Trail Blazers 96, Nets 89
LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists while Nicolas Batum scored 23 as the Portland Trail Blazers earned a 96-89 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night at the Rose Garden.
Andre Miller had 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting to go with eight assists for Portland (21-20), which snapped a three-game losing streak and sent the Nets (10-30) to their fifth consecutive loss and eighth in a row on the road.
New Jersey appeared ready to snap the streak, trading baskets with the Blazers throughout the fourth. Aldridge missed two free throws with 4:39 left and the Nets went up 87-86 on Sasha Vujacic's jumper from the top of the key. Neither team scored for the next 2:23 until Aldridge’s slam gave Portland an 88-87 edge it never relinquished.
Two ensuing free throws by Batum and a basket by Wesley Matthews pushed the lead to 92-87.
Brook Lopez scored 32 points on 12-for-19 shooting for the Nets, who were just 2 of 12 on 3-pointers. Vujacic had 13 points and Travis Outlaw scored 11.