Having endured seven straight street setbacks, the Portland Trail Blazers are absolutely salivating at their upcoming schedule.
Portland begins a stretch through which it performs 10 of 11 video games at dwelling on Tuesday night time when it entertains the Orlando Magic.
A Jan. 17 sport on the Denver Nuggets marks the lone time the Trail Blazers might be away from dwelling the remainder of this month.
Yet Josh Hart wasn’t too within the location of video games after Sunday’s 117-105 loss to the host Toronto Raptors.
“We’ve got to play better,” Hart stated afterward. “The arena doesn’t matter. We’ve got to play better.”
Hart has some extent: Portland dedicated 60 turnovers — a mean of 20 per sport — throughout a 0-3 street journey that additionally included losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers.
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was extremely dissatisfied after the membership’s season-worst 24 turnovers in opposition to the Raptors.
“Those turnovers hurt us, man, just hurt us,” Billups stated. “It continues to be our Achilles heel. So, just got to keep working at it.”
Overall, Portland has misplaced seven of its final 9 video games and has dropped beneath .500 for the primary time this season at 19-20.
Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard scored 34 factors in opposition to Toronto, the third time he has reached that output up to now seven video games. However, he has scored lower than 20 thrice throughout the span.
His exterior taking pictures contact has been off throughout the stretch. Lillard has made simply 18 of 66, a meager 27.3 %.
Lillard was sidelined with a season-ending stomach damage when the Magic recorded a 113-95 dwelling win over the Trail Blazers on Feb. 8. That halted Orlando’s 10-game shedding streak in opposition to Portland.
The Magic have misplaced 5 of their final seven general video games after being routed 136-111 by the Sacramento Kings on Monday night time. The Kings made a franchise-record 23 3-pointers and took benefit of an Orlando protection that allowed 107 factors over the primary three quarters.
“You have to give them credit, they came out and kicked our tails,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley stated.
Orlando is 1-1 on a five-game street journey, having delivered a 115-101 win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday to open the tour.
While the Magic stand 15-26 on the season’s halfway level, the nice facet of the equation is that they have gained 10 of 16 video games since a porous 5-20 begin.
The enchancment has Mosley optimistic in regards to the second half of the season.
“We have a group of guys that are resilient, they want to continue to grow and continue to learn and play and work for one another,” Mosley stated.
Standout rookie Paolo Banchero scored 17 factors in opposition to Sacramento to see a stretch of 4 straight 20-point efforts conclude. Banchero’s scorching streak included a 30-point efficiency and two 25-point outings.
Franz Wagner had topped 20 in three straight video games earlier than having 16 versus the Kings.
Markelle Fultz was 8-of-10 taking pictures and scored 16 factors — his second sport with 16.
Magic ahead Bol Bol cleared well being and security protocols and is slated to hitch the workforce in Portland. He has missed the previous 4 video games.
Trail Blazers ahead Justise Winslow (ankle) will miss his eighth straight contest.
