Michael van Gerwen was forced to settle for a draw as Robert Thornton boosted his own survival hopes on night eight of the Premier League. The world No 1 could not close out a win over Thornton, who snatched the final leg to earn a point, which was enough to move the Scot out of the bottom two after his earlier win over Michael Smith at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.Phil Taylor remains just behind leader Van Gerwen after he was held to a draw by Peter Wright, while Gary Anderson sits in third following his win over Dave Chisnall, his sixth straight victory of the competition. Robert Thornton collected three points to move out of the bottom two Chisnall joined bottom-placed Smith in the two-man drop zone and they will fight against elimination, along with Thornton, in next weeks Judgement Night in Cardiff.Earlier in the night, Thornton held his nerve in a tense clash with fellow struggler Smith, hitting double 20 to secure his first win of the campaign.But few expected The Thorn to unsettle Van Gerwen, who confidently collected the first leg with a 14-darter.A fantastic 140 checkout from Thornton gained the attention of Mighty Mike and the pair continued to swap legs, with Van Gerwen taking out 130 to move 4-3 up. Michael van Gerwen took out 130 just moments after Robert Thornton had the opportunity himself Victory appeared in the Dutchmans grasp when he nailed a 96 checkout to move one away, but Thornton stood firm, hitting tops for a precious point.Taylor was thwarted in his bid for top spot as he exchanged classy checkouts with the dogged Wright.A sizzling 130 on the bull from Snakebite was followed by a fantastic 141 from Taylor, who appeared to have the edge when he broke for a 6-4 lead. Peter Wright and Phil Taylor shared the spoils in Liverpool but one man was more grateful for the point than the other Wright refused to lie down, responding with an ice-cool 111 checkout, and pinned double 18 for the draw. But Anderson would not be denied and the defending champion cruised to a 7-4 win over Chisnall.The in-form player in the competition fired out a 144 finish and calmly took out double 10 to extend his winning run. Gary Anderson made it six wins in a row in the Premier League after beating Dave Chisnall Adrian Lewis was another winner as he held on for an entertaining 7-5 victory over Raymond van Barneveld.Earlier results meant that Barney was no longer in danger of an early exit, but his top four hopes were dented as Lewis landed his arrow in double eight to take the decider. Night eight results:Michael Smith 5-7 Robert ThorntonGary Anderson 7-4 Dave ChisnallAdrian Lewis 7-5 Raymond van BarneveldPhil Taylor 6-6 Peter WrightMichael van Gerwen 6-6 Robert Thornton Also See: Mardle: Robert on the rise Fixtures/Results On Sky TV Prem Table Bernie Parent Jersey . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Travis Konecny Jersey . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. http://www.cheapflyersjerseyschina.com/barry-ashbee-jersey/ . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand. Claude Giroux Jersey . -- James Young couldnt wait to apply those tweaks to his jump shot, and the first one he made against UT Arlington told him it could be a good night. Radko Gudas Jersey . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. OAKLAND, Calif. -- Damian Lillard makes the first of his two annual trips to his hometown on Saturday night when the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Golden State Warriors.The goal: Set the stage for closing down Oracle Arena for the summer with a return visit in the playoffs.The Trail Blazers had a chance to do just that last May but lost three straight in Oakland in a 4-1 defeat in the Western Conference semifinals.Those were three of seven straight losses that Portland has endured in Oakland since Nov. 23, 2013.And those games -- especially the four in the regular season -- havent been close.The Warriors put a 128-112 and 136-111 thumping on the Trail Blazers in their two regular-season visits last season. Overall, Golden State has averaged a 16.8-point margin of victory in its four-game regular-season home run over Portland.If any player is capable of turning that around, its Lillard. After all, he had 20 points and nine assists as a rookie in the 2013 win, and he crushed the Warriors with 51 points in a 137-105 home win over Golden State last January.Unfortunately for the Trail Blazers, it seems recent wins over the two-time Western Conference champs have only inspired them to greater things. The Warriors responded to the 32-point shellacking last season with the subsequent 16- and 25-point home wins, followed by the 4-1 playoff triumph.Lillard often hasnt been at his best in front of family and old friends in Oakland. He did have a 38-point outing in his mmost recent regular-season visit last April, but that followed a 5-of-19, 17-point dud a month earlier when he missed nine of his 10 3-point attempts.ddddddddddddThe point guard enters Saturdays visit on a bit of a roll. Hed already had three 30-point games this month before exploding for 40, two off his season high, in Thursdays loss at Denver.Portland was coming off a 114-95 thrashing of the Oklahoma Thunder two nights earlier.We werent the same team that we have been the last few games, Lillard told reporters after the Denver loss.Warriors coach Steve Kerr, meanwhile, wasnt happy with his teams play Thursday night, either. But his team was good enough to win anyway, 103-90 at home over the New York Knicks.The game featured 36 consecutive Warriors baskets on which they were credited with assists. They finished with 41 assists on 45 hoops, the first team this season with an assist on more than 90 percent of its shots.That was the lone bright spot of the game, Kerr said to reporters afterward. They really look for each other. Thats a theme almost every night. Thats such a great quality to have as a team.The Warriors had 45 assists on 50 baskets in their 127-104 win at Portland last month.Lillard was the games top scorer with 31 points but missed 11 of his 19 shots from the field and registered a minus-29 plus/minus in his 32 minutes. Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping China NFL Gear Youth NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Jerseys Jerseys From China ' ' '