Trail Blazers 100, Pelicans 94: LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 18 rebounds as Portland clinched a playoff berth with the win against visiting New Orleans.

Wesley Matthews added 21 points and Damian Lillard finished with 20 for the Trail Blazers, who remain 1 1/2 games in front of the sixth-place Golden State Warriors and two back of the fourth-place Houston Rockets with four games remaining. Nicolas Batum finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for Portland, which qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2011.

Anthony Morrow scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Pelicans, who led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter. Anthony Davis, playing through back spasms, scored 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter, Austin Rivers added 14 points in a reserve role and Brian Roberts and Alexis Ajinca posted 13 points apiece.

The Trail Blazers assumed control with a 12-0 run late in the third quarter that gave them a 77-65 lead and the celebration seemed imminent as they maintained an 11-point advantage with 2 1/2 minutes left, but the Pelicans made one final burst, scoring seven unanswered points in 55 seconds to pull within four with 1:14 left. Lillard’s layup with 22 seconds remaining answered Morrow’s jumper on the other end for a five-point margin and New Orleans missed its final four field-goal attempts to end the comeback try.

Portland went nearly four minutes without a field goal to start the second quarter and that’s when the Pelicans built momentum with a 10-2 run to take a 35-27 advantage. New Orleans stretched the lead to 10 on three occasions during the second quarter before taking a 55-48 lead into the break, but Portland wouldn’t let the Pelicans peel away.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Trail Blazers are 2-1 in April after combining for a 4-19 record the previous two seasons. … Aldridge has five games with at least 18 rebounds this season after producing four such games in his first seven years in the league. … The Pelicans haven’t won in Portland since 2010.