Trail Blazers at Celtics
The Portland Trail Blazers attempt to stretch their winning streak to seven games when they visit the Boston Celtics on Sunday. Portland routed the Chicago Bulls 105-87 on Friday before making the trek east and hasn’t lost since falling to the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 8. Boston has lost four of its past five games after suffering a 117-100 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and has also dropped three straight to the Trail Blazers.
Portland easily handled a Chicago team missing Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol from the outset while posting an impressive victory. “I thought guys played with energy,” power forward LaMarcus Aldridge told reporters. “I thought our defense was great. We caught them on a back-to-back so it was good to play with energy and try to be active.” The Celtics were on the opposite end as they never once led while losing to Memphis.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), CSN New England (Boston)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (9-3): Damian Lillard started slowly but has been on a recent tear in which he is averaging 25.8 points and 8.4 assists over the last five games. He went 7-for-9 shooting against Chicago – hitting all four 3-point attempts – and is 20-for-31 from behind the arc during the hot streak. “Damian was very efficient offensively,” Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters. “Defensively, he was good. His 3s were timely.”
ABOUT THE CELTICS (4-7): Second-year center Kelly Olynyk has struggled with consistency issues through the first 11 games and scored 14 of his 18 points against Memphis in the second half. He had scored just 13 points in the previous five halves before getting it together against the Grizzlies, and coach Brad Stevens says it is time for Olynyk to do more than show flashes. “Maybe there are some learning experiences for these guys, but they have to expedite that curve because they’re playing for us,” Stevens told reporters. “We’re not showing them film and learning after practice. They’re playing in games.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Boston has won nine of its last 10 home games against Portland.
2. Trail Blazers SF Nicolas Batum (knee) returned from a four-game absence and had nine points in 21 minutes against Chicago.
3. Celtics F Jeff Green (2,504) had six rebounds against Memphis to go over 2,500 for his career.