Pelicans at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers suffered a rare loss on Wednesday and have had a couple of days off to consider what went wrong. The Trail Blazers hope to have it all fixed by the time they host the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday. The Pelicans got Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans back on Wednesday but the duo could not help the team avoid a 108-95 loss at Golden State - its third straight setback.
Portland leads the NBA in scoring at an average of 108.3 points but is playing with fire on the defensive end and finally built itself too big of an obstacle when a 32-point deficit in Minnesota turned into a 120-109 setback and ended a five-game winning streak. “We gave up too much in the first half and dug ourselves too deep of a hole,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “I was pleased with the way we competed in the second half. We came back and made it a game.” New Orleans fell into a deep hole against the Clippers and fell to 0-3 on its five-game road trip.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, KGW (Portland)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (11-13): This was a measuring-stick trip for New Orleans, which had won five of seven before hitting the road but fell at Denver, Golden State and Los Angeles by an average of 11 points. The one positive from Wednesday’s setback was the play of Davis, who returned much earlier than expected from a broken hand and recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench, and Tyreke Evans, who posted a triple-double in his return from a two-game absence. “I’m just throwing them in the fire,” Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. “If you’re healthy, I’ll put you back out there in your normal rotation.”
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (22-5): Portland finished its road trip with a 3-1 mark but allowed an average of 112.5 points in those four contests and needed last-second heroics to gain two of the three victories against sub-.500 teams. “We’ve got to grow up and continue to play like the hunted,” Portland guard Wesley Matthews told the team’s website. “We’ve got to keep playing hungry, we’ve got to know that we’re going to get every team’s best shot. People are getting up to play against us and we’ve got to rise to the challenge.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Blazers G Damian Lillard averaged 36 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the last two games.
2. New Orleans took two of the three meetings last season, including a 99-63 triumph on Feb. 13 that marked the Trail Blazers’ lowest point total of the season.
3. Portland F LaMarcus Aldridge has recorded a double-double in five straight games and nine of the last 10.