Nets at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers might have saved their season with their last victory and now look to win consecutive games for the first time since a three-game winning streak in late January when they host the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. Portland outfought Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-109 on Thursday for only their third victory in the past 10 games as they keep attempting to make up ground on the eighth-place Denver Nuggets for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Portland is 2 1/2 games behind the Nuggets with 22 games left and recent speculation that the franchise would be better off missing the playoffs and gaining a higher draft pick annoys star point guard Damian Lillard. "We can beat out these teams and get that spot — we know that — all it takes is to get on a good run," Lillard told reporters. "Those teams are capable of losing games, but we have to worry about what we are doing. We feel like if we win a lot of these games, it's going to put pressure on those teams." The Nets lost for the 28th time in 30 games when they suffered a 112-97 setback against the Utah Jazz on Friday. Brooklyn is 1-3 entering the fifth contest of its eight-game Circus Trip and stands just 3-26 on the road.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), KGW (Portland)
ABOUT THE NETS (10-50): Point guard Jeremy Lin scored just seven points in 17 minutes against the Jazz in his fourth game since returning from a hamstring injury. Lin had looked solid when he tallied 17 points in 20 minutes in Wednesday's 109-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings but Friday's outing reminded coach Kenny Atkinson why he wants to operate cautiously with Lin. "We're going to gradually increase him," Atkinson told reporters of Lin's playing time. "We'll get the information from our performance team and doctors. We're not going to rush this thing. We're going to do it gradually."
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (25-35): New starting center Jusuf Nurkic is making his mark with two double-doubles and averages of 14 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.8 blocked shots in five games since being acquired by the Denver Nuggets. He was terrific in his first home game Thursday when he had 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots during the victory over the Thunder. "They give me a lot of opportunity when I came here, so I just try to play and have fun," Nurkic told reporters. "I know who I am … I know I'm going to be on the court. I just go there and play."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Trail Blazers are 35-6 all-time at home against the Nets.
2. Brooklyn has allowed 100 or more points in 33 of the past 34 games.
3. Portland PF Ed Davis (shoulder) will undergo surgery early next week and miss the rest of the season.