Trail Blazers at Nuggets
The Portland Trail Blazers will try to register their first five-game winning streak of the season and inch a bit closer to the top of the Western Conference when they begin a two-game road trip on Sunday against the West-leading Denver Nuggets. After dropping the opener of a five-game homestand, the Trail Blazers rolled to four consecutive victories - including a 127-96 triumph over Charlotte on Friday - to match their longest winning streak of 2018-19.
CJ McCollum scored 30 points and Damian Lillard added 20 on Friday for Portland, which should be excited to take on a Denver squad that eked out a one-point win over the Blazers earlier in the season. "They came here and they got one," Lillard told reporters of the Nuggets. "We had a shot at the end of the game to beat them and we didn't feel like we played that well. So we've just got to take this brand of basketball that we've been playing over the last few games and take it to their court and go get another win." Denver will be kicking off a four-game homestand and come in on a sour note after suffering a 102-93 loss at lowly Phoenix on Saturday. Nikola Jokic and Malik Beasley combined for 44 points on 16-of-29 shooting, but the rest of the team went 18-for-59 from the floor.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCS Northwest (Portland), Altitude (Portland)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (26-17): Jusuf Nurkic put forth a dominant all-around effort in Friday's win by producing 11 points, 11 rebounds, eight rebounds and six blocked shots as he continued his recent tear. "The big fella's been awesome," McCollum told reporters of Nurkic. "He's playing extremely well, he's confident. He's finishing around the basket. But what I like most about him is that he's being aggressive on both ends. Defensively, he's protecting the rim for us and being selfish on the offensive end and distributing the ball." Nurkic, who is averaging 20 points and 12.2 rebounds this month, registered one of his 21 double-doubles in the team's earlier loss to the Nuggets.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (28-13): Gary Harris played in the club's first four games this month after missing the last 11 in December with a hip injury, but he's now sat out three in a row due to a hamstring issue. Beasley has filled some of the void, and his 21 points in Saturday's loss represented his fourth 20-point performance in the last 10 games. Fellow guard Jamal Murray was 4-for-17 from the floor at Phoenix and is shooting 28.4 percent over the team's last five losses.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. McCollum scored 33 points against Denver earlier this season but missed a potential game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
2. Nuggets SG Will Barton played 16 minutes on Saturday after missing the previous 38 games following hip surgery.
3. Denver has won four straight meetings with Portland.