Pelicans at Trail Blazers
The New Orleans Pelicans are playing better of late but are still having some trouble closing games strong. The Pelicans will try to put together 48 solid minutes when they continue a five-game road trip at Portland on Monday.
New Orleans won two of three at home before hitting the road and could not hang onto a fourth-quarter lead in a 98-94 loss at Chicago to open the trip on Saturday. “My overall take on it is if we compete at that level, we’ll be fine, if we shore up the couple mental breakdowns we had (late),” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. “I thought we played hard. For the most part, we executed well.” Like New Orleans, the Trail Blazers squandered a fourth-quarter lead and went on to suffer the loss on Saturday in a 112-110 home setback to the New York Knicks. That marked the third loss in four games for Portland, which heads out on a five-game road trip after tackling the Pelicans.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (6-17): New Orleans superstar Anthony Davis collected 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks on Saturday but was just 8-of-24 from the field while relying on his jump shot. “He’s capable of making those shots,” Gentry told reporters of Davis. “They’re good shots for him. They didn’t go in tonight. If they go in, everyone’s talking about what a great shooter he is. You live and die sometimes what guys are good at. He’s good at that. Those are the shots we want him taking.” Davis, a career 52-percent shooter, is down to 47.6 percent this season.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (10-15): Portland star Damian Lillard is a tick below his career shooting percentage (42.8 to 42) this season as well and had a potential game-winning 3-pointer miss the mark on Saturday. The 25-year-old point guard is 19-of-49 from the field in the last two games, including 3-of-13 from 3-point range. Lillard is drawing more attention than ever from defenses with LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum gone but is still putting up 24.4 points and 6.9 assists.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Trail Blazers have taken six straight in the series, including a 112-94 home win on Oct. 28.
2. New Orleans F Ryan Anderson (illness) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
3. Portland F Allen Crabbe scored in double figures in each of the first seven games this month after totaling six double-digit games in November.