The spotlight will be on two of the NBA's top point guards Thursday night as Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers (23-30) welcome Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics (33-19) to Moda Center.
TNT is set to exclusively broadcast the game at 7:30pm Pacific with Kevin Harlan, Mike Fratello and Lewis Johnson on the call. Brian Wheeler describes the play on Rip City Radio and the Trail Blazers mobile app.
Seventh among all scorers in the league, Damian Lillard leads Portland with 26 points and 5.8 assists per game. Fellow guard CJ McCollum is 14th in the NBA with 23.5 points per game on an efficient 48.8% shooting from the field and 42% from behind the three-point win. The Blazer duo combined for 63 points in Portland's 127-123 overtime victory in Boston on January 21 to kickstart a run of three straight Trail Blazers wins. Former Celtics guard Evan Turner is set to miss his first game with a fractured third metacarpal on his right hand suffered in Tuesday's win at Dallas after scoring 10 points against his former team earlier in the month.
Seattle native Thomas enters Thursday's matchup second in the NBA with 29.8 points per game and averages a league-high 10.6 points in the fourth quarter. The 5-9 Thomas netted a game-high 41 points on 14-of-28 shooting in the Celtics' overtime loss to the Trail Blazers on January 21 in Boston. The University of Washington product scored 26 points in his team's 108-92 loss at Sacramento Wednesday night.
The Celtics lead the all-time series versus the Blazers, 64-45. Portland has won the last two meetings.