Where: Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon
Officials: #54 Derrick Collins, #48 Scott Foster, # James Williams
Attendance: 20650
Red-hot LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 34 points to carry the Portland Trail Blazers to their sixth consecutive victory, a 103-96 win over the visiting New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.
Wesley Matthews added 24 points and Andre Miller scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers (32-24) pulled percentage points ahead of the slumping Hornets (33-25) for the fifth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.
Aldridge went over 30 points for the fourth time in his past five games as the Blazers beat the Hornets for the first time in three meetings and sent New Orleans to its seventh loss in eight games.
David West scored 27 points and Willie Green added 24 for the Hornets, who opened their biggest lead of the game at 76-68 on Marcus Thornton's 3-pointer with 1:08 left in the third period.
New Orleans was unable to hold off a late charge by Portland, which used a 17-5 run to turn an 84-79 deficit into a 96-89 lead with 51 seconds to play.
| New Orleans | Portland | |
| David West 27 | Scoring | LaMarcus Aldridge 34 |
| Trevor Ariza 6 | Assists | Andre Miller 7 |
| Trevor Ariza 9 | Rebounds | Wesley Matthews 8 |
| David West 7 | Free Throws Made | LaMarcus Aldridge 8 |
| Trevor Ariza 3 | Steals | Nicolas Batum 2 |
| David West 1 | Blocks | Joel Przybilla 2 |
| Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
| New Orleans | 96 | 50.0 | 3-13 | 19-24 | 16 | 35 | 1 | 8 | 11 |
| Portland | 103 | 52.9 | 6-19 | 25-30 | 19 | 31 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
- Portland will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .613 after a win and .520 after a loss.
- New Orleans will play their next game at home against L.A. Clippers. The Hornets have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .440 after a loss.