Trail Blazers at Kings
The Portland Trail Blazers have ended a tough slide following a strong stretch and aim to notch another victory when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Friday. Portland finished January by winning seven of eight games but then suffered through an 0-3 road trip before dispatching the Charlotte Hornets 109-103 in overtime Thursday.
All-Star guard Damian Lillard struggled to 18 points on 6-of-22 shooting against Charlotte on a night in which he passed Jerome Kersey to move into fifth place on the franchise's all-time scoring list. Lillard, who has 10,079 career points, is averaging 25.5 points in two meetings against the Kings this season. Sacramento has been off since recording a 104-98 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday for only its fourth victory in the past 15 games. The Kings traded veteran point George Hill to the Cleveland Cavaliers prior to Thursday's trading deadline in a three-team deal that saw Iman Shumpert (Cavaliers) and swingman Joe Johnson (Utah Jazz) end up in Sacramento.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBCS Northwest (Portland), NBCS California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (30-25): Portland blew a 14-point lead after three quarters before playing well in the overtime against the Hornets and seeing a victory nearly slip away left coach Terry Stotts peeved after the contest. "He just came in and told us that when we build a lead we can't make the game that hard on ourselves," Lillard told reporters. "We've got to be better." Center Jusuf Nurkic will be looking to follow up a solid game as he recorded 24 points (10-of-14 shooting) and 14 rebounds for his fourth 20-point, 10-rebound outing of the season.
ABOUT THE KINGS (17-36): Hill was signed to a three-year, $57 million deal in the offseason but the club was shopping him because of the team being far out of the playoff race. Another factor was the impressive play by rookie point guard De'Aaron Fox, the speedster who is averaging 11 points and 4.2 assists. Fox averaged 17.2 points over a five-game span before suffering a sprained left ankle during Monday's game against the Bulls and is questionable for Friday's contest.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams have split two meetings this season, but the Trail Blazers have won nine of the past 11 matchups.
2. Portland traded F Noah Vonleh to the Chicago Bulls for the right to C Milovan Rakovic.
3. Sacramento also traded G Malachi Richardson to the Toronto Raptors for F Bruno Caboclo.