Trail Blazers at Clippers
The Portland Trail Blazers have an outside chance at chasing down
fifth-place Memphis in the Western Conference standings and can take
another step in that direction when they visit the Los Angeles Clippers
on Thursday. Portland is four games behind the injury riddled Grizzlies
with 10 games to play and has a favorable schedule with seven of its
final nine games at home.
The Trail Blazers sit in sixth place by 1 1/2 games over the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz after posting a 109-103 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday. "They could have passed us up with a win, could have swept us for the season, and we're going to play the Clippers," standout point guard Damian Lillard said after the victory. "It could have been a tough spot to be in, but we said, 'We're going to play the kind of basketball we need to play and get this one.' " The Clippers are in fourth place in the West but are struggling with five losses in six games after falling 114-98 to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Their chances of slaying the mighty Warriors were sabotaged by a 4-of-16 shooting night from point guard Chris Paul.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, CSN Northwest (Portland), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (37-35): Reserve center Ed Davis was a surprise offensive contributor with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting against the Mavericks for his second-highest scoring game of the season. Davis also had nine rebounds — five on the offensive end — and three steals in a strong all-around effort that was extra timely with Meyers Leonard (shoulder) sidelined for the fourth consecutive game. "Ed gave us a lot of second-chance opportunities," Lillard told reporters. "He was a monster on the glass and in the paint; he was finishing a lot of stuff. I thought he got fouled on a lot of them and he was just playing through it. He beasted up."
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (43-27): Paul (13 points) and shooting guard J.J. Redick (nine) were a combined 8-of-29 from the field while the Golden State backcourt of Stephen Curry (33) and Klay Thompson (32) were totaling 65 points. "It's going to be tough for us to win if me and J.J. can't throw it in the ocean," Paul told reporters. Center DeAndre Jordan had another superb outing with 19 points and 20 rebounds and has scored in double digits in 12 consecutive games to tie a personal best.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Clippers have won seven of the past eight home contests versus the Trail Blazers.
2. Paul is just 9-of-30 from the field in the past two games.
3. Lillard scored 27 points against Dallas for his fifth straight 20-point outing and is averaging 26 points per game during the stretch.