Portland faces Denver following Lillard's 51-point outing

Posted February 03, 2020 6:00 am

By The Associated Press

Portland Trail Blazers (23-27, ninth in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (34-16, third in the Western Conference)

Denver; Tuesday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Portland visits the Denver Nuggets after Damian Lillard scored 51 points in the Trail Blazers' 124-107 win over the Jazz.

The Nuggets are 21-8 in Western Conference games. Denver is 32-11 in games when scoring more than 100 points.

The Trail Blazers are 4-6 against Northwest Division opponents. Portland ranks eighth in the league with 46 rebounds per game led by Hassan Whiteside averaging 14.1.

The two teams square off for the third time this season. The Nuggets defeated the Trail Blazers 114-99 in their last meeting on Dec. 12. Jerami Grant led Denver with 20 points, and Whiteside paced Portland scoring 33 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nikola Jokic is scoring 20.2 points per game and averaging 10.0 rebounds for the Nuggets. Will Barton has averaged 16.8 points and collected 5.2 rebounds while shooting 43.4 percent over the last 10 games for Denver.

Lillard leads the Trail Blazers averaging 29.8 points and is adding 4.4 rebounds. Whiteside has averaged 16.6 points and 14.5 rebounds while shooting 64.5 percent over the last 10 games for Portland.

LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 6-4, averaging 113.5 points, 47.5 rebounds, 26.5 assists, 9.7 steals and 5.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.4 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 113 points on 47.4 percent shooting.

Trail Blazers: 7-3, averaging 121.9 points, 46.7 rebounds, 22.1 assists, 5.3 steals and 6.4 blocks per game while shooting 49.1 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 118.2 points on 45.6 percent shooting.

INJURIES: Nuggets: Mason Plumlee: out (foot), Bol Bol: out (foot), Michael Porter Jr.: day to day (right ankle), Jamal Murray: out (ankle), Paul Millsap: out (left knee contusion).

Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic: out (leg fracture), Skal Labissiere: out (knee), Zach Collins: out (shoulder), 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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