Nets 88 - 101 Trail Blazers
Final
  for this game

Aldridge paces Blazers over Nets

Apr 5, 2012 - 6:39 AM Portland, OR (Sports Network) - LaMarcus Aldridge posted 24 points and nine rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers took a 101-88 win over the New Jersey Nets.

Nicolas Batum had 20 points and 10 boards while J.J. Hickson added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who have won two of their last three. Raymond Felton came close to a triple-double with 14 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

"Our defense was the type of defense that we want to play for 48 minutes," said Portland head coach Kaleb Canales. "That's our identity, that's who we want to be. I thought it was a very good defensive effort tonight."

Kris Humphries donated 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets, who have dropped their past two. Anthony Morrow and Gerald Green each had 20 points in the loss.

"We have a team of fighters here and tonight we fought," said New Jersey head coach Avery Johnson. "We battled hard and got back into it, but we just ran out of gas at the end."

Consecutive three-pointers from Raymond Felton and Batum kicked off eight straight points for the Trail Blazers that helped them take a 21-17 lead into the second quarter.

Portland ran off 11 straight points in the second quarter and held a 42-32 lead when Aldridge put in a free throw with three minutes to play, but the Nets scored the final six points of the half to cut Portland's lead to two points, 46-44, at the break.

It was Felton and Batum again hitting back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to start a big Portland run as the team went on an 18-2 burst for a 64-48 lead on an Aldridge tip-in with 5 1/2 minutes left in the third.

New Jersey trailed by 12, 76-64, after 36 minutes, but scored 16 of the first 20 points of the fourth to tie the game on a Morrow jumper with 8 1/2 to play.

The lead exchanged hands several timeS over the next couple of minutes, but Hickson put in a layup with just over five minutes to play to give Portland a lead, 86-85, that it never relinquished. That was part of a 16-1 spurt.

Batum followed with a three pointer and, after Jordan Williams hit 1-of-2, Portland scored the next nine points to put the game away.

Game Notes

Portland plays in Dallas on Friday...New Jersey, which went 2-2 on its road trip, returns home to face Washington on Friday...Portland has won seven of the last eight against New Jersey...Portland shot 45.7 percent while New Jersey made just 37.2 percent of its shots.






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