Celtics at Trail Blazers
The Boston Celtics have not won a road game against a Western Conference team since the 2012-13 season, but the current road trip will give them five more chances. The Celtics will try to take advantage of a weary team when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. The Trail Blazers are losers of four of their last five games and are playing for the third time in four days after battling back from a 25-point deficit only to fall at Phoenix on Wednesday.
Portland was missing LaMarcus Aldridge (thumb) on Wednesday and the standout forward is day-to-day, leaving more shots for Nicolas Batum. The French forward responded with six 3-pointers and a season-high 27 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists, but it wasn’t enough as the Trail Blazers were outscored 13-3 down the stretch after taking a five-point lead over the Suns. Boston dropped the opener of its trip 102-93 at the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday as the starting five struggled.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN New England (Boston), KGW (Portland)
ABOUT THE CELTICS (13-26): Boston has dropped 24 road games in a row against Western Conference competition and are 4-13 on the road overall this season. The trip to Portland begins a stretch of five games in seven days covering more than 2,500 miles and provides a stiff test for the young team. “We’re going to change time zones a couple of times,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens told reporters. “We’re going to play against good teams. We’re going to play against high-energy teams. We’re going to have to make sure that we can do everything that we can to have the right amount of legs for that whole trip.”
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (31-12): Aldridge is unlikely to play Thursday and Portland could be dealing with some tired legs after Damian Lillard, Batum, Wesley Matthews and Dorell Wright — starting in place of Aldridge — all logged 35 minutes or more Wednesday. Batum totaled 20 points in the four previous games before going 9-of-15 from the field in the 118-113 loss to the Suns. “With LaMarcus out, we have to step up even more now,” Batum told reporters. “That’s what I tried to do; I tried to play my game.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lillard is 7-of-34 from 3-point range over the last four games.
2. Celtics G James Young (illness) has missed the last two games and is day-to-day.
3. Portland has taken four straight in the series, including a 94-88 win in Boston on Nov. 23.