Trail Blazers 109, Rockets 98
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points and Damian Lillard added 23 as Portland defeated Houston to halt a seven-game road losing streak.
Robin Lopez scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Trail Blazers, who made 20-of-23 from the free-throw line. Meyers Leonard and C.J. McCollum scored 12 points apiece off the bench on a night in which starters Wesley Matthews (six points on 2-of-9 shooting) and Nicolas Batum (five on 2-of-6) had subpar contests.
James Harden tied a season high with 45 points and also had nine rebounds and eight assists for the Rockets. Josh Smith added 16 points and went 4-of-7 from 3-point range and Donatas Motiejunas scored 10 points.
Lopez converted a three-point play and scored five points during a 13-4 surge as Portland turned a tie game into a 98-89 lead with 4:28 remaining with an eye on not repeating Saturday’s collapse in Dallas. Houston pulled within 100-96 on a dunk by Motiejunas with 1:50 to play but Batum drained a 3-pointer and Aldridge and Lillard each hit two free throws to make it an 11-point margin as the Trail Blazers prevailed.
Harden had 20 first-half points for the Rockets but Portland shot 54.5 percent from the field to post a 61-48 halftime lead. Harden poured in 16 more points in the third quarter as Houston staged a rally and trailed 81-80 entering the final stanza.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Lillard was named to the Western Conference All-Star team earlier Sunday after Los Angeles F Blake Griffin (staph infection in elbow) was forced to withdraw from the game. … Harden scored 44 points in the first meeting against the Trail Blazers on Dec. 22. … Portland blew an 11-point lead in the final two minutes of Saturday’s game against the Mavericks and lost 111-101 in overtime.