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Lillard, Blazers down Lakers

Apr 2, 2014 - 6:31 AM Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Damian Lillard scored 34 points on 5- for-10 shooting from beyond the arc to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 124-112 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

LaMarcus Aldridge registered a 31-point, 15-rebound double-double and Robin Lopez also contributed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in Portland's fourth straight win.

The winning streak is the club's longest since a five-game run from Feb. 21- March 1.

"We had a rough stretch, but now we've kind of picked it back up and we're going in the right direction at the perfect time," Lillard said. "Now that we're close to the postseason, we want to have that rhythm going into the playoffs."

With the win. the Trail Blazers pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Houston Rockets for fourth place in the Western Conference playoff race.

Nick Young dropped a season-high 40 points in a reserve role for the Lakers, who have lost three of their last four games. Young also set a career-high with 15 field goals made, including a stretch of eight straight.

"I didn't know I made my first eight shots," Young said. "I just got into a zone. I got into a rhythm kind of fast."

Kent Bazemore tallied 17 points, Chris Kaman added 12 and Steve Nash netted 10 points with 10 assists in 22 minutes of action off the bench in the setback.

The Lakers played it close in the first half before the game got out of hand in the second. LA trailed 29-27 after 12 minutes of action and grabbed a seven-point lead following a Young jumper with over eight minutes left in the second quarter.

Lillard's driving slam gave the Blazers a 53-52 lead, then he was on the receiving end of an alley-oop from Nicolas Batum to increase the cushion to three.

Kendall Marshall tied the game at 61-apiece late in the frame, but Aldridge tipped a Lopez miss with 0.6 seconds left to give the visitors a 63-61 lead at the break.

Aldridge scored eight points during a 14-5 run early in the third to help Portland to an 81-70 lead. A pair of Young 3-pointers cut the deficit to five before the Blazers pushed the margin to 14 minutes later.

LA scored the final six points of the quarter and trailed 91-83 heading to the fourth.

Portland methodically stretched the lead to a game-high 23 after a Lillard 3 with just under three minutes left in the contest. The Lakers, however, ended the game on a 13-2 run to make it respectable for the Staples Center faithful.

Game Notes

Portland owned a 50-45 advantage on the boards ... Batum had 16 points and Wesley Matthews added 10 in the win ... LA's bench finished with a 62-23 edge over Portland's reserves.