Trail Blazers at Mavericks
Yogi Ferrell earned himself a full-time gig by terrorizing Portland and attempts to repeat the performance when the Dallas Mavericks open a four-game homestand by hosting the Trail Blazers on Tuesday. Ferrell, who was playing on a 10-day contract, established career highs of 32 points and nine 3-pointers in Dallas' 108-104 victory in Portland on Friday and the Mavericks plan to sign him to a two-year contract Tuesday.
Ferrell received ample playing time in his first four games - all won by Dallas - and badly outplayed Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard in Friday's breakthrough effort. He dropped back to reality with 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting in Monday's 110-87 loss to the Denver Nuggets but is averaging 17.2 points in his five contests with the Mavericks. Portland will be aware of Ferrell in the rematch and coach Terry Stotts and Lillard both indicated there has been a lot of discussion about what happened Friday. "You've got to respect anybody starting on an NBA roster, regardless of the circumstances," Lillard told reporters. "But I think the way we planned on coming out and covering it based on what the numbers were, what we saw on film and (Ferrell) hadn't been knocking down jumpers. We went under (screens) to start the game in the first half and he hit about four 3s and it was like, it don't matter what the scouting report say now, he's feeling confident, he's feeling good."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (22-30): Lillard was 4-of-20 from the field and tallied 13 points against the Mavericks on Friday after scoring 25 or more in each of his previous five outings versus Dallas. He bounced back with a 29-point outing in Sunday's 105-99 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder but sprained his right ankle and is listed as probable for Tuesday's game. Portland shooting guard C.J. McCollum scored 28 points in Friday's contest and recorded 20 or more points in 14 of the past 20 games.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (20-31): Starting point guard Deron Williams (toe) is expected to miss his seventh consecutive game so Ferrell will once again be in the starting lineup. Ferrell was released by the Brooklyn Nets - the worst team in the NBA - earlier this season when he averaged 5.4 points and shot a meager 36.7 percent from the field in 10 games. Shooting guard Wesley Matthews (ankle) expects to play after he was injured in the fourth quarter of Monday's loss, a result that snapped Dallas' four-game winning streak.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Mavericks are 2-1 against the Trail Blazers this season and won five of the past seven meetings.
2. Dallas won five of its last six home games, including a victory over the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers and a 49-point rout of the Los Angeles Lakers.
3. Portland F Al-Farouq Aminu was 1-of-8 shooting in Sunday's loss to the Thunder.