Trail Blazers (46-28), Pelicans (43-32)
For once, New Orleans couldn’t pull off a victory in a hard-fought, closely-contested game. Portland secured a 107-103 road win Tuesday behind a huge fourth quarter from All-Star guard Damian Lillard. As a result, the third-place Trail Blazers narrowly defeated the fifth-place Pelicans, in a matchup that could reoccur in mid-April, during the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs.
It wasn’t all bad news Tuesday for New Orleans, which benefited from losses in other games by San Antonio and Denver. The Pelicans remained in fifth by virtue of the Spurs’ defeat at Washington.