A three-game homestand continues Thursday evening as the Portland Trail Blazers (32-38) welcome the New York Knicks (27-44) to Moda Center. The Blazers enter Thursday's game 1.5 games back of the Denver Nuggets in the race for the eighth seed in the Western Conference following the Nuggets' win over Cleveland on Wednesday.
Portland has won eight of its last 11 games since March 1, thanks in large part to Damian Lillard's 31.1 points per game in that span. Lillard has scored 25-plus points in seven consecutive games, a career-best for the fifth year pro out of Weber State. As a team, the Blazers are scoring an average of 111 points per game while shooting 42% from behind the three-point line since the All-Star Break.
The Knicks visit Portland for the third stop on a four-game road trip after falling 108-101 in Utah Wednesday evening. New York has lost eight of their last 10 games as 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony leads the Knicks with 22.7 points per game. 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose is questionable for Thursday's game after injuring his right foot Wednesday in Utah.
Despite the Knicks' struggles, the Blazers aren't taking any opponent lightly in their hunt for the postseason, especially having been beaten at New York earlier in the season.
"Obviously, when you’re in New York, things seem 10 times worse than they actually are," Blazers guard Evan Turner said. "The way [the New York media] talk about them, I thought they were like 10-30. I think we’re kinda close in the standings a little bit with them, in regards to record. Anytime you have a [Kristaps] Porzingis or big-time players like Melo or D-Rose, that’s still an NBA team and if they get going and feeling good, it could be a tough night. You never wanna kinda doubt or downplay another team, because they’ve still got some superstars over there."
Added head coach Terry Stotts: "They’ve got a lot of talented players. They beat us at their place, so I don’t think it’s a game anybody’s gonna take lightly."
Tipoff from Moda Center is scheduled for 7 pm Pacific as Kevin Calabro and Lamar Hurd have the call on CSNNW while Brooke Olzendam reports from courtside. Brian Wheeler and Casey Holdahl describe the action on Rip City Radio 620 and the Trail Blazers mobile app.