Trail Blazers at Pelicans
The struggling Portland Trail Blazers will attempt to salvage one win out of a five-game road trip as they wrap up the trek in New Orleans against the Pelicans Friday. Portland will be without All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who left Wednesday's loss to San Antonio with a back injury, crashing awkwardly after tangling with Spurs forward Aron Baynes. "Injuries are a part of the game," forward Dorell Wright told The Oregonian, adding, "I just pray that he's fine and has a speedy recovery."
New Orleans dropped a heartbreaker at home to Memphis last time out, falling 90-88 to the Grizzlies to snap a three-game winning streak. The mini-surge showed some signs of life for the Pelicans, who had mired through an awful 1-10 stretch after winning three of their first four games in February. "I felt like we had this game won," guard Austin Rivers told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "but we had some turnovers and I felt like we made some stupid plays."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), FSN New Orleans
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (42-23): Aldridge, whose 23.4 points per game leads the Blazers, is expected to miss the next two games after a negative MRI helped diagnose the injury as a back contusion. Portland is a frustrated bunch of late and the team held a closed-door meeting after Wednesday's loss to San Antonio. While the message was kept private, Wright had this to say about the talk: "When the team is going through a little bit of adversity and you drop a few games, the main thing is staying together. So, that's all (the meeting) was."
ABOUT THE PELICANS (26-38): New Orleans was down to just 10 players against Memphis on Wednesday after starters Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon were late scratches with flu-like symptoms. "It just happened right before the game and there's nothing you can do about it," coach Monty Williams said. "You have to go with the guys that you have (and they) fought their tails off but we just couldn't come up with a win." Both Evans and Gordon returned to practice Thursday but each remains questionable against Portland.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. New Orleans and Portland have split games this season with one win apiece, while the Blazers have won six of the last nine against the Hornets/Pelicans franchise.
2. Portland is 4-1 without Aldridge in the lineup this season.
3. Pelicans G Anthony Morrow has scored in double figures in three straight games — his longest streak of the season.