Portland Trail Blazers beat Houston Rockets to tighten West playoff race

LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 14 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers contained James Harden and outlasted the Houston Rockets, 105-100, Wednesday night at Portland.

Harden, the NBA’s second-leading scorer at just over 27 points per game, was held to 18 points on seven-for-19 shooting by the Trail Blazers (42-20), who tied the Rockets (43-21) for third place in the Western Conference.

Portland, which has won six of seven and has a Western Conference-best 27 home victories this season, out-rebounded the Rockets, 60-40.

at Denver 115, Atlanta 102: Danilo Gallinari had 23 points, Will Barton scored 16 and the Nuggets surprised the Eastern Conference leaders. With his team on its way to its eighth straight loss in Denver, Atlanta Coach Mike Budenholzer had seen enough by the end of the third quarter and inserted his bench players, who went on a 24-1 run midway through the fourth to make the score respectable. Kyle Korver scored 18 points for the Hawks, who haven’t won in the Mile High City since Dec. 6, 2006. Korver’s five three-pointers gave him 1,697 in his career, moving him past Kobe Bryant (1,694) for 12th in NBA history.

at Boston 95, Memphis 92: Marcus Smart converted a go-ahead three-point play with 52 seconds left, Avery Bradley added a clutch jumper with eight seconds remaining and the Celtics won their second straight to end a five-game losing streak against the Grizzlies.

at Golden State 105, Detroit 98: Klay Thompson scored 27 points and reached 5,000 for his career, and his two late three-pointers helped lift the Warriors to their fifth straight win.

at Miami 104, Brooklyn 98: Dwyane Wade had 28 points and nine assists, Chris Andersen tied a career high with 18 points, and the Heat finished off a 7-0 season sweep of the New York teams and moved back into the No. 8 spot in the East playoff race. Miami went 4-0 against the Nets, 3-0 against the Knicks.

Chicago 104, at Philadelphia 95 (OT): Aaron Brooks scored seven of his season-high 31 points in overtime, Pau Gasol had 27 points and 16 rebounds, and the short-handed Bulls snapped a three-game skid.

at Milwaukee 97, Orlando 91: Khris Middleton scored a season-high 30 points for the second time in three games for the Bucks, who’ve won 10 of their last 12 home games.

at Phoenix 24, Minnesota 97: Markieff Morris scored 24 points, and Eric Bledsoe had 18 points and nine assists for the Suns.

Sacramento 113, at Charlotte 106: Ben McLemore scored 27 points, Rudy Gay had 26 and the Kings ended a four-game losing streak.

Clippers 120, at Oklahoma City 108