Wizards Vs. Blazers: Washington Stuns Portland As LaMarcus Aldridge Goes Down

When LaMarcus Aldridge left the game early with an ankle injury, there's no chance that the Portland Trail Blazers -- superb at home at 11-3 going into Tuesday's game -- thought they'd actually lose to the awful Washington Wizards. But the Wizards, bless them, saw an opening and ripped it wide open. With deft offense, the Wizards ratcheted the pressure up to 11 on the Blazers and pulled off a 124-109 victory to take their second straight road victory.

Portland has now lost three straight at home, and five of eight overall in February. The Blazers are now tied with the hot Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed, a half-game ahead of the Utah Jazz.

Washington's perimeter threats were awesome. Nick Young racked up 35 points, cranking in 12-17 shots and seven three-pointers in eight attempts. John Wall shot well, too (10-14), and offered nine assists. Off the bench, Jordan Crawford had a rare good shooting night (9-16, 21 points).

Nicolas Batum, starting at two-guard for Portland, had a monster night with 33 points, and Gerald Wallace added 25, but you can't win giving up so many makes to a team like the Wizards.

In other action:

Bulls 121, Kings 115: Sacramento hung tough all night long, but Luol Deng (23 points, 11 assists, one nice Derrick Rose impersonation) and Joakim Noah (21 points and 11 rebounds) were too much. DeMarcus Cousins messed around and had 28 points and 17 rebounds.

Spurs 99, Pistons 95: San Antonio narrowly held off Detroit despite a brutal pair of missed free throws by Matt Bonner late. Greg Monroe had a rare bad game as Old Man Tim Duncan imparted some knowledge in his ear.

Thunder 111, Jazz 85: OKC's four most important players -- Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka -- combined to shoot 27-42, 64 percent. Welp.

Nuggets 109, Suns 92: Denver broke a five-game home losing streak. Given that it came against a Suns team missing its clear MVP and best wing defender, I'm sure that the Nuggets will be totally satisfied now and go back into hibernation.