NBA – Blazers win thanks to 40-point Aldridge

PORTLAND (NBA) - LaMarcus Aldridge had a career-high 40 points to lead Portland past the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night in the NBA.

The Spurs entered the game with a league-best 40-7 record and had a 52-47 lead at half-time but Aldridge, who will vie for a place in the USA squad for the 2012 Olympics, carried the Blazers to their 26th win of the season.

The Blazers are eighth in the Western Conference and gained a half-game on the surging Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns.

Both the Grizzlies and Suns have won seven of their last 10 games and occupy nine and 10th place in the conference table.

Portland's Rudy Fernandez, meanwhile, is now happy at the club now after expressing his desire to leave before the season.

The Spain international said: "Now I am enjoying the game, the coach gives me freedom.

"Now I have more friends in Portland, family and my people come to see me often and I'm very focused on my work."

In other games, the Los Angeles Lakers (34-15) snapped a two-game losing skid at home by beating the Houston Rockets 114-106 in overtime.

Pau Gasol of Spain had six of his 26 points in the extra period and also corralled 16 rebounds, while Lamar Odom had 20 points and 20 boards.

Houston fell to 22-28, despite getting 24 points and 15 rebounds from Argentina's Luis Scola.

The Washington Wizards lost for the 25th time in as many road games on Tuesday, falling 97-89 at New Orleans.

The Hornets are 32-18 while Washington are 13-25 overall.

In the Eastern Conference, Boston trailed 54-45 at half-time but outscored the Kings 29-17 in the third quarter and claimed a 95-90 win in California.

The normally placid Ray Allen was furious with the Celtics' first-half display and vented his fury in the locker room at the break.

"I kind of let everybody have it," he said.

Celtics captain Paul Pierce said: "It's funny. We knew we were messing up when Ray's the one yelling and screaming."

Allen finished with 22 points as the Celtics improved to a conference-best 37-11 while the Kings, who had upset the Lakers and Hornets in their previous two games, fell to 12 and 34.

The win means Celtics head coach Doc Rivers will lead the East team at the 2011 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles on 20th February. He will go up against Greg Popovich of the Spurs who was last week given charge of the West.

FIBA