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Matthews lifts Blazers past Spurs

Jan 18, 2014 - 6:04 AM San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Wesley Matthews made three of his six 3- pointers in the final four minutes to lift the Portland Trail Blazers over the San Antonio Spurs, 109-100, on Friday.

Matthews ended with 24 points and six rebounds for the Blazers, who are now just a half-game behind San Antonio for the best record in the Western Conference.

LaMarcus Aldridge added 26 points and 13 boards for Portland, which has won four in a row. Damian Lillard tallied 21 points and eight assists.

Manu Ginobili ended with 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Spurs, who had a six-game winning streak snapped. Marco Belinelli and Boris Diaw each had 14 points.

"Obviously you know Manu, he was spectacular. I thought Boris (Diaw) did a great job on Aldridge in a lot of ways," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Just didn't go his way, so to speak, on several occasions. He hung in there and he kept playing. I thought he did a good job, played him square and did what we wanted to do."

San Antonio lost forward Matt Bonner to a broken nose. He played just over six minutes before exiting.

Trailing 65-55 with 7:18 left in the third quarter, the Spurs called a timeout. Popovich was ejected after yelling at the referees. Lillard made the ensuing technical free throws to make it a 12-point contest.

Popovich's ejection seemed to fire up the Spurs, who ended the third period on a 15-4 run. Ginobili scored all 15 of San Antonio's points to give the home team a 78-77 lead after three frames.

"I've seen him do things like that for so long. It's just vintage Ginobili. He was making 3s, going to the basket," said Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts. "He got fouled on a three, pick-and-rolls. He's capable of having those. I've seen him do it a few times."

The game remained close until the final minutes. Holding a 92-91 lead with 4:12 to play, Matthews made a trio of 3-pointers during a 13-5 Portland run. Matthews' final trey made it 105-96 with 1:25 remaining.

Mo Williams went 4-of-4 from the foul line in the final 34.5 seconds to seal the victory.

After playing to a 27-27 tie in the first quarter, Portland outscored San Antonio by a 27-22 margin in the second.

Game Notes

The Blazers have won four in a row against the Spurs ... Each team made eight shots from beyond the arc ... Williams ended with 13 points ... Tim Duncan tallied 13 points and seven rebounds for San Antonio.