Cavaliers-Trail Blazers Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Jan 16 2013 1:59AM

The Portland Trail Blazers have been competitive in each of their last three games but they've been on the losing end each time.

A visit from the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers might give the Blazers a chance to avoid a season high-tying fourth consecutive defeat Wednesday night.

Portland's last three games have been decided by a combined 14 points and its latest defeat was one of its more agonizing this season. The Blazers (20-18) gave up Wilson Chandler's tiebreaking 3-pointer with 14.9 seconds left in overtime and fell 115-111 in Denver on Tuesday.

Portland's Wesley Matthews hit a tying 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining in regulation in his team's first loss in six overtime games. LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points, giving him a combined 61 after he was held to a season-low seven in Friday's loss at Golden State. The Blazers haven't lost four in a row since Nov. 25-30.

"It was a tremendous game," coach Terry Stotts said. "I think for the most part, both teams played pretty well. Third quarter turnovers hurt us. Their transition hurt us. We got better as the game went on but that hurt us early."

The Blazers have won four in a row over the Cavaliers (9-31) but played a double-overtime thriller in the most recent matchup Dec. 1 in Cleveland.

Nicolas Batum hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in a 118-117 victory, and Damian Lillard was among three players to top 20 points with a team-best 24. Batum (22) and Aldridge (21) were the others.

Portland has had a much easier time at home against the Cavaliers lately, winning the past two matchups by a combined 61 points. Aldridge had 28 points and Matthews scored 24 in a 98-78 victory at the Rose Garden on Jan. 8, 2012.

The Blazers are seeking to bounce back on their own floor after having a nine-game home win streak snapped Sunday with an 87-83 loss to Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City.

The Cavaliers head into Portland having dropped four straight on the road and eight of 10 overall. They're allowing an average of 105.4 points in their last 10 after giving up 96.0 in their previous nine.

Cleveland scored its most points of the season Monday, but also surrendered its most in a 124-118 loss in Sacramento. Rookie Dion Waiters led the Cavs with a career-high 33 points.

"I'm just doing what I know I can do and staying confident about it. I'm just taking what the defense gives me," said Waiters, who had 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting against Portland in December.

Cleveland's leading scorer Kyrie Irving missed that game because of a broken finger and doesn't head into this matchup after one of his better performances. Irving, averaging 23.0 points, had 15 on 6-of-19 shooting against Sacramento.

He had a team-best 21 points in the visit to Portland last January.

Aldridge has 20 or more points in each of his last four matchups against Cleveland and Matthews is averaging 20.0 over his last four.

Irving scores 31 to lead Cavs over Trail Blazers

By JOEL FOWLKS
Posted Jan 17 2013 1:55AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) The first matchup between Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard turned into a huge night for the reigning Rookie of the Year.

Irving scored 31 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers 93-88 on Wednesday to snap a four-game losing streak.

"When he's aggressive, he's pushing the ball and he's in attack mode," Cleveland coach Byron Scott said of Irving. "I think our guys feed off of that."

Tristan Thompson added 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Nicolas Batum had 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who erased a 19-point second-quarter deficit and briefly took the lead. Wesley Matthews added 17 points and LaMarcus Aldridge had 15.

"I thought Cleveland, obviously, in the first half played harder," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "But we fought."

Lillard finished with 13 points. Portland's rookie point guard is averaging 18.1 a game, but he entered the fourth quarter with only three on 0-for-3 shooting. He got going in the final period, tying the score at 75 with a 3-pointer and giving the Blazers an 86-85 lead by hitting a 20-footer with 2:07 left.

Irving took over from there, though. He made a pull-up jumper, a turnaround bank shot and a couple of free throws as Portland wilted.

"We obviously knew they were going to get back in the game eventually," Irving said. "It was bound to happen, but we just did a good job of keeping our composure."

Tyler Zeller had 11 points and nine rebounds for Cleveland, which was playing the fourth game of a five-game Western Conference road trip. The Cavs had lost eight of 10 overall, including 124-118 to Sacramento on Monday.

Portland has lost four straight by a total of 19 points. The Blazers started slow and spent long stretches trying to dig out of holes, possibly the consequence of going overtime with the Nuggets on Tuesday night in a 115-111 loss in Denver's high altitude.

"There's no excuses," Matthews said. "They played better than us for a half and we couldn't get out of the hole."

Irving led the way in the first quarter, shooting 6 of 9 while Cleveland led by as many as 11. The Cavs' lead hit its apex at 51-32 in the second quarter after Irving fed Thompson for a dunk. Portland had 12 turnovers, shot 34 percent in the first half and trailed by 17 at halftime.

Portland came out of the break more composed and made a run, with back-to-back jumpers from Aldridge, a 3-pointer from Matthews and a ferocious dunk from J.J. Hickson to cut the lead to 55-46.

Portland managed to hang around and entered the final quarter still trailing by nine. The Blazers outscored Cleveland by four in the final quarter.

NOTES: Cleveland has won 12 of the last 18 games in the series but Portland had won the past four, including 118-117 in two overtimes on Dec. 1. Irving missed that game with a broken finger. ... Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who grew up in Portland, was in attendance.

Notebook: Cavaliers 93, Trail Blazers 88

Kerry Eggers, for NBA.com
Posted Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:58 AM - Updated Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:58 AM

THE FACTS: Kyrie Irving scored 31 points and Cleveland held off a late Portland rally to win 93-88 Wednesday night at the Rose Garden. Irving scored eight straight points down the stretch as the Cavaliers (10-31) won after losing their first three games on this five-game road trip. Tristan Thompson added 19 points and 14 rebounds for Cleveland.

Nicolas Batum led five starters in double figures with 23 points for Portland (20-19), which lost its fourth straight game. Batum had 12 rebounds but also nine turnovers.

QUOTABLE: "I like him aggressive, period. He's trying to figure out how to be an aggressive player for us and still get his guys involved. When he's aggressive, he's pushing the ball and he's in attack mode. Our guys feed off of that as well."
-- Cleveland coach Byron Scott on Irving

THE STAT: Cleveland won despite shooting .386 from the field and .235 from 3-point range and getting hammered 54-40 on the boards. The Cavaliers enjoyed a whopping advantage in points in the paint (42-26) and had only eight turnovers to 19 for the Blazers.

TURNING POINT: After Portland went ahead 86-85, the Cavaliers outscored them 8-2 the rest of the way, the Blazers missing their final four shots from the field.

QUOTABLE II: "They played harder than us, just outplayed us. No excuses. They played better than us for a half, and we couldn't get out of the hole."
-- Blazers' Wesley Matthews

HOT: Irving was on fire early, making 6-for-7, mostly on drives to the basket.

NOT: Portland's bench combined to make 2-for-18 shots and scored seven points.

GOOD MOVE: Scott used 6-foot-6 small forward C.J. Miles to defend Portland's 6-foot-3 Damian Lillard much of the way. The Blazers' rookie point guard didn't score his first field goal until early in the fourth quarter and finished with 13 points on 3-for-9 shooting.

BAD MOVE: With Portland trailing 87-86 inside the final minute, LaMarcus Aldridge had the ball on the block with a chance to launch a short jump hook. He attempted a pass to teammate J.J. Hickson that went out of bounds for a turnover, the beginning of the end for the Blazers.

QUOTABLE III: "If you kill the head of the snake, the rest of the body dies. We have to do something to disrupt him as much as possible."
-- Byron Scott

NOTABLE: Portland shot .392 from the field -- its fourth straight game below 40 percent.

UP NEXT: For the Cavaliers, Saturday @ Utah, Tuesday vs. Boston, Thursday vs. Indiana. For the Trail Blazers, Saturday vs. Milwaukee, Monday vs. Washington, Wednesday vs. Indiana.

• Cavaliers: Varejao
• Trail Blazers: Leonard, Williams

• Cavaliers: --
• Trail Blazers: Triano

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Rose Garden, Portland, OR
• Officials: #14 Ed Malloy, #36 David Jones, #39 Brenda Pantoja
• Attendance: 18880
• Duration: 2:13