Trail Blazers Game Notes: Washington Wizards (29-36) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (25-40)

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (25-40) VS WASHINGTON WIZARDS (29-36)

Saturday, March 12 • 7:00 p.m. (Pacific) • Moda Center

Portland, Oregon

ALL TIME: Trail Blazers lead, 62-56

PORTLAND HOME: Trail Blazers lead, 35-23

WASHINGTON HOME: Wizards lead, 33-27

LAST PORTLAND WIN: 115-110, 1/15/22 (Was.)

LAST WASHINGTON WIN: 118-111, 2/20/21 (Por.)

CURRENT WIN STREAK: One (Por.)

• Saturday's meeting is the second and final matchup between Portland and Washington this season. The Trail Blazers defeated the Wizards in January in Washington, 115-110.

• LAST MEETING: Portland defeated Washington 115-110 in Washington DC in January. Anfernee Simons dropped a double-double of 31 points and 11 assists while Jusuf Nurkic contributed a double-double of 23 points and 14 rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie led the Wizards with 27 points and seven assists.

• The Trail Blazers rank sixth in the league with 37% of their points coming from beyond the arc while the Wizards rank last with 29% of their points coming from three.

• Since January 1, Portland has held opponents to 44.9 points in the paint per game, seventh-best in the NBA. During that stretch, Washington ranks eighth in the league with 49.4 points in the paint per game.

• The matchup represents the second game of a back-to-back for Washington after taking on the Lakers on Friday night. The Wizards are 5-5 on the year in the second leg of back-to-backs, 3-3 when both games are on the road.

• Josh Hart is averaging 9.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in his last five career games against the Wizards.

• Trendon Watford enters the game on a hot streak having scored in double-figures in four consecutive games.

• Ben McLemore has scored in double-figures in his last two games against Washington, including 10 points, two boards and an assist on Jan. 15.

• Kyle Kuzma is averaging 7.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.80 blocks in his last five games against Portland. He scored 16 points with 12 rebounds in the January matchup.

• In his last five games against the Trail Blazers, Kentavius Caldwell-Pope has averaged 11.6 points, 2.8 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 0.80 steals. He's scored in double-figures in three of those games.

• Kristaps Porzingis has averaged 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.60 blocks in his last five games against Portland.

STEPPING UP: The Portland reserves scored 57 points on March 9 at Utah, a season-high for the unit. Portland's two leading scorers came off the bench, Trendon Watford led the way with a career-high 22 (6-14 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 9-9 FT) while Keon Johnson tied his career-high with 15 points (6-13 FG, 3-6 3-PT). Johnson's three made three-pointers and five assists tied his career-highs as well.

WILLIAMS ROLLING: Brandon Williams dropped 20-plus points in back-to-back games on March 5 and 7, setting career highs with 27 points (7-18 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 11-16 FT), eight rebounds and four steals at Minnesota on March 7. Williams has scored 12-plus points in five straight games and is the only undrafted rookie this season to score in double-figures in five consecutive games. He leads all undrafted rookies in scoring average this season (12.9 ppg)

TRENDON IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: Trendon Watford set new career highs with 13 points and six assists at Phoenix on March 2 and then followed it up with 12 points and 14 rebounds at Minnesota on March 5, marking his first career double-double and a career high in rebounds.

KEON JOHNSON CAREER HIGH: Keon Johnson matched his career high with 15 points (5-9 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 2-3 FT) to go with two rebounds and five assists at Minnesota on March 5. The rookie's three three-pointers doubled his previous total for the season.

HOME IS WHERE THE HART IS: Josh Hart is averaging 14.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists since joining Portland, up from 13.4 points and 4.1 assists prior to being traded. In eight games, Hart has led the Blazers in minutes and steals three times, assists twice, rebounds and blocks once.

Game #65 - Utah 123, Portland 85 — March 9, 2022, Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

Portland fell behind early after a 33-15 first quarter and was not able to battle back, falling to Utah 123-85 in Salt Lake City ... Trendon Watford had a career night, scoring a career-high 22 points (6-14 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 9-9 FT) with three rebounds and a block off the bench ... Keon Johnson added 15 points (6-13 FG, 3-6 3-PT) with five assists and a steal ... CJ Elleby contribued 10 points (3-6 FG, 2-2 3-PT, 2-2 FT) with four rebounds and two assists ... Brandon Williams scored nine points (3-13 FG, 0-3 3-PT, 3-5 FT) with six rebounds and an assist ... Josh Hart added five points (2-11 FG, 0-6 3-PT, 1-2 FT) with six rebounds, three assists and a steal ... Drew Eubanks grabbed seven boards and a steal to go with four points (2-7 FG) ... Keljin Blevins dropped seven points (2-5 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 2-2 FT), one board and three assists ... Bojan Bogdanovic led the Jazz with 27 points and four boards while Donovan Mitchell added 16.

Game #64 - Minnesota 124, Portland 81 — March 7, 2022, Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Portland fell down early to Minnesota and could not bounce back, falling 124-81 in Minneapolis ... Undrafted rookie Brandon Williams continued his hot streak, setting new career highs with 27 points (7-18 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 11-16 FT) eight rebounds and four steals, he also added two assists and a block in a game-high 34 minutes ... Keon Johnson added 14 points (3-14 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 7-7 FT) off the bench along with seven boards, one assist and one steal ... Trendon Watford scored a career-high 11 points with seven rebounds, three assists and a block ... Keljin Blevins also set a career-high with 11 points, along with a rebound ... Josh Hart added six points with five rebounds, four assists and a steal ... CJ Elleby contributed five points, three boards and a block ... Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 27 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal ... The Minnesota bench added 60 points.

Game #63 - Minnesota 135, Portland 121 — March 5, 2022, Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Trail Blazers led the Timberwolves at halftime, 64-63, but could not recover from a 46-point third quarter by Minnesota, falling at Target Center, 135-121 ... Anfernee Simons led Portland with 38 points (11-25 FG, 9-17 3-PT, 7-7 FT), three rebounds and three assists ... It was the second-highest scoring game of Simons' career and his nine three-pointers matched his career high ... Brandon Williams scored a career-high 21 points off the bench on 9-of-14 shooting (2-5 3-PT, 1-1 FT) ... Trendon Watford recorded his first career double-double, finishing with 12 points (11-25 FG, 9-17 3-PT, 7-7 FT) and a career-high 14 rebounds to go with four assists and one block ... Keon Johnson matched his career-high in scoring with 15 points (5-9 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 2-3 FT) and had a career-best five assists ... Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 36 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Game #62 - Phoenix 120, Portland 90 — March 2, 2022, Moda Center, Portland, Oregon

Portland fell to Phoenix 120-90 on the road ... Drew Eubanks led the scoring effort for the Trail Blazers starting unit, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds and a steal ... Brandon Williams added 14 points off the bench, along with three boards and an assist ... Anfernee Simons contributed 11 points with six assists and a steal ... CJ Elleby scored 10 points with four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block ... Josh Hart dropped 10 points with four rebounds, four assists and two steals ... Trendon Watford added 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a block ... Elijah Hughes earned his first start as a Trail Blazer and finished with three points in 23 minutes of action ... Ben McLemore added eight points with two rebounds, one assist and two steals ... Deandre Ayton scored 18 points with eight boards while Cameron Johnson scored 20 points off the bench.

Game #61 - Denver 124, Portland 92 — February 27, 2022, Moda Center, Portland, Oregon

Portland lost to Denver 124-92 at Moda Center ... Drew Eubanks recorded a double-double in his second game as a Trail Blazer, scoring 13 points (6-9 FG, 1-2 FT) with 10 rebounds and two assists ... Anfernee Simons scored 16 points (5-18 FG, 1-9 3-PT, 5-7 FT) with two rebounds and four assists ... Josh Hart contributed 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals ... Keon Johnson appeared in his first game as a Trail Blazer, scoring four points with four rebounds, one assist and two steals ... Brandon Williams contributed a dozen points off the bench with seven assists as well ... CJ Elleby scored eight points with five rebounds, three steals and two blocks ... Greg Brown III added nine points, five rebounds, one assist and three steals off the bench ... JaMychal Green led Denver with 20 points and 10 rebounds off the bench ... Nikola Jokic added eight points and 18 boards.

For the Trail Blazers, Eric Bledsoe (left Achilles; tendinopathy), Joe Ingles (left knee recovery), Damian Lillard (core muscle recovery), Nassir Little (left shoulder recovery), Didi Louzada (left knee recovery), Jusuf Nurkic (left foot; plantar fasciitis), Anfernee Simons (left knee; patellar tendinopathy) and Justise Winslow (right Achilles; soreness) are out for Saturday’s game against Washington.

The Wizards, playing on the second game of a back-to-back, have yet to release an injury report for tonight’s game.

Saturday’s game can be seen locally on ROOT SPORTS Plus with Kevin Calabro, Lamar Hurd and Brooke Olzendam calling the action. ROOT SPORTS Plus is free for all ROOT SPORTS subscribers, varying by provider. Visit trailblazers.com/watch for more information. On the radio side, Travis Demers, Michael Holton and Jay Allen will have the call on Rip City Radio 620 AM and on all of the stations of the Deschutes Brewery Trail Blazers Radio Network.

In alignment with the recent announcement from Oregon Governor Kate Brown, the Rose Quarter will remove the mask mandate for all events and venues beginning on Saturday, March 12. The Oregon Health Authority still recommends masking for people at higher risk from COVID-19, including unvaccinated people and immunocompromised people. Masks are encouraged while on the Rose Quarter campus and attending events.

Click here for more information on Moda Center’s health and safety protocols.