timeout and was quickly given a technical foul. Moments later, Billups was called for another and was ejected.

Gilgeous-Alexander missed the first free throw but hit the second to tie the game.

Oklahoma City had won its first two meetings with Portland by an average of more than 52 points, including a franchise-record 62-point victory over the Blazers in their last meeting, Jan. 11.

But this one was far from easy for the Thunder.

After trailing by as many as 13 in the first quarter, Portland stormed back in the second, outscoring Oklahoma City 38-20 to take an eight-point lead into the break.

The Blazers did it by turning up the heat defensively, scoring 14 of their points in the quarter off seven Thunder turnovers.

The Blazers scored just 43 points in the second half to drop their sixth game in their last eight.

Scoot Henderson led Portland with 19 points off the bench.

Oklahoma City shot just 64.3 percent from the free-throw line, its lowest percentage of the season.

—Field Level Media