Tanking is an issue for the NBA, but the Portland Trail Blazers are not guilty of jockeying for a better draft position.
Portland (35-36) has won three of four on its current road trip to move into eighth in the Western Conference entering Saturday, and can finish the trip 4-1 when it visits the Denver Nuggets (43-28) on Sunday.
The Blazers’ last win, 108-104 at Minnesota, allowed Denver to move into fifth in the tight Western Conference race. Portland is nearly locked into the play-in tournament, but where it would land is still in question. The Blazers are battling the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors for the eighth spot while Phoenix is securely in seventh.
“You know it’s getting really close to the play-in, so for sure we are paying attention to it, but honestly just trying to stay focused on ourselves. Keep driving, keep putting wins together,” Portland center Robert Williams III said.
The Blazers are led in scoring and assists by forward Deni Avdija, who is averaging 24.2 points and 6.6 assists per game. Avdija is one of eight Portland players scoring double figures, although Shaedon Sharpe, who averages 21.4 points a game, has been out for a month with a calf injury.
Avdija has played well against the Nuggets this season, averaging 19 points and 8.5 assists in the two games.
Sunday is the third of four meetings and the first in Denver. The teams split the first two games in Portland, with the Blazers pulling out a 109-107 win on Oct. 31 and the Nuggets prevailing by 44 points — 157-103 — on Feb. 20.
It was the most points the Blazers have allowed this season and the most Denver has scored in a game.
The Nuggets are coming off a hard-fought 121-115 win over Toronto on Friday night to continue their drive for a top-four seed in the West. Denver has tiebreakers over the Timberwolves and Houston but the red-hot Los Angeles Lakers are firmly in the third seed.
The Nuggets have a chance to make a run because eight of their last 11 games are at home, although they have struggled there. They are 20-13 on their court, but have won four of their last five there.
Denver is using the final weeks of the regular season to find a rhythm in its rotation. The opening-night starting five has not been together much after injuries hit in mid-November, and the chemistry has suffered in some games.
Nikola Jokic, despite averaging a triple double — 28.1 points, 12.6 rebounds, 10.5 assists — has struggled with different lineups. His turnover rate is up since returning from a knee injury in February — he is averaging 4.7 per game in March — and tied a career-high with 10 in a loss at Memphis on Wednesday night.
“He’s going to turn it over because of his usage rate,” head coach David Adelman said. “But the other guys, too, have to take it on themselves and get the ball up the floor, get us organized as well. And it’s not going to be perfect. There’s not always going to be Jamal Murray on the floor. Sometimes they take him away too. So it’s a team issue.”
Peyton Watson, who has not played since Feb. 4 due to a hamstring injury, may return to action against the Blazers. The 6-foot-8 guard, who averages 14.9 points per game, is listed as questionable.
