Trail Blazers at Knicks
Damian Lillard is hotter than lava and the Portland Trail Blazers are
scorching opponents as they enter Tuesday's contest against the lowly
New York Knicks. Lillard has scored 30 or more points in seven of the past eight
games and Portland has won 17 of its last 21.
The Trail Blazers have won seven of their last eight on the road after starting out with a 6-15 mark in away games. "It's a challenge for a good team to go on the road and get a win, let alone a young team like us," Lillard told reporters. "But I think we've been able to do it because we haven't looked at out opponent." Portland's dash has allowed it to move into a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference with the Dallas Mavericks. New York has been operating in a frigid manner with 14 defeats in 17 games and has slipped 6 1/2 games out in the hunt for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (32-28): Lillard averaged 29.82 points in February and according to Elias Sports Bureau, that ranks as the third highest-scoring month in Portland franchise history. Only Geoff Petrie (30.4 in March 1971) and Clyde Drexler (29.85 in Dec. 1988) had higher averages in a month, and Lillard finished it off in style with 33 points in Sunday's 111-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers - with 20 points coming in the first quarter. "I just came out in attack mode and tried to set a tone at the start of the game," Lillard told reporters. "It's been necessary for me to kind of get my team involved. I came out with an aggressive mindset and I just rode it out and Coach (Terry Stotts) kept calling plays for me."
ABOUT THE KNICKS (25-36): Carmelo Anthony's surgically repaired left knee is acting up and that's not a good thing for a team that collapsed after being 22-22 at one point. Anthony has been highly irritated as the losses pile up, and firing coach Derek Fisher hasn't prompted the desired change. "We're all frustrated," interim coach Kurt Rambis told reporters after Monday's practice. "If you're a competitive athlete, I don't know how you can lose games at any point in time and be OK with it. So nobody in this organization is OK with where we're at."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Anthony scored 37 points as the Knicks posted a 112-110 win in Portland on Dec. 12 to end a six-game losing streak in the series.
2. New York SG Arron Afflalo (knee) underwent an MRI exam on Monday and the results were negative - his status will be determined Tuesday.
3. Trail Blazers F Meyers Leonard had 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting against the Pacers - equaling the number of points he had over the previous five games.