Winners in five of their last seven, the Portland Trail Blazers (21-18) begin a four-game trek through the Western Conference with a visit to the Oklahoma City Thunder (22-18) Tuesday night. The two sides met previously on November 5, with Portland claiming a 103-99 home victory.
Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkiu0107 combined for 83 points, 17 assists and 16 rebounds in the previous matchup with the Thunder two months ago. Lillard, however, will miss his seventh game out of nine and his second consecutive contest with a right calf strain. In Lillard’s absence, point guard Shabazz Napier has averaged 17.