Trail Blazers at Wizards
THE STORY: The Washington Wizards are coming off an emotional victory and the Portland Trail Blazers played without emotion in their last outing. The Wizards rebounded from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit to shock the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday and are seeking their third victory in four games. Portland tallied just 30 first-half points and was shellacked by the Boston Celtics on Friday. The Trail Blazers have lost five of their last six games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Comcast SportsNet (Portland), Comcast SportsNet (Washington)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (19-21): Portland is 0-2 on its seven-game road trip after the disastrous outing against Boston. The Trail Blazers trailed by 34 points entering the final quarter and committed a season-worst 28 turnovers. “That was an unprofessional approach,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said after the 104-86 loss. “There was no basketball being played out there. We can play harder than that. We can play better than that.” The Trail Blazers haven’t reached 100 points in any of their last 14 road games.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (9-29): Washington put together one of its top efforts of the season while winning 124-109 in Portland on Feb. 14. The Wizards shot 60 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from 3-point range while setting a season high for points scored. Nick Young scored a season-best 35 points and was 7 of 8 from 3-point range, John Wall had 29 points and nine assists and Jordan Crawford chipped in with 21 points. Trevor Booker was one of the heroes in the win against the Lakers with 18 points and a career-best 17 rebounds for his third double-double of the campaign.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Portland’s Nicolas Batum matched his career high with 33 points in last month’s loss to the Wizards.
2. Wall has nine double-digit assists games - seven in Washington’s last 17 games.
3. LaMarcus Aldridge with 22 points was the lone Portland player to score more than 10 points in the loss to Boston.