PORTLAND — As Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge was leaving the court following the Trail Blazers’ 99-86 victory over the NBA-leading Spurs, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich reached out to shake his hand.

Aldridge had a career-high 40 points along with 11 rebounds to hand the Spurs just their eighth loss of the season.

“He never shook my hand before, so I’ll take that as a good sign,” Aldridge said.

Aldridge is among several players, including Minnesota’s Kevin Love and Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, who are awaiting word whether they will be going to the All-Star game on Feb. 20. Reserves for both teams, based on a vote by the league’s coaches, will be announced on Thursday.

Aldridge is averaging 25.7 rebounds and 10.3 point per game since Dec. 15. Tuesday night against the Spurs he was unstoppable.

“I think we held him to 40,” Popovich said, chuckling. “I stopped counting after a while.”

Gary Neal’s three-pointer for San Antonio tied it at 78, but Aldridge’s layup and Wesley Matthew’s scoop gave Portland its biggest lead of the game so far at 82-78 with 7:03 left.

Aldridge added a 21-foot jumper and Andre Miller had a layup to make it 86-78 before Tim Duncan broke the 8-0 Portland run with a turnaround jumper.

Aldridge’s bank shot with 3:33 left made it 90-80 and the Rose Garden crowd was on its feet. Portland led the rest of the way and Aldridge was treated to a standing ovation when he left the game with just over a minute to go.

“Tonight it just felt good,” he said afterward.

Matthews added 21 points for the Blazers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

“Real good win for this team to beat the best team in the league,” Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. “Those days off I thought really seemed like they helped our guys.”

San Antonio jumped to an early 11-4 lead after Portland was unable to score for the game’s opening four minutes. The Blazers tied it at 18 before the end of the quarter on Aldridge’s dunk, then took a 22-20 lead on his jumper.

The Blazers kept up the pressure but San Antonio kept the edge with 13 points off rebounds compared to Portland’s two. Rookie center DeJuan Blair had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the first half as the Spurs led 52-47 at the break.

The teams weren’t able to build a lead of more than a handful of points in a tight third quarter. Portland went up 71-88 late but the Spurs answered with Manu Ginobili’s three-pointer that tied it for the start of the fourth.

“To go toe-to-toe with most teams, we can’t do that,” McMillan said. “We’ve got to outwork you, we’ve got to be smarter, execute. And if we do that, we play hard, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win. Tonight, we beat the best team in the league.”

Also on Tuesday:

Hornets 97

Wizards 89

NEW ORLEANS — Jason Smith scored a career-high 20 points in a rare starting role and New Orleans defeated Washington, dropping the Wizards to 0-25 on the road.

Celtics 95

Kings 90

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ray Allen scored 22 points and Rajon Rondo had 17 points and 10 assists as Boston overcame a slow start.

Lakers 114

Rockets 106

LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant scored 32 points and Pau Gasol hit the go-ahead layup with 1:04 left in overtime, and Los Angeles bounced back from consecutive home losses.