Trail Blazers at Pelicans
The Portland Trail Blazers are looking to chase down the Denver Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and are looking for their sixth victory in the past seven games when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday. Portland won the opening contest of a pivotal five-game road trip when it defeated the Phoenix Suns 110-101 on Sunday.
The excursion gets tougher for the Trail Blazers when they depart New Orleans as they finish it with stops in San Antonio, Atlanta and Miami. Recently acquired center Jusuf Nurkic is helping to fuel Portland's improved play with four double-doubles in the past nine games. The Pelicans are falling out of the race but All-Star power forward Anthony Davis is playing at a high level and produced 46 points and 21 rebounds in Saturday's 125-122 overtime win over the Charlotte Hornets. "The movement that he had and the spacing he created I thought was the way he got most of his shots," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters of Davis. "He was very good creating and going quickly and not giving them an opportunity to double him. When he does that and he gets into space and he's feeling good about his shot, he's very difficult to guard."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), FSN New Orleans
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (29-36): Star point guard Damian Lillard fueled the victory over Phoenix by scoring 28 of his 39 points in the first half. "I thought he pretty much willed us to the win," Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters of Lillard. "You could just tell by how he played, his demeanor, the way he fought through some of the adversity. I thought he really shouldered a lot of the responsibility." Lillard, who is averaging 29.5 points over the past four games, is averaging 27 points and 6.5 assists in two games against the Pelicans this season.
ABOUT THE PELICANS (26-40): Davis controlled the flow against the Hornets after DeMarcus Cousins picked up his fifth foul with 9 1/2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and never re-entered over the final 14 1/2 minutes. Cousins, who was recently acquired from the Sacramento Kings, refused to speak to reporters after a contest in which it became clear Davis enjoyed better spacing on the floor with Cousins seated on the bench. "It's Coach's decision," Davis said afterward. "All that matters is that we won. All that other stuff, it doesn't matter. No one cares about that. We're just trying to get wins. Whatever it takes."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams split two meetings earlier this season but the Trail Blazers have won nine of the past 11.
2. Cousins averaged 38.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in three games against Portland earlier this season as a member of the Kings.
3. Portland SG CJ McCollum scored 26 points against Phoenix and is averaging 27 over the last five games.