This Wednesday, the (10-7) Portland Trail blazers will travel to Cleveland, OH to take on the (11-6) Cleveland Cavaliers. Tipoff will be at 7:00 PM EST inside the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The Trail blazers are coming into this game riding a three-game losing streak, while the Cavaliers have now won three in a row.
The Portland Trail blazers are entering this game after falling to the Milwaukee Bucks, 119-111. The Blazers struggled on the defensive end of the floor in that game, as they will have to contest more shots in the paint if they want to challenge the Cavs on the road.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are entering this matchup after taking down the Atlanta Hawks, 114-102. The Cavs had it rolling on the offensive end of the floor, as they shot 60% from the field. They will have to stay hot in this one if they want to dominate the Trail blazers at home.
This game was writt en/published before last night's results.
The Portland Trail blazers are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference standings, as they are only one game back from the first-place Utah Jazz. On offense, they are scoring 109.9 points per game and they have shot 46.7% from the floor. This is the 21st most points scored per game, but the 17th-highest team shooting percentage. According to dunskandthrees.com, the Blazers have an adjusted offensive rating of 112.2, which is the 13th-highest rating in the league. Anfernee Simons continues to lead the way for Portland, as he is scoring 22.9 points per game on 42.5% shooting from the field. Damian Lillard is currently out with a calf strain. He will not be back on the court until early December. The Trail blazers are also shooting 37.8% from deep, which is the seventh-highest three-point shooting percentage in the NBA. Unfortunately, they have continued to struggle at the free-throw line. They have only made 77% of their looks from the charity stripe, as this is the 22nd-lowest free-throw shooting percentage in the NBA.
On defense, the Blazers have continued to lock up their opponents. According to dunksandthrees.com, the Blazers have an adjusted defensive rating of 110, which is the eighth lowest rating in the league. They are also surrendering 108.9 points per game and their opponents have only shot 46.5% from the floor. This is the seventh least amount of points given up per game, but the 17th-highest shooting percentage surrendered from the field. Portland has also shown that they will continue to contest shots near the rim and on the outside. They are only allowing their opponents to shoot 35.1% from three, which is the 10th-lowest three-point shooting percentage surrendered in the league. They have struggled to consistently rebound, though. Portland is only averaging 43.1 boards per game, which is the 20th most in the NBA.
Injury Report: Damian Lillard PG (C alf), Gary Payton II SG (Abdominal), and Keon Johnson SG (Hip) are all listed as out.
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