Trail Blazers at Cavaliers
The Portland Trail Blazers are in a good place as they continue their season-high seven-game road trip Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Portland won the first two games of the trip after Saturday's 130-115 victory at Philadelphia with 7-0 center Jusuf Nurkic averaging 25.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in the two contests while leading a dominating attack in the paint.
"It's a long road trip," the Trail Blazers' Enes Kanter told reporters Saturday after recording 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists. "We are 2-0, but I think now we just learn from it and move forward. We know we can score the ball. For us to get to the next level, we have to do it on the defensive end." Portland sits fourth in the West, two games behind Oklahoma City and two ahead of Houston while five games clear of ninth-place Sacramento. Cleveland moved away from New York and Phoenix in the race for worst record in the league after winning three of its last four games, including 112-107 over Memphis on Saturday behind a season-high 32 points and 12 rebounds from Kevin Love. "I feel like a big part of my life, my identity, is taken away when the game is taken away from you," Love, who is averaging 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds in four games since missing 50 with a foot injury, told reporters. "So, I feel really good and really fortunate just to be out there."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Northwest (Portland), FS Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (36-23): Nurkic (15.4 points, 10.2 rebounds) recorded 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and five blocks versus the Cavaliers last month, becoming the first player in NBA history with that stat line while playing 28 minutes or fewer. Portland matched its season high with 66 points in the paint in each of its last two games, with Kanter totaling 34 points 17 rebounds during that span in his first contests since being acquired from New York. Damian Lillard (25.9 points) scored a total of 30 in two games since the All-Star break while CJ McCollum (20.9) scored 21 at Brooklyn on Thursday - the only time he's reached his average in the last five contests.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (14-46): Tristan Thompson (11.5 points, 11.1 rebounds) missed the last 15 games because of a foot injury with coach Larry Drew telling the media about the recovery: "It's still going slow. We're going to take it very slowly as far as bringing him back." Rookie guard Collin Sexton (15.0 points) recorded 20 points, six rebounds and five assists Saturday, including a career-high four 3-pointers, and reached double-figure points in 51 games - second among rookies to Dallas' Luka Doncic (52). Love averages 17.8 points and 10.9 rebounds but shoots only 38 percent from the field while Jordan Clarkson goes for 16.9 points per game exclusively off the bench.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Portland G Evan Turner (7.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists in 23.3 minutes) is expected to miss the next 2-to-3 games with a knee injury.
2. Cleveland G Brandon Knight, averaging 7.4 points and 3.4 assists in five games since being acquired from New York, is in line to play his 400th career game Monday.
3. The home team won 10 straight in the series after the Trail Blazers' 129-112 victory Jan. 16 behind 33 points from Lillard, who averages 25.9 points in 12 games versus the Cavaliers.