The Portland Trail Blazers (23-31) host the Atlanta Hawks (31-23) Monday night at the Moda Center.
Here are the details:
What: Blazers vs. Celtics, 7:30 p.m.
TV channel: TNT
Online: Watch a live stream on NBA League Pass (subscription required, not available locally and blacked out for nationally televised games)
Listen: Radio on KPOJ 620 AM, KKRZ 102.3 FM in Portland area.
About the Blazers: Portland is playing its first game since trading starting center Mason Plumlee to the Denver Nuggets for Jusuf Nurkic. … The Blazers have lost three of their last four games, most recently falling to the Boston Celtics 120-111 Thursday night at home. … .The Blazers led by as many as 17 points in the loss. … This is the first of two meetings between the Blazers and Hawks this season. The Hawks have won four in a row in the series and two in a row at the Moda Center. … The Blazers sit one game behind the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. … In the loss to the Celtics, Al-Farouq Aminu scored a season-high 26 points, making 8 of 12 shots, including 3 of 5 three-pointers. The Blazers’ backup forward is averaging 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds, while shooting 45 percent from the field, over the last five games. … Damian Lillard has scored at least 25 points in each of his last three games. … This is the second-to-last game before the All-Star break for the Blazers, who will next play at the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
About the Hawks: Atlanta is playing the second game of a three-game East Coast trip that ends Friday at the L.A. Clippers. It lost the opener, 108-107 at the Sacramento Kings, on Friday night. The Hawks led by 22 points and for more than 46 minutes against the Kings, but lost when Darren Collison finished a layup with 3.5 seconds left and Tim Hardaway Jr. had a drive blocked by Matt Barnes at the buzzer. … Hardaway scored 28 points and Dennis Schroder finished with 20 points and six assists for the Hawks in the loss. … Paul Millsap was selected by Eastern Conference coaches to play in the All-Star Game, the fourth consecutive time he’s been selected to play in the event. Millsap joins Dominique Wilkins, Bob Pettit, Lou Hudson, Joe Johnson, Dikembe Mutombo and Cliff Hagan as the only players in franchise history to earn All-Star honors in four consecutive seasons. … Dennis Schroder is averaging 20.5 points and shooting 53 percent over the last four games. … The Hawks rank sixth in the NBA in assists (24.1 per game) and have recorded assists on 62 percent of their made baskets, which ranks seventh in the NBA. … Atlanta is fifth in the NBA in steals (8.4 per game) and fourth in forcing turnovers (15.3 per game). … Atlanta is 27-7 when it scores at least 100 points. … Dwight Howard ranks sixth in the NBA in double-doubles this season with 34 and is the active NBA leader with 647 in his career. … The Hawks are 15-12 on the road this season.
Injuries: For the Blazers, Festus Ezeli (left knee rehab) and Evan Turner (fractured right hand) are out. For Atlanta, Thabo Sefolosha (left groin) and Tiago Splitter (right calf strain) are out.
Blazers (23-31) vs. Hawks (31-23)
7:30 p.m. Monday at Moda Center
TNT; radio on KPOJ (620)
Atlanta’s projected starters
No.NameHeightPositionStatistics 17 Dennis Schroder 6-2 PG 17.4 ppg, 6.3 apg 24 Kent Bazemore 6-5 G 11.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg 10 Tim Hardaway Jr. 6-6 F 12.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg 4 Paul Millsap 6-8 PF 18.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.8 apg 8 Dwight Howard 6-11 C 13.5 ppg, 12.9 rpg Portland’s projected starters No.NameHeightPositionStatistics 0 Damian Lillard 6-3 PG 26.1 ppg, 5.8 apg, 4.9 rpg 3 CJ McCollum 6-3 SG 23.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.6 apg 4 Moe Harkless 6-9 SF 10.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg 21 Noah Vonleh 6-9 PF 3.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg 17 Ed Davis 6-10 C 4.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg
Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman
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