Last week: Lost at Clippers 117-97 Tuesday, beat Sacramento 127-116 Wednesday, lost to Lakers 136-113 Friday
This week: Sunday vs. Oklahoma City, Tuesday vs. New York, Thursday at Denver
If it weren’t for those two franchises from the City of Angels, the Portland Trail Blazers could have had a pretty good week last week. But their win over the Kings was cancelled out by a blowout loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles on Tuesday and taking more lopsided lumps Friday against the Lakers at home.
CJ McCollum led the way against Sacramento on Wednesday with 33 points and four blocked shots, but it was Hassan Whiteside who had himself a week despite the team’s 1-2 record. Whiteside averaged 19.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 blocks in 30.3 minutes per game, shooting 70.6 percent. He is seventh in the NBA in that category at 60.3 percent.
Last week: Won at New Orleans 107-104 Sunday, lost to Indiana 107-100 Wednesday, beat Minnesota 139-127 (OT) Friday
This week: Sunday at Portland, Monday at Utah, Wednesday at Sacramento, Saturday at Denver
The Oklahoma City Thunder have quietly won four of their last six games, including a 2-1 week last week, but face a tough four-game road trip this week, with games against the franchise’s nemesis, Damian Lillard, in Portland as well as stops in Utah and Denver.
Chris Paul had a turn-back-the-clock game against the Timberwolves Friday, scoring a season-high 30 points in the overtime win. For the week, Steven Adams showed signs of snapping out of his funk, averaging 19.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in 31.0 minutes per game, shooting 82.1 percent overall and going 13-for-18 at the line to get over the 50 percent mark for the year.