Atlanta (0-2) at Portland (0-2), 10:00 pm EST
PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- Nate McMillan hopes his first
homestand with the Portland Trail Blazers goes much better
than his first road trip.
McMillan will coach his first home game at the Rose Garden on
Saturday when the Trail Blazers open a five-game homestand
against the Atlanta Hawks.
After guiding Seattle to a surprising 52-30 record last
season, McMillan was hired to rebuild the struggling Trail
Blazers, who have not performed well for their new coach.
Following a 90-86 loss in its opener at Minnesota on Wednesday,
Portland fell flat in an embarrassing 107-68 rout at Denver on
Friday.
Darius Miles, who scored 32 points on Wednesday, was limited
to 13 in 30 minutes against the Nuggets. Unfortunately for
the Trail Blazers, Miles was their leading scorer on Friday.
Miles was 1-of-7 from the line against Denver, part of
Portland's miserable 7-of-20 (35 percent) effort.
Atlanta also has struggled mightily, suffering back-to-back
losses to Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers to start
a season-opening three-game road trip.
In Friday's 92-77 loss to the Clippers, rookie Salim
Stoudamire was one of the few bright spots for the Hawks with
15 points. He made 5-of-8 shots from the field, including
three 3-pointers, but Atlanta's starters shot just 12-of-45
from the field (27 percent).
Portland has won the last seven meetings between the teams and
six straight here.




