The Portland Trail Blazers (22-29) visit the Oklahoma City Thunder (29-22) Sunday afternoon at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Here are the details:
What: Blazers at Thunder, 12 p.m.
TV channel: CSN (Comcast/Xfinity channel 37, or 737 for HD)
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 in Portland area.
About the Blazers: Portland is coming off a 108-104 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. The Blazers fell behind by 24 points in the first half before charging back to get two chances to tie the game in the closing seconds.
Mavericks rookie Yogi Ferrell, who was playing his fourth game during a 10-day contract, lit up the Blazers for 32 points on 9-for-11 shooting. The day after he torched the Blazers, Dallas signed him to a two-year contract extension.
CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 28 points, Evan Turner had a season-high 24 points and Al-Farouq Aminu chipped in 14 points off the bench. Damian Lillard had a forgettable night, finishing with 13 points on 4-for-20 shooting.
The Blazers had shown signs of improvement since changing their starting lineup on Jan. 20. With Evan Turner and Noah Vonleh in the starting group over the past six games, the Blazers’ have been much stronger on defense. But after an awful first half against Dallas, Terry Stotts shifted his starters in the second half, benching Vonleh for the final two quarters and letting Al-Farouq Aminu start at power forward.
This second of four regular season matchups between the Blazers and Thunder. Portland earned one its best wins of the season against Oklahoma City on Dec. 13, beating the Thunder 114-95 at the Moda Center. In that game, Mason Plumlee finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting as six different Blazers reached double-digits in scoring. Portland limited Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook to just 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, well below his season averages.
About the Thunder: Oklahoma City wraps up a three-game homestand against the Blazers on Sunday.
The Thunder on Friday beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 114-102. Russell Westbrook continued his season-long assault on NBA box scores, finishing with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. It was Westbrook’s 25th triple-double this season, the most any player has posted in a single season since Wilt Chamberlain had 31 triple-doubles in 1967-68.
And while Westbrook’s stat lines are eye-popping, they aren’t necessarily just a quest for box score symmetry. The Thunder are 19-6 this season when Westbrook has a triple-double and 37-6 in his triple-double games over the past two seasons. To round out his tour de force season, Westbrook (30.8 points per game) also leads the league in scoring.
The Thunder do damage on the backboards. Oklahoma City is third in the NBA in rebound percentage and 10-1 this season when it wins the rebounding battle by 10 or more. However, the Thunder’s rebounding prowess took a hit last week when Enes Kanter fractured his right forearm punching a chair on the bench. Kanter is expected to miss at least six weeks.
Kanter was the offensive focal point of the Thunders’ second unit and the team’s third-leading scorer. With Kanter out, Joffrey Lauvergne has seen an uptick in his minutes coming off the bench.
Injuries: For the Blazers, Festus Ezeli (left knee rehab) is out. For Oklahoma City, Alex Abrines (back spasms) is questionable and Enes Kanter (fractured right ulna) is out.
Blazers (22-29) vs. Thunder (29-22)
12 p.m. Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena
CSN; radio on KPOJ (620)
Oklahoma City’s projected starters
No.NameHeightPositionStatistics 0 Russell Westbrook 6-3 PG 30.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 10.4 apg 5 Victor Oladipo 6-4 G 15.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg 21 Andre Roberson 6-7 SF 6.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg 3 Domantas Sabonis 6-11 PF 6.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg 12 Steven Adams 7-0 C 12.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg Portland’s projected starters No.NameHeightPositionStatistics 0 Damian Lillard 6-3 PG 25.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 5.8 apg 3 CJ McCollum 6-3 SG 23.5 ppg, 3.7 apg 1 Evan Turner 6-7 SF 9.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg 21 Noah Vonleh 6-9 PF 3.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg 24 Mason Plumlee 6-11 C 11.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 4.0 apg
— Mike Richman
mrichman@oregonian.com
@mikegrich
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