Blazers beat Celtics 109-96 for 5th straight win

BOSTON (AP) - LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and added 12 rebounds to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 109-96 victory over the Celtics on Friday night, their first victory in Boston since 2004.

Mo Williams scored 18 with eight assists for Portland, which earned its fifth consecutive victory.

Jared Sullinger, who missed the last game with a bruised knee, had 26 points and eight rebounds off the bench for Boston, which has lost two in a row.

It was Aldridge's fourth straight game with a double-double. Nicolas Batum added 18 points and Damian Lillard had 17 for the Trail Blazers. Robin Lopez had 10 rebounds.

Portland led 94-80 early in the fourth quarter before Sullinger and Courtney Lee hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to eight points. Sullinger responded to Williams' basket with another 3-pointer to make it a seven-point game with 8:51 to play.

The Celtics had two possessions to make it closer but came away without a point. Thomas Robinson rolled one in off the rim on a feed from Williams to make it 98-89, Dorell Wright hit a 3-pointer to make it a 12-point game and Williams hit a short fallaway jumper to make it 103-89.

Boston had won 13 of the previous 15 meetings against Portland since 2004 - a streak that includes the New Big Three era of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen but also the period before that, when the Celtics dropped into the lottery. Boston has allowed 105 or more points in three of its last four games, winning two.

The Celtics opened an eight-point lead early in the second quarter but soon gave up 12-4 and 10-2 runs to fall behind 57-51 at the half. Wesley Matthews had 13 points and Aldridge scored 10 with six rebounds in the first. Sullinger had 10 points off the bench for Boston at the break.

NOTES: The Celtics lost four games, won four, and now have lost two in a row to continue their streaky ways. ... Sullinger, a 2012 first-round draft pick who missed most of last season with back surgery, missed just one game with a bone bruise on his knee. ... Robin Lopez had a double-double in the previous three games, but had just three points and 10 rebounds on Friday.

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