Trail Blazers 124, Lakers 112
Damian Lillard had 34 points and eight assists and LaMarcus Aldridge recorded 31 points and 15 rebounds as visiting Portland defeated Los Angeles for its fourth straight victory.
Nicolas Batum added 16 points and seven assists as the Trail Blazers remained two games ahead of Golden State in the battle for fifth place in the Western Conference. Robin Lopez added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Portland, which went 13-of-29 from 3-point range.
Nick Young scored a season-high 40 points and made six 3-pointers for Los Angeles. Kent Bazemore added 17 points, Chris Kaman tallied 12 points and Steve Nash contributed 10 points and 10 assists.
A 3-pointer by Young had Los Angeles within seven early in the fourth quarter before Lillard hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push Portland’s lead to 99-86 with 9:57 to play. The Lakers trailed by 10 points with seven minutes to go before the Trail Blazers put the game away with a 19-6 surge.
Young had 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the first half but Aldridge’s last-second putback gave Portland a 63-61 lead at the break. The Trail Blazers used a 10-1 burst in the third to open up a 14-point lead before Los Angeles scored the final six of the quarter to trail cut Portland’s lead to 91-83 entering the final stanza.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Nash (back) played 22 minutes off the bench, his second appearance in three games, while C Pau Gasol had nine points in 28 minutes after missing four games with vertigo. … Trail Blazers C Meyers Leonard was issued a flagrant 2 foul and ejected for pulling down Lakers PG Kendall Marshall with 36.9 seconds left and the Trail Blazers leading by 16 points. … Young joins Jodie Meeks (42 against Oklahoma City on March 9) as Los Angeles players to reach 40 points this season.