Trail Blazers 100, Nuggets 95: Damian Lillard had 31 points, nine assists and seven rebounds as visiting Portland handed Denver its eighth loss in nine games.

Robin Lopez blocked a career-best seven shots to go with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who were without All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge (groin) for the fourth straight game. Nicolas Batum scored 16 points, Mo Williams added 14 and Dorell Wright had 12.

J.J. Hickson grabbed a career-best 25 rebounds, including 15 on the offensive end, to go with 16 points for the Nuggets. Randy Foye scored a team-high 17 points and Aaron Brooks and Timofey Mozgov added 14 apiece.

Denver trailed by 15 early in the final quarter before using a 15-2 surge to pull within 86-84 on two free throws by Evan Fournier with 4:06 to play. The Nuggets were again within two on Kenneth Faried’s basket with 2:50 to go but a layup from Lillard, two free throws by Wesley Matthews and a 3-pointer by Batum helped push the margin up to seven as the Trail Blazers held off the charge.

Portland led 52-45 at halftime and increased the lead to 14 early in the third quarter on Wright’s 3-pointer. Lillard scored eight points during a 10-0 surge as the Trail Blazers went up by 18 later in the stanza before Denver pulled within 82-69 entering the fourth quarter.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Hickson collected 24 rebounds on Jan. 15 against the Golden State Warriors and helped the Nuggets to a dominating 64-41 edge on the boards against Portland. … Lopez’s block output was the Trail Blazers’ highest since Aldridge rejected seven shots against Denver on Dec. 28, 2010. … Nuggets PG Ty Lawson (ribs) sat out for the seventh consecutive game.