National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Portland 99, New Orleans 93
When: 10:00 PM ET, Thursday, March 29, 2012
Where: Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon
Officials: #45 Brian Forte, #13 Monty McCutchen, #12 Violet Palmer
Attendance: 20499

TRAIL BLAZERS 99, HORNETS 93: LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 12 rebounds to help host Portland slide past New Orleans.

Wesley Matthews scored 18 points and Luke Babbitt tallied a career-high 16 for the Trail Blazers, who completed a four-game season sweep of the Hornets.

Marco Belinelli scored a season-high 27 points and Carl Landry had a season-best 24 for New Orleans.

Aldridge’s basket with 2:49 to play broke a tie at 89 and started a 10-1 run that gave Portland a nine-point lead with 29.8 seconds left.

The shorthanded Hornets suited up just eight players as forward Trevor Ariza (ankle), guard Jarrett Jack (ankle), center Chris Kaman (flu) and forward Gustavo Ayon (birth of child) were all unavailable.

The Trail Blazers scored 14 consecutive points over a five-minute span of the third and fourth quarters to take an 81-70 lead on Babbitt’s 3-pointer with just more than 10 minutes remaining.

New Orleans recovered to tie the contest at 87 on one of Belinelli’s seven 3-pointers.

Nicolas Batum scored 14 points, Raymond Felton had 12 points and 10 assists and J.J. Hickson scored 12 points for Portland.

Greivis Vasquez scored 14 points and Jason Smith added 13 for the Hornets.

Belinelli scored 14 first-half points to help New Orleans to a 54-51 halftime lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Portland was 12 of 28 from 3-point range, with Babbitt knocking down four. … Jack had 20 points in Wednesday’s victory over Golden State and apparently tweaked his ankle during the contest. … Felton was back after missing a game to deal with his mother’s health procedure. … New Orleans hit 20 of 21 free throws.
Top Game Performances
 
New Orleans   Portland
Marco Belinelli 27 Scoring LaMarcus Aldridge 25
Greivis Vasquez 6 Assists Raymond Felton 10
Jason Smith 9 Rebounds LaMarcus Aldridge 12
Carl Landry 6 Free Throws Made LaMarcus Aldridge 3
Jason Smith 3 Steals Raymond Felton 3
Al-Farouq Aminu 2 Blocks Nicolas Batum 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
New Orleans 93 46.5 7-13 20-21 12 34 5 6 15
Portland 99 48.8 12-28 9-13 26 33 8 8 10
Upcoming Games
  • Portland will play their next game on the road against L.A. Clippers. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .217 after a win and .679 after a loss.
  • New Orleans will play their next game on the road against L.A. Lakers. The Hornets have a W/L % of .286 after a win and .243 after a loss.