Trail Blazers 94, Hornets 86
Jamal Crawford scored a season-best 31 points and had eight assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 94-86 victory over the host New Orleans Hornets on Friday.
Raymond Felton scored 18 points and LaMarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace added 14 points apiece as Portland won for just the fourth time in 13 road games.
Trevor Ariza had 23 points and nine rebounds for New Orleans, which has lost eight straight and dropped to 4-23.
Ariza’s three-point play tied the score at 81 with 4:11 to play, but the Hornets then went nearly 3 1/2 minutes without scoring.
Aldridge’s 19-footer with 3:30 to play gave Portland the lead, and Nicolas Batum hit two free throws with 1:18 remaining to make it a two-possession game.
New Orleans led 46-42 at halftime and boosted the margin to nine midway through the third quarter on a dunk by Emeka Okafor.
Portland outscored the Hornets 22-10 over the final six minutes to take a 70-67 lead into the final quarter.
Okafor had 13 points, while Al-Farouq Aminu and Marco Belinelli each scored 12 for New Orleans.