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Aldridge powers Blazers over Jazz

Dec 28, 2010 - 6:36 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, powering the Trail Blazers to a 96-91 win over the Utah Jazz.

Andre Miller added 17 points and former Jazz member Wesley Matthews ended with 14 points for Portland, which snapped a five-game skid against Utah. Rudy Fernandez ended with 13 points, as the Blazers won for the fourth time in five overall contests.

"We just played hard. We matched their intensity," Matthews said. "They are a tough team at home; it's a tough place to play. I know that from both sides. But we controlled the game for the most part."

Already without Joel Przybilla (sprained left ankle) and Brandon Roy (sore left knee), the Blazers lost the services of forward Marcus Camby. He was helped to the locker room in the third quarter with a badly sprained right ankle. X-rays taken at EnergySolutions Arena were negative.

Deron Williams went 6-of-8 from beyond the arc in leading the way with 31 points for the Jazz, who had a three-game winning streak stopped. Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both scored 11, while C.J. Miles added 10 in defeat.

"They came out and got after us and made it tough for us to get what we wanted on the offensive end of the floor most of the time," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "They took the life out of us and busted us in the mouth and everything else. We fell out like flies. When you play games at home like this in your building, you've got to be a little bit tougher than what we were."

The game was tied going to the final quarter, but Utah went just 7-of-21 from the field over the last 12 minutes. The Jazz were within 79-76 following Jefferson's jumper with five minutes left, but Aldridge sank a hook shot and Miller drove in for a layup to provide a seven-point cushion with under three minutes left.

Utah didn't make it a one-possession game until there were 7.7 seconds left, when Williams drained a pull-up three. Miller, though, drained the ensuing two free throws to seal the outcome.

Three-point shots by Miles and Williams spearheaded an 8-2 burst late in the opening quarter, helping the Jazz to a 27-20 lead after 12 minutes. Utah led by as many as nine in the second quarter, but Portland rallied behind 11 points from Fernandez in the period. His reverse layup had the visitors within 33-31, and a pair of made foul shots from Camby tied the game with 6:46 left in the half.

A short jumper from Aldridge gave Portland a 43-42 edge with 2:08 to go in the second, but Utah led 47-45 at the break.

The Blazers scored 14 in a row in the third to grab a 60-53 advantage. Matthews and Nicolas Batum both canned three-pointers during the spurt, which was finished by a pair of Aldridge free throws. The momentum continued to shift, though, with Bell draining a three with 6.9 seconds left, tying the game at 66 moving to the fourth.

Game Notes

The Blazers snapped a four-game slide on the road...The Jazz are 15-1 when scoring 100 or more points, and 6-9 when scoring under 100...Camby had 12 rebounds and three blocks before leaving the game...Portland was 5-of-17 from three-point range, while the Jazz hit half of their 20 attempts.