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Aldridge leads Trail Blazers past Thunder

Jan 1, 2014 - 6:08 AM Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - LaMarcus Aldridge scored 25 points with 14 rebounds to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 98-94 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Damian Lillard also recorded a double-double with 21 points and 11 assists, while Wesley Matthews added 16 points with seven rebounds and seven assists in the win, Portland's second straight over the Thunder this season.

Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Blazers.

"Obviously, that was a terrific win to get a game like this on the road during a back-to-back against the best team in the league right now," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts.

Kevin Durant scored a game-high 37 points, however, just one in the fourth quarter, to go along with 14 rebounds for the Thunder.

Serge Ibaka had 17 points and three blocks, while Reggie Jackson netted 12 points with seven rebounds and six assists in the loss, which snapped a three- game winning streak for Oklahoma City.

"If we would have won this basketball game we wouldn't have came in here celebrating like we won the championship," said Durant. "So we're not going to hang our heads because we lost."

Following a Jeremy Lamb layup that extended the Thunder's margin to 84-73 at the 10:01 mark of the fourth, Lopez and Aldridge scored four points during a 10-0 run to get Portland back into the game.

Aldridge later staked the Blazers to their first lead since midway through the first with a pair of free throws to give the visitors an 87-86 lead. Jackson answered with a running floater to regain the edge with 3:41 to play.

Lopez calmly hit two at the stripe to push the lead to four, 94-90, with 59.1 seconds left.

With the Blazers clinging to a one-point advantage and 10.8 seconds remaining, Mo Williams missed two at the line, but Aldridge corralled the offensive rebound on the second miss and Matthews made good for his teammate and buried a pair.

The Blazers sent Durant to the line where he made 1-of-2. Ibaka kept the miss alive on the second attempt and Durant had an elbow jumper to tie the game go off the mark.

Lillard nailed two free throws for the final margin to insure the win with 2.1 seconds left.

Durant scored 16 points in the first and capped a 6-0 sprint to end the quarter with an assertive running dunk which gave the hosts a 30-24 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Thunder led 54-42 at halftime and brought a 78-71 edge into the final quarter.

Game Notes

The loss marked just Oklahoma City's second at home this season ... Lamb finished with 10 points ... There were seven ties and 13 lead changes ... Portland won despite shooting 36-of-91 (39.6 percent) from the field ... The Blazers shot 24.2 percent from deep compared to 21.4 percent for Oklahoma City ... Portland committed just six turnovers.