Trail Blazers 100 - 89 Bulls
Final
  for this game

Aldridge, Blazers beat Bulls

Mar 17, 2012 - 6:13 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - A day after Portland cleaned house at the trade deadline, LaMarcus Aldridge fueled the Trail Blazers with 21 points as they downed the Chicago Bulls, 100-89, on Friday.

The Blazers fired head coach Nate McMillan, waived former No. 1 overall daft pick Greg Oden and traded starters Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby on Thursday, but played inspired basketball against the Eastern Conference- leading Bulls, who were without Derrick Rose for a second straight game.

Wesley Matthews nailed four three-pointers en route to 18 points while Raymond Felton added 16 points and five assists for Portland, which made 11-of-21 attempts from beyond the arc.

Carlos Boozer had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Luol Deng netted 19 points for Chicago, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

"Settling, not executing, not screening, not putting the work into it, taking shortcuts," Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said of his team's performance. "You don't put the work into it, you're not going to win."

After C.J. Watson's pull-up jumper pulled the Bulls within 89-86 midway through the fourth, Portland closed the contest on an 11-3 run.

Aldridge nailed back-to-back jumpers to start the surge, and following 1-of-2 from the line by Deng, Matthews knocked down a backbreaking triple with two on the shot clock at the other end, making it 96-89.

Aldridge then drained a pair and Jamal Crawford capped the burst with a long jumper.

Chicago missed four three-pointers in the final 1:48.

"It was a great team win," remarked Crawford after the victory. "I think that was the best team win we've had all year."

Nicolas Batum made three treys in the opening quarter and scored 11 points, but the Bulls took a 32-29 advantage into the second after shooting 66.7 percent in the frame.

The Bulls, who took a 53-50 lead into the locker room, increased their margin to eight as Deng netted the first five points of the third.

The Blazers, though, closed the stanza on an 8-2 spurt and trailed 79-78 heading into the fourth.

Game Notes

The Bulls fell to 8-4 without Rose in the lineup...Batum finished with 15 points, all scored in the opening 24 minutes...The Bulls outrebounded Portland 45-35...Joakim Noah had 12 points and nine rebounds for Chicago...Kaleb Canales, who is the youngest coach in the NBA at 34, was named Portland's interim head coach.






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