Trail Blazers 116, Nuggets 100
LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points and nine rebounds as host Portland knocked off Denver.
Wesley Matthews scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half and had five 3-pointers as the Trail Blazers went 16-of-31 from behind the arc. Robin Lopez added 12 points and nine rebounds and Chris Kaman contributed 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocks off the bench.
Kenneth Faried scored 19 points for Denver, which lost its fifth straight game. Ty Lawson had 18 points and eight assists, Arron Afflalo scored 18 points and Timofey Mozgov collected a season-best 16 rebounds.
The Trail Blazers owned a 96-79 lead after Steve Blake’s 3-pointer with 8:26 to play before Denver rattled off nine straight points to pull within eight. The Nuggets were again within eight after Lawson’s hoop with 3:11 to go but Aldridge hit two free throws and Damian Lillard drove for a basket as Portland held on.
The Trail Blazers poured in 36 first-quarter points and took a 12-point lead on Aldridge’s 21-foot jumper with 4:03 left in the half. Matthews drained his fifth 3-pointer of the half as time expired to give Portland a 64-56 lead at the break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Blake was assessed a flagrant 1 foul in the fourth quarter after getting mixed up with Faried. … Denver C J.J. Hickson played for the first time this season after concluding a five-game suspension for violating the NBA’s substance-abuse program and had eight points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes. … Lillard had seven assists but scored just 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting.