Warriors at Trail Blazers
The Golden State Warriors welcomed back an important piece this week while the Portland Trail Blazers could be down three key contributors when the teams meet Tuesday night in Portland. Klay Thompson returned to the Warriors on Monday night after the team’s second-leading scorer missed three games with an ankle sprain. On the other side, Portland starters LaMarcus Aldridge (left hand), Nicolas Batum (back) and key reserve Chris Kaman (shoulder) are all doubtful for the game.
The Trail Blazers weren’t playing well even before Aldridge and Batum were injured in their last game Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. They’ve now lost four in a row, their longest losing streak of the season, and hold onto the fourth seed in the Western Conference only because they still lead the Northwest Division by a comfortable margin over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Record-wise, the Los Angeles Clippers blew by them last week and the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks are right behind.
TV: 10:30 p.m., TNT, CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (56-13): It was anticipated that Thompson might sit out the second of back-to-back games coming off his injury, but then the Warriors took a huge lead into the fourth quarter Monday against the Washington Wizards and Thompson ended up playing just 18 minutes. Thompson scored 29 points in the only other meeting against Portland this season, a 95-90 victory by the Warriors on Nov. 2. He was 0-for-5 from 3-point range in Monday’s win against Washington, which suggests his legs are still a bit weak.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (44-24): Dorell Wright figures to see more minutes if Aldridge and/or Batum can’t play. He was on the floor for 25 minutes in Saturday’s loss to the Grizzlies, his most since January, and scored 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting while also grabbing six rebounds. Wright, an 11-year veteran, had the best season of his career with the Warriors in 2010-11, starting all 82 games and averaging 16.4 points and 5.3 rebounds, but his numbers have dropped every season since.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Golden State G Stephen Curry is averaging 30.1 points in his last eight games against Portland.
2. The eight third-quarter points scored by Washington on Monday night were the fewest allowed in a quarter by the Warriors since November 2003.
3. Portland G Damian Lillard has scored at least 10 points in the fourth quarter 12 times this season, but just once since Jan. 17.