The Trail Blazers ring in the New Year with a home game Friday against one of their few Western Conference foes with a better record -- New Orleans.
Portland (20-12) and the Hornets (19-9) have split a pair of meetings this season, New Orleans winning 87-82 at home on Nov. 14 and the Blazers following with a 101-86 romp at the Rose Garden on Nov. 28. Brandon Roy, who averaged 24.5 points in the two games, is questionable with a hamstring injury, so the going won't be easy for Portland.
"They're one of the best teams in the West," said Portland point guard Steve Blake, "and Chris Paul is one of the best point guards in the league. We have our work cut out."
TRAIL BLAZERS 91, CELTICS 86: Portland made the big plays down the stretch to hand Boston its third loss in the finale of its four-game West Coast road swing.
"(The Blazers) played harder than we did in the fourth quarter," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "They got all the loose balls; they went over our backs and got rebounds. I thought the officials allowed it, but there's not much you can do about it. Give (the Blazers) credit."
The Blazers got it done without Brandon Roy, who tweaked his hamstring late in Saturday's victory over Toronto.
"We knew early (Tuesday) that Brandon wasn't going to play," Portland center Joel Przybilla said. "We knew guys were going to have to step up (on Tuesday night)."
The Blazers won the rebound battle 44-29 and got 29 points from their bench.
"(The Celtics) don't beat themselves," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "You have to beat them. You have to make shots, you have to out-rebound them and out-scrap them. I thought we did a great job on all of those things, and we did it with a lot of poise."
