Portland faces New York, aims to halt 4-game skid

Posted December 31, 2019 6:00 am

By The Associated Press

Portland Trail Blazers (14-20, eighth in the Western Conference) vs. New York Knicks (9-24, 14th in the Eastern Conference)

New York; Wednesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Portland enters the matchup with New York as losers of four games in a row.

The Knicks have gone 4-12 at home. New York has a 3-12 record in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Trail Blazers are 6-11 on the road. Portland ranks fourth in the Western Conference shooting 36.6 percent from deep. Rodney Hood leads the Trail Blazers shooting 49.3 percent from 3-point range.

The Trail Blazers won the last matchup between these two squads 115-87 on Dec. 10. Damian Lillard scored 31 points to help lead Portland to the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Julius Randle leads the Knicks with 8.8 rebounds and averages 18.7 points. Marcus Morris Sr. has averaged 15.8 points and collected 4.6 rebounds while shooting 38.2 percent over the last 10 games for New York.

Lillard has shot 44.4 percent and is averaging 27.2 points for the Trail Blazers. CJ McCollum has averaged 23.3 points and four rebounds while shooting 48.5 percent over the last 10 games for Portland.

LAST 10 GAMES: Knicks: 5-5, averaging 109.4 points, 50.3 rebounds, 23.1 assists, 6.9 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 112.4 points on 43.8 percent shooting.

Trail Blazers: 5-5, averaging 112.3 points, 46.2 rebounds, 19 assists, 5.7 steals and 7.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.5 points on 44.6 percent shooting.

INJURIES: Knicks: Reggie Bullock: out (cervical disc herniation), Dennis Smith Jr.: day to day (oblique), Damyean Dotson: day to day (sore lower back).

Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic: out (leg fracture), Skal Labissiere: out (knee), Mario Hezonja: day to day (back), Zach Collins: out (left shoulder dislocation), Rodney Hood: out for season (leg).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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