Pistons at Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers are trying not to let the absence of All-Star point guard Damian Lillard push them further out of the race in the Western Conference but did not get off to a great start on Friday. Lillard is expected to miss his second consecutive game when the Trail Blazers host the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Lillard, who is fourth in the league in scoring at an average of 29.5 points, suffered a groin injury in a loss at Memphis in the final game before the All-Star break and expects to miss a few more after sitting out a 128-115 home setback to the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. Portland dropped its last three games overall and sits 3 1/2 games behind eighth-place Memphis in the West. The Pistons are sliding toward the bottom of the standings in the East with losses in five straight and 11 of their last 13 and are beginning a four-game West Coast trip with the visit to the Trail Blazers. Detroit is pushing toward a full roster rebuild and reached a buyout agreement with another veteran on Friday, sending forward Markieff Morris off to a likely stop at a playoff contender in the Western Conference.
TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: FS Detroit, NBCS Northwest, NBA TV Canada
ABOUT THE PISTONS (19-39): Detroit traded away former franchise center Andre Drummond prior to the All-Star break and reached a buyout agreement with veteran point guard Reggie Jackson during the break, leaving Derrick Rose, John Henson, Tony Snell and Langston Galloway as the only healthy veterans drawing regular minutes. The Pistons came out of the break against NBA-best Milwaukee on Thursday and fell behind by 30 at the half before putting together a better effort after the break and falling 126-106. "There's going to be growing pains," Detroit coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. There's going to be growing pains with the group that we have left. But you give yourself a chance to win if you play hard and compete at a high level as we did in the second half."
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (25-32): Portland got at least 13 points from all five of its starters on Friday, led by CJ McCollum's 27 points and 10 assists, but allowed the Pelicans to shoot 53.6 percent from the floor. "I thought offensive wasn't the problem," McCollum told reporters. "Defensive was the bigger problem. We figure out ways to score, we always have, we've just got to tighten up at the other end." Gary Trent Jr. started in place of Lillard and contributed 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the loss, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pistons PF Christian Wood recorded a double-double in four of his last five games.
2. Trail Blazers SF Mario Hezonja (ankle) sat out his third straight game on Friday and is day-to-day.
3. The home team took the last five meetings, with Portland easing to a 117-112 victory behind 28 points from Lillard when Detroit visited last season.