Trail Blazers at 76ers
The Portland Trail Blazers carry plenty of momentum into the opener of a four-game road trip at Philadelphia on Saturday. Portland has won 17 of its last 19 games to vault atop the Western Conference standings, and its best player is absolutely locked in right now. LaMarcus Aldridge had 31 points and 25 rebounds in a 111-104 win over Houston on Thursday and is averaging 26.7 points and 13 rebounds this month.
Surging Portland comes to town at a bad time for the 76ers, who have lost five straight and 17 of their last 21. The five losses have coincided with the absence of rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who has an infection in his knee and no date set for return. Philadelphia lost an early 19-point lead in falling to Minnesota 106-99 on Wednesday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest, CSN Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (19-4): Portland has reached the 100-point mark in 10 straight games and ranks second in the league in scoring. Aldridge's efforts helped the team overcome an off night for guard Damian Lillard, who was held to eight points on 1-of-10 shooting against the Rockets. Lillard is shooting just 38.1 percent on the road this season.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (7-17): The absence of Carter-Williams has severely hurt Philadelphia but it at least showed some resiliency in a 108-100 loss at Toronto on Friday. The 76ers nearly erased all of a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit before coming up short and falling to 1-10 on the road. While Portland scores in bunches, Philadelphia continues to give up more points than anyone in the league by a wide margin.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Aldridge has four 20-point, 20-rebound efforts this season, two more than any other player in the league.
2. Philadelphia G Tony Wroten has scored at least 20 points in four of his last five games.
3. The last six meetings have been decided by single digits.