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Match Details
Brooklyn Nets (30-29) vs Portland Trail Blazers (34-23)
February 22nd 2019, 6:00am IST
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Head to Head (Regular Season):
Matches played: 86 games
Brooklyn Nets won: 24 games
Portland Trail Blazers won: 62 games
Last game played: Portland Trail Blazers beat the Brooklyn Nets, 127-125
Match Overview
The Brooklyn Nets take on the travelling Portland Trail Blazers at home at the Barclays Arena. The Brooklyn Nets have been a great team in the Eastern Conference this season, sitting pretty at the 6th spot and are with a 30-29 record. They have had a rough patch of late, losing 4 of their last 10 matches, but will be looking to keep themselves going against the Blazers.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been enjoying a great campaign this year and are at the 4th spot in the Western Conference. They have a 34-23 record this season, but have had a decent run of late, winning just 6 of their past 10 games. They will look to continue their stellar campaign with a win against the Nets.
In their last game, the Blazers won a great game against the leaders Golden State Warriors, 129-107. The Nets, on the other hand, also won their last game, playing a triple overtime match against the Cleveland Cavaliers, coming out on top 148-139.
Injury report
Brooklyn Nets: Point Guard Spencer Dinwiddie has been ruled out with a thumb injury, forward Rodions Kurucs is being monitored day to day after suffering an elbow injury. Forward Jared Dudley is also considered day to day with a hamstring injury.
Portland Trail Blazers: Have no injuries to report of as of now.
Players to watch out for
Brooklyn Nets: D'Angelo Russell:
The Brooklyn Nets have been absolutely amazing all season long. After a season-threatening injury to forward Caris LeVert, nobody expected the Nets to stay relevant this season, but D'Angelo Russell had other plans. He has been the unexpected leader of this franchise this season and that earned him his All-Star debut this season.
He has been averaging 20.3 points per game this season, along with 6.6 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game, all of which are career highs for the young Nets star. In the last game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he played a superb game, scoring 36 points, dishing out 8 assists and grabbing 7 rebounds as well. He will be one of the main guys in the Nets team and the Blazers need to stop him in order to get the win.
Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard
The Portland Trail Blazers did not make any moves in the off season this year and were expected to fail in a tough Western Conference. But they have been nothing short of brilliant all season, currently sitting in 4th spot with a 34-23 record, due to some amazing performances by their All-Star guard, Damian Lillard.
He has been superb this season, averaging a massive 26.3 points per game, along with 6.4 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game as well. In the last game, Lillard was superb against the Warriors, scoring 29 points in just 32 minutes, along with 8 assists, 3 rebounds and an efficient 60% shooting. The Nets need to stop him in order to have a chance of getting a win over the Blazers.
Predicted Starting Lineup
Brooklyn Nets: D'Angelo Russell (G), Caris LeVert (G), Joe Harris (F), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (F), Jarrett Allen (C)
Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard (G), CJ McCollum (G), Maurice Harkless (F), Al-Farouq Aminu (F), Jusuf Nurkic (C)
Match Prediction: Portland Trail Blazers to beat the Brooklyn Nets
This game will be a tough one to predict as both teams are coming off a win before the All-Star break and all their players have got a fair amount of rest. But given the talent on the Blazers team and with the playoffs coming up, the mindset of their star players in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum will be to get more wins in order to get home court advantage and will end up beating the Brooklyn Nets in this one.
