Two of the hottest teams in the NBA will fight for a fifth straight victory when the Portland Trail Blazers host the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
Portland (32-39) is making a late bid for a play-in berth after pulling to within two games of the 10th-place Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference entering Saturday.
The Trail Blazers’ four-game winning streak at home was capped by a 128-109 win over the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
Deni Avdija starred with 36 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, two days after notching 31 points, 16 boards and eight assists in a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“He’s been incredible,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “We’re all learning more about one another the whole time, and I think Deni is learning a lot about Deni at the moment. The way that we’re playing, and the pace we’re play at, it suits him. I always say the people that play with the most force do well in this league. And he plays with a ton of force.”
While Avdija has been an offensive force of late, Billups is enjoying what he sees in the small forward’s overall game.
“I just like everything else he’s doing, his playmaking is getting better — he actually cares about playmaking — his rebounding, we severely need that,” Billups said. “He’s learning about his guys, and they’re learning (about) him.
“Deni is playing at a very high level … I’m almost certain he’s never had a stretch like this.”
With Portland severely undermanned against Denver — missing Anfernee Simons (illness), Deandre Ayton (calf), Jerami Grant (knee), Donovan Clingan (illness) and Jabari Walker (concussion) — Avdija stepped up brilliantly.
“We were down a lot of people, but I’m very happy and very proud of how we played,” Avdija said. “Next man up, a lot of guys showed up, everybody competed, everybody gave their heart out, and I’m proud of the guys.”
Boston will be without four-time All-Star Jaylen Brown for the second consecutive game due to a bone bruise and posterior impingement in his right knee.
Brown’s 22.8 scoring average ranks second for the defending champions, behind Jayson Tatum’s 27.1 points per game.
The Celtics (51-19) have all but sealed up a top-two spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but they are showing no signs of letting up with nine wins over their past 10 outings.
“I just appreciate their mindset,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said of his players. “At the end of the day we’ve got to win and we’ve got to do it the right way.
“We’ve got to do it through process.”
Kristaps Porzingis scored 27 points as the Celtics kicked off their six-game western swing with a comfortable 121-99 win over the Utah Jazz on Friday.
The Latvian center paid tribute to Mazzulla’s motivational methods, with the playoffs almost in sight.
“It’s Joe’s job to get us going for these games, and he’s doing a good job,” said Porzingis, Boston’s third-leading scorer this season (19.5 points per game). “He’s encouraging us to take it as a challenge, each of these games … we just have to maintain our level of basketball, and on top of that, be ready for teams throwing different stuff at us.
“Joe is on top of that.”
–Field Level Media
