Oklahoma City faces Portland on 3-game home skid

Posted January 18, 2020 6:00 am

By The Associated Press

Portland Trail Blazers (18-25, 10th in the Western Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (23-19, seventh in the Western Conference)

Oklahoma City; Saturday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Oklahoma City looks to end its 3-game home slide with a win against Portland.

The Thunder are 16-12 in Western Conference games. Oklahoma City is 18-4 when winning the rebound battle and averages 43.2 rebounds per game.

The Trail Blazers have gone 10-17 against Western Conference opponents. Portland is last in the league recording 19.9 assists per game led by Damian Lillard averaging 7.6.

The teams meet for the fourth time this season. The Thunder won 108-96 in the last matchup on Dec. 8. Dennis Schroder led Oklahoma City with 21 points, and Lillard led Portland with 26 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Chris Paul is averaging 16.4 points and 5.0 rebounds for the Thunder. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 20.3 points and totaled 7.9 rebounds while shooting 51.6 percent over the last 10 games for Oklahoma City.

Hassan Whiteside leads the Trail Blazers with 14.1 rebounds and averages 15.7 points. Carmelo Anthony is shooting 49.9 percent and has averaged 17.5 points over the last 10 games for Portland.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 6-4, averaging 112.9 points, 45.5 rebounds, 22.8 assists, seven steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.3 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.9 points on 45.8 percent shooting.

Trail Blazers: 4-6, averaging 109 points, 44.9 rebounds, 20.5 assists, 5.7 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114 points on 45.0 percent shooting.

INJURIES: Thunder: Terrance Ferguson: day to day (illness), Andre Roberson: out (knee), Abdel Nader: day to day (ankle), Steven Adams: day to day (knee).

Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic: out (leg fracture), CJ McCollum: day to day (ankle), 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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