Kevin Durant on cusp of milestone as Houston Rockets eye victory against Portland Trail Blazers

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Houston Rockets Kevin Durant (No. 7) shooting the ball over Portlands Donovan Clingan in the Trail Blazers 103-102 win on Jan 7.

PHOTO: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LOS ANGELES – The first contest of the two-game set between the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers featured a wild ending. The rematch on Jan 9 (Jan 10 morning, Singapore time) will likely include a memorable milestone.

The Trail Blazers will look to complete the sweep of the Rockets two nights after a tip-in by Houston’s Tari Eason as time expired was waved off, giving Portland a dramatic 103-102 victory.

Kevin Durant missed a jumper with 0.8sec remaining and Eason made a stellar play to be in position to tap the rebound into the net.

But while the Rockets started to celebrate, the officiating crew went to the monitor to review the play.

And the replays displayed that the ball was on Eason’s fingertips when the red light on the backboard came on.

“It felt like we won the game,” Eason said. “We didn’t but it felt like it. I was excited because we fought through the adversity.

“I know we’re going to bounce back and be a better team on Friday.”

Trail Blazers star Deni Avdija scored 41 points – the second-most of his career as they won their fourth straight game – and he initially felt that bad feeling in his stomach.

“Roller coaster, emotional roller coaster,”