LOS ANGELES -- Portlands enormous fourth-quarter lead dwindled to a single point before the Trail Blazers finally figured out how hold off the Los Angeles Lakers patchwork lineup. Custom Utah Jazz Jerseys . Wesley Matthews thinks the harrowing experience will be good for the Blazers as they try to cement their spot among the NBAs elite. LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and nine rebounds, and Portland blew most of a 20-point lead before holding on to beat the Lakers 114-108 Sunday night. Damian Lillard had 26 points and nine assists, and Matthews scored 17 points for the Blazers, whose 11-game winning streak ended four days earlier in Phoenix. The Blazers tied their franchise record with 13 victories in November, and they opened December with an unlikely nail-biter, surviving despite blowing big leads in each half. "We shouldnt have had to do that," Matthews said. "Theres still a learning curve for us, but its a good sign if your lesson is you have to learn how to play with a lead. Its better than having to fight back." The Lakers would agree, even though their rally got Staples Center rocking. Xavier Henry scored a career-high 27 points and Jodie Meeks added 20 for Los Angeles, which had won five of six to climb above .500 despite injury woes. Portland led 94-74 entering the fourth, but promptly failed to score for nearly six minutes as the Lakers mounted a 24-5 run with a lineup featuring no point guard and energetic backup centre Robert Sacre, who had career highs of 12 points and seven rebounds. "We have guys down right now, but we cant do anything about that," said Henry, who surpassed his previous career high set earlier this season. "The guys we do have can still give any team a run for its money." Portland returned from its holiday break with its first road victory over the Lakers in seven tries since April 11, 2010, but only after a little drama. The Blazers blew a 17-point lead in the first half, but thought they had taken control with a 41-point third quarter -- their biggest period of the season. Los Angeles cut Portlands lead to 99-98 on Shawne Williams tip-in with 3:44 to play, but Lillard hit a 3-pointer with 2:54 left, and Matthews added another with 1:20 to play. Los Angeles kept it close, but the Blazers hit five of their six free throws in the final 23 seconds. "We need to stay consistent," Lillard said. "When things are going well, we tend to ease up instead of tightening up and putting teams away. Once teams get fired up and get back in the game, our intensity rises again. We have to find a way to keep it at that high level." The Lakers were left with only nine or 10 healthy players -- and one point guard -- when Jordan Farmar limped to the locker room in the first quarter, straining his left hamstring shortly after checking in to the game. Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash still havent returned to uniform, and centre Chris Kaman -- who recently recovered from a back injury -- dressed but didnt play. Pau Gasol, who missed Saturdays practice to deal with nagging injury issues, missed nine of his 10 shots in the first half before finishing with six points on 3-of-15 shooting. He plans to have an MRI on his sore ankle Monday. But the Lakers league-leading bench had another big game led by Henry, Sacre and Nick Young, who scored 17 points. "Thats what this team is all about -- you never know whos going to come out and produce," Sacre said. "Thats the whole essence of this team. Were all about one another, and we want each other to succeed." The Lakers hoped to play aggressively with the next four days off to rest, but instead got off to a horrific start. Portland took an 11-0 lead in the first four minutes as Los Angeles missed its first eight shots, stretching the margin to 21-4 before many fans had settled in their seats. Lakers coach Mike DAntoni yanked four of his starters, and they gradually got back in it with a tying 19-6 run capped by Meeks 3-pointer midway through the second quarter. Lillard scored 11 points in the third quarter as Portland made 17 of its 24 shots while taking command. Los Angeles then scored 10 straight points to open the fourth, and the Blazers didnt get a field goal until 5:31 remained. NOTES: Lillard converted a four-point play early in the second quarter, and Henry also did it midway through the fourth quarter. ... DAntoni said Nash will be at practice on Tuesday after a trip to Vancouver for further rehab on his nerve root irritation. Theres no timetable for the return of the two-time MVP point guard -- or Bryant, who also will be in practice this week. DAntoni declined to speculate whether Bryant could make his season debut when the Lakers visit Sacramento on Friday. ... Williams and Johnson both fouled out in the fourth quarter for Los Angeles. Utah Jazz Jerseys . -- The Sacramento Kings have claimed forward Travis Outlaw off waivers under the NBAs new amnesty provision, filling out the frontcourt with another veteran. Adrian Dantley Jersey . Assistant coach Glen Gulutzan said Thursday that Edler, who played Tuesday in Nashville, is out indefinitely. http://www.officialjazzauthenticstore.com/kids-alec-burks-jazz-jersey/ . Louis Blues were workmanlike, methodical and -- most of all -- effective on Monday night. NEW YORK -- Surgery, suspensions and thuggery. The storylines surrounding the Eastern Conference final reached Shakespearean proportions Friday. As he was in Game 3 Thursday night, Montreal fourth-liner Brandon Prust was slap bang in the middle of the mayhem. What had seemed like a quiet off-day quickly turned dramatic when New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault revealed that forward Derek Stepan, laid out by an unpenalized blindside hit from Prust two minutes 45 seconds into the game, had suffered a broken jaw that needed surgery. Three hours later, Rangers agitator Dan Carcillo was suspended 10 games for physical abuse of an official on a play that came minutes after the Prust hit, as New York looked for retribution. The Carcillo incident came 5:51 into Thursdays game after a fight between Derek Dorsett of the Rangers and Prust. Carcillo, a fourth-liner, had been penalized for charging Prust on the play. The league said Carcillo "physically applied force to linesman Scott Driscoll while being escorted to the penalty box." The suspension was automatic under category 2 of Rule 40.3, titled Physical Abuse of Officials. Prust, meanwhile, was handed a two-game suspension for interference for the Stepan hit later Friday. It has added more drama to a series that saw Montreals all-world goalie Carey Price sent to the sidelines in Game 1 after coming out the worst for wear in a collision with six-foot-three, 230-pound Ranger Chris Kreider. For Vigneault, the missed Prust call Thursday set off a domino effect whose ripples were still being felt the next day. "Four referees missed the call," Vigneault said. "Stepan is injured. The same player that called the hit on Price accidental but on purpose. Late hit, everything that you want to get out of the game, that was his hit on Stepan. "And what saddens me about that hit is, if the call is made on the ice, were on a five-minute power play, and what happened to Dan Carcillo, and what Dan did is inexcusable, and hes going to pay a big price for it, but if the call is made on the ice, hes not put in that position. "So its unfortunate. Step (Stepan) right now at this time is probably getting operated on. He broke his jaw (Thursday), so well have an idea of the time frame (Saturday). But those are stuff that happens during the game that you have to deal with, and thats what were going to try to do." Dressed in jeans and flip-flops, Vigneault looked like he was in relaxation mode. But he was clearly irate at a sequence of events which he believes could have been avoided. Stepan went briefly too the dressing room after the hit, yelling over his shoulder at Prust as he exited. Pete Maravich Jersey. But he returned later in the period and amazingly played a total of 17:45 in the game. A team spokesman said X-rays that night were negative. But Stepan was in pain and saw a specialist Friday, when further tests detected the broken jaw. It seems unlikely that Stepan, who centres Rick Nash and Kreider on the Rangers top line, will be back any time soon. New York leads the series to two games to one. Prust, a former Ranger who counts Canadian UFC lightweight Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout as a friend, was not made available Friday as both teams, skipping practice in advance of Game 4 Sunday, offered up their coaches and select players. Montreal coach Michel Therrien defended his player. "His intention was not to hurt anyone," he said. "Like Kreider, his intention, even if he was going hard to the net and then laying on Carey Price, Im sure his intention was not to hurt Carey Price. Brandon Prust, he tried to finish his check. His intention, honestly, was not to hurt Stepan." Then Therrien suggested the Canadiens knew better than anybody about losing a star player. "If there is a team that can understand the loss of a player, its us. We lost Carey Price in the first game of the series with the hit on Kreider when he hit Carey Price, and we felt frustrated at the time. Were still frustrated not having our goalie, our No. 1 most important player." Therrien, taking a page from Vigneaults book from the Price injury debate, called it "a hockey hit." Habs forward David Desharnais called it a clean hit, with Prust just wanting to get his team going. "You never want to see a guy injured like that but, like I said, we were fighting for our lives (Thursday) and we wanted to set the tone," he said. At five foot seven, Desharnais is one of the Hobbit-like Canadiens. But the first-liner wins praise from his coach for his compete level. And he knows the value of getting under an opponents skin, as Prust clearly did in Game 3. "They were not happy about it," he said of the Rangers. "Everybody got a little chirp here and there and the game was on." A day later, the Rangers still wanted justice. "I think guys were unhappy there wasnt a call on the play," Kreider told reporters. "Obviously, it was away from the play so not a lot of people saw it. But I think the sentiment today is the same as it was yesterday, that it wasnt a clean hit. 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