LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Zach LaVine scored a career-high 47 points as the Chicago Bulls overcame Trae Young’s career-high 49 point performance to defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 168-161, in a four-overtime NBA marathon NBA on Friday.
Lauri Markkanen snapped a 159-159 tie by making three free throws in the fourth overtime to put the Bulls ahead for good.
Markkanen finished with 31 points and 17 rebounds for the visiting Bulls, who set a franchise record for points, topping a 156-155, quadruple-overtime win at Portland on March 1984.
Markkanen was fouled by Atlanta’s Alex Len on a three-point attempt with just under two minutes left the final overtime and made all three. It was part of a 7-0 Bulls run that gave them their fifth win in a half dozen games.
LaVine also had nine rebounds and nine assists while Otto Porter delivered 31 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Young set a franchise record for the most points by a Hawks rookie. He shot 17-of-33 from the floor and added 16 assists and eight rebounds.
Atlanta appeared to be headed to a victory late in the fourth quarter when Young drained a shot from beyond the arc to give them a three-point lead with two seconds left.
But with 0.4 seconds remaining, Atlanta’s Dewayne Dedmon was whistled for a foul on Porter’s three-point shot. Porter made all three free throws to tie the game at 124-124 and sent it to overtime.
Elsewhere, Kawhi Leonard rattled in the game winner with 1.5 seconds left to lift the Toronto Raptors to a nail-biting 119-117 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
Mark Gasol, who was starting for just the second time as a Raptor, scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Pascal Siakam tallied 16 points for Toronto, who have won four straight contests at home over Portland.
