Warriors at Trail Blazers
The Golden State Warriors have the slimmest of chances to jump up to the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference, but they need some help. The first thing the Warriors need to do is go into Portland and beat the Trail Blazers on Sunday. The Trail Blazers lead Golden State by 2 1/2 games for fifth place but the Warriors lead the season series 2-1 and can still pull off the unlikely jump if they win out and Portland drops its last two.
Golden State clinched its spot in the postseason with a 112-95 triumph at the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday and can assure itself of no worse than the No. 6 seed with a victory over the Trail Blazers. Portland is not ready to lie down and is playing for homecourt advantage in the first round while chasing the fourth-place Houston Rockets. The Trail Blazers are coming on strong with wins in seven of their last eight games and are riding a three-game winning streak after taking out the sub-.500 trio of New Orleans, Sacramento and Utah.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (49-30): Golden State is headed to the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 1991 and 1992 and got a key piece back when David Lee returned from a seven-game absence due to a hamstring injury. The Warriors are being cautious with Lee, who was held to 10 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench in Friday’s win. “We are not that far removed from dreaming of this moment,” coach Mark Jackson told reporters of making the playoffs a second straight year. “Obviously, it was different last year, but all we’ve been through individually and collectively, to fight, to battle and to find ourselves in the playoffs and continuing to chase down history says a lot about these guys.”
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (52-28): Portland squandered an 18-point lead in a 113-112 home loss to the Warriors on Mar. 16 and fought through some sloppy play against New Orleans and Sacramento last week before putting together a better effort in Friday’s 111-99 win at Utah. Damian Lillard scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter in that game and averaged 20.7 points in three previous games against the Warriors. “We got two games left,” Lillard told reporters. “We just got to stay focused and finish the right way. The good thing is that we’re in the playoffs, and we got a couple of big games coming up that could determine a few changes in the seeding. We just got to stay locked in on one game at a time and end the season off the right way.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Blazers F LaMarcus Aldridge has recorded three double-doubles in the last five games.
2. The Warriors have taken five of the last six in the series, including the last two trips to Portland.
3. Golden State F Andre Iguodala (knee) sat out Friday but is expected back on Sunday.