Trail Blazers at 76ers
The winless Philadelphia 76ers are trying to halt their run toward futility but have a tough chore on Monday when they host the Portland Trail Blazers. Philadelphia’s losing streak is at 13 games, just two shy of the franchise mark for consecutive losses to start a season and looming ahead is the NBA mark of 0-18 by the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets. Portland is on the other end of the spectrum with seven straight wins after defeating the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
The Trail Blazers were sluggish early in the opener of a three-game road trip but played a strong second half in the 94-88 victory over Boston. Philadelphia is desperate for its initial victory and has scored fewer than 100 points in seven straight games, but power forward Nerlens Noel insists all is well. “We all are sticking together,” Noel told reporters. “We feel like we’re getting closer to our first win.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (10-3): Portland standouts LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard each had poor shooting efforts in the win over the Celtics. Aldridge was 7-of-21 shooting while posting 20 points and matching his season high of 14 rebounds, while Lillard was 4-of-14 while contributing 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. A big key in the victory was the bench contributions of center Chris Kaman (16 points, eight rebounds) and guard Steve Blake (11 points, five assists).
ABOUT THE 76ERS (0-13): Noel had the best outing of his pro career when he had 17 points and 12 rebounds in Friday’s loss to the New York Knicks. Noel missed all of last season with a knee injury after being selected sixth overall by Philadelphia and he is just now hitting his stride. “I am really starting to feel like my legs are under me now,” Noel told reporters. “(After) not playing basketball so long, I am already starting to feel my timing is a lot better and I’m feeling a lot more confident.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Philadelphia has won two of the last three meetings.
2. Portland has allowed an average of 88.8 points over its last four victories.
3. Recent D-League call-up Robert Covington went 4-of-4 from 3-point range against the Knicks – the rest of the 76ers were 4-of-22.