Deni Avdija, Trail Blazers intent on not overlooking Pacers
Looking to stay in the hunt for a top-eight seed in the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers will try for back-to-back wins for the first time in over five weeks when they face the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
Portland, currently the No. 10 seed, trails the No. 9 Golden State Warriors by a half-game and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers by 1 1/2 games.
The play-in tournament will comprise the Nos. 7-10 seeds. To advance, Nos. 7 and 8 will have two chances to win one game, while Nos. 9 and 10 must win twice.
The Trail Blazers, who posted a 114-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, haven't won consecutive games since a three-game stretch from Feb. 6-9.
Interim head coach Tiago Splitter still is trying to establish the right habits with his inconsistent group. That was evident on Monday, when Portland saw its 31-point lead shrink to 15 after a 16-0 run by Brooklyn.
"Sometimes it's natural to relax a little bit, but we cannot do it," Splitter said. "We've got to take every possession serious, and those things cannot happen.
"Overall, I think we did a lot of things well. We took care of the ball for most of the game and then the last quarter we had some relaxed moments and threw the ball around. We've got to be mentally prepared for 48 minutes."
After a stretch without both of their leading scorers, the Trail Blazers have enjoyed the return of Deni Avdija (averaging 24 points per game), who has played in five games since missing seven straight contests with a back injury. Avdija, a first-time All-Star, is carrying the load with Shaedon Sharpe (21.4 ppg) out with a strained left calf.
"I think the most important thing is for us to play together, have fun out there, and win games," Avdija said. "We're just going to continue to play hard and try to get a winning streak going."
Jerami Grant averages 18.7 points per game, followed by Jrue Holiday's 16.3.
Indiana, meanwhile, is trying to snap the longest losing streak in franchise history.
Less than a year since taking the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the NBA Finals, the Pacers dropped their 14th straight outing on Tuesday in a 136-110 loss to the New York Knicks. Indiana, owners of the league's worst record (15-54), is in the midst of its second losing streak of at least 13 games this season.
"This is a very difficult stretch of games right now," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's five games in seven days, all against playoff teams and teams that are fighting for the play-in. It's an opportunity to work on our game and obviously the basics."
With 13 games remaining, Indiana is striving to take away some positives from a forgettable season. One of those is the return of Obi Toppin, who has appeared in nine games since missing four months with a fractured right foot.
Toppin scored 15 points off the bench in a minute-restricted outing on Tuesday.
"(Toppin) is getting more comfortable. I played him six seconds over his allotment tonight," Carlisle said. "It's hard coming back after 3 1/2 months. It's arduous. It's a slow-moving process."
Indiana leading scorer Pascal Siakam (24.0 ppg) has missed five straight games with a right knee sprain. He is questionable to return on Wednesday.