Despite being hampered by a knee injury recently, the 31

DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki says he wasnt thinking about the last time the Dallas Mavericks blew a 30-point lead and lost. The biggest collapse in franchise history was a long time ago, and he was too busy trying to make sure it didnt happen again. Nowitzki scored 22 points, Devin Harris hit the go-ahead shot in the final minute and the Mavericks rallied in the fourth quarter after blowing their huge first-half lead, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 103-98 Friday night. "Youre just out there battling," Nowitzki said. "Theyre a very, very good team. They came back a lot quicker than we wanted it to be, but we kept fighting and got the win." LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 30 for Portland, including 18 in the third quarter when the Blazers went in front for the first time at 69-67 after trailing 44-14 early in the second quarter. But Nowitzki didnt pause to remember Dec. 6, 2002, when the Mavericks lost at the Los Angeles Lakers 105-103 after leading 66-36 early in the third quarter. Rick Carlisle wasnt dwelling on the blown lead either. "How many whatever-point leads have we blown this year?" the Dallas coach said. "Theres been tons of them. Weve got to work to prevent it. Theres no harder way to do it than what happened tonight." The score was tied 98-all when Aldridge missed a shot from the lane and Harris won the scramble for the rebound. He dribbled the length of the floor and hit a leaning shot on the baseline and was fouled by Damian Lillard with 24 seconds left. "He busted my mouth open, so I knew I wasnt all the way in front of him," Lillard said. "But I figured since that was the second time that he dipped his head into my face, I figured they would call offensive foul. We still had a couple opportunities after that that we didnt take advantage of." After Harris free throw put Dallas up by three, Aldridges pass went over Lillards head out of bounds. Monta Ellis missed two free throws, but Vince Carter slipped between a pair of Portland players for the offensive rebound and was fouled. Carter made both free throws, and Ellis had a steal to seal a wild win that snapped the Mavericks season-high three-game losing streak. "I had some big miscues down the stretch," said Aldridge, who had 17 rebounds. "I missed some shots down the stretch. Fighting all the way back, being up and having the opportunity to win and not taking care of business." Dallas took its first 30-point lead at 40-10 on Brandan Wrights alley-oop dunk from Ellis early in the second quarter, one of many easy breakaway baskets early. Thomas Robinson had six points on a 12-1 run that started Portlands comeback, getting the Blazers within 19. That was Dallas margin to begin the third quarter, when Aldridge took over, scoring six straight early in the period and another six straight later. The Blazers, who led by 38 in a blowout win over the Mavericks the last time they were in Dallas in January, wiped out the last of the deficit on a 3-pointer by Wesley Matthews to knot it 67-all with 4:02 left in the third. The Blazers went ahead for the first time at 69-67 on a putback by Aldridge. "It was unbelievable," Wright said. "We got outscored by I dont know how much after that first quarter being up 40-10. They went on a heck of a run, but all its going to say in the paper tomorrow is that we got the W." The lead changed hands three more times late in the third, setting up a back-and-forth battle in the fourth. Portland pushed out to an 85-78 lead on another 3 from Matthews, who had 26 points, and a jumper from Mo Williams, but Harris hit a 3-pointer to finish an 8-0 Dallas run for a 90-89 lead. The Blazers went back up 98-92 on an alley-oop dunk by Aldridge, but Dallas pulled even when Sam Dalembert stole the ball from Lillard and tossed to Ellis for a breakaway layup. Jose Calderon had 19 for Dallas, including 15 in the first quarter. Ellis had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Nowitzki had six assists and five rebounds. Harris finished with 12 points. NOTES: Robinson returned after missing four games with a left knee injury. He fouled out with 7:52 remaining. ... Ellis made his 500th career start. ... The Mavericks shot 53 per cent in their 115-110 loss to Denver on Wednesday. It was their best shooting percentage in a loss this season. ... The Blazers had season lows for points in a quarter (10) and the first half (38). The previous low for a first half was 41 in a 90-89 win over Phoenix. Custom Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys . The result means Atletico Madrid now tops the table, with Madrid level on points in second and Barcelona a point behind in third with nine games remaining as the title race shapes up to be the closest in years. Pittsburgh Penguins Shirts . - Leon Draisaitl scored a hat trick as the Prince Albert Raiders stormed past the Swift Current Broncos 5-2 in Western Hockey League action Tuesday. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ . MacArthur scored two goals, and the Senators outlasted Detroit in a testy third period to beat the Red Wings 4-2 on Saturday night. Penguins Jerseys 2019 . A wide-eyed 18-year-old visiting North America for only the second time in his young life, Caboclo immediately noticed the "big tower" his new home is best known for. Stitched Penguins Jerseys . - The Jacksonville Jaguars are leaning more toward playing injured quarterback Blake Bortles against Tennessee on Thursday night.Stan Wawrinka kept his hopes of a semi-final berth alive with a straight-sets victory over Marin Cilic at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday night. The Swiss superstar helped his chances of finishing the year ranked third and of reaching a fourth-straight semi-final at the O2 with a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3) victory. Six months half price Upgrade to Sky Sports to watch Man Utd v Arsenal on Saturday and get the first six months half price Cilic was beaten in straight sets by Andy Murray in his John McEnroe Group opener while Wawrinka lost to Kei Nishikori, meaning whoever lost their second match would almost certainly be heading home. The win helped US Open champion Wawrinka extend his head-to-head lead to 11-2, having now won his last seven matches against Cilic, who is out. Did you know... The last time a player lost his opening match and went on to win the title was in 2009 when Nikolay Davydenko surprised everyone to win at Londons O2 Arena. Shots of the matchWawrinka showed he is not just all about power as he lured Cilic into the net before showing a delicious touch to lob him. Wawrinka showed that hes not all about power with this delicate lob... But when it does come to pure power, Wawrinka can produce it when it most matters - especially on the backhand side. But the Swiss star does possess an awful lot of power on that missile of a backhand... Expert analysisGreg Rusedski: Hes back in business. He played great tonight. Cilic played him into form. Hes very confident going up against Marin because Marin isnt willing to come forward which allowed him to hit many groundstrokes and get a feeling for the ball. By the end of it, he was playing lights out tennis. Its not what Andy Murray wanted to see, an in-form Wawrinka on Friday.Peter Fleming: This match seemed to turn his game around. He was hitting the ball well and hes not going to be an easy guy to put out. Wawrinka joins Leif Shiras at the SkyPad to examine his victory over Cilic The matchThere was very little to choose between the two players, who both packed a punch with some blistering winners.dddddddddddd. Cilic had made very few inroads into Wawrinkas serve until he earned a set point at 5-4. However, the Swiss star quickly shut the door with a brave 100mph second serve into the body. The Wawrinka backhand was at its blistering best in the second set Quite predictably, it headed into a tiebreak, and it was the third seed who started forcing the errors from Cilics racket, which was enough to take the set.Just when it looked as though Wawrinka had the momentum, Cilic struck in the opening game of the second set. Wawrinka was happy to get his first victory in London after defeating Cilic Despite being hampered by a knee injury recently, the 31-year-old is determined to finish his season on a high, and responded with some fearsome hitting of his own to level in the fourth game.It was enough to send the tight contest into another tiebreaker. And Wawrinka struck a huge blow with an unstoppable 98mph forehand for the mini-break which he never relinquished to set up a mouth-watering clash against Murray. Heres the moment Wawrinka beat Cilic in straight sets Following his loss to Murray and now Wawrinka, Cilic is 0-5 at the ATP World Tour Finals.Check our game-by-game coverage from all group matches at the ATP World Tour Finals in London - including Andy Murray v Stan Wawrinka on Friday - on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis.Upgrade to Sky Sports now to watch Man Utd v Arsenal this Saturday and get the first six months half price! Also See: As it happened... Murray beats Nishikori in epic One of the best matches ever Monfils pulls out of ATP finals ' ' '