Red-hot LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 34 points to carry the Portland Trail Blazers to their sixth consecutive victory, a 103-96 win over the visiting New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.

Wesley Matthews added 24 points and Andre Miller scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers (32-24) pulled percentage points ahead of the slumping Hornets (33-25) for the fifth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Aldridge went over 30 points for the fourth time in his past five games as the Blazers beat the Hornets for the first time in three meetings and sent New Orleans to its seventh loss in eight games.

David West scored 27 points and Willie Green added 24 for the Hornets, who opened their biggest lead of the game at 76-68 on Marcus Thornton's 3-pointer with 1:08 left in the third period.

New Orleans was unable to hold off a late charge by Portland, which used a 17-5 run to turn an 84-79 deficit into a 96-89 lead with 51 seconds to play.