Milwaukee Bucks: 3 things to watch for in visit to Portland Trail Blazers
By Adam McGee
Underachieving Trail Blazers
After an ugly start to the season, the Portland Trail Blazers have rallied somewhat, yet still find themselves well off the pace they would have expected to maintain this season in the Western Conference.
At 16-23, the Trail Blazers are currently just one game back of the eighth spot in the West, and may well be the favorites to clinch that spot in the longer run, given the top-end talent at their disposal.
That doesn’t change the fact that, just like the Bucks, the Trail Blazers were a beaten Conference Finalist just last season.
What’s followed since has represented a notable drop-off, with Jusuf Nurkic continuing to be a big miss for Portland as he remains sideline through injury.
Carmelo Anthony has offered some surprisingly strong contributions as a Blazer, though, while Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are capable of exploding for big games on any given night.
Looking ahead to this game with Milwaukee, Hassan Whiteside, currently listed as day-to-day could be key. If the Blazers are without their primary rim protector on Saturday, they could be in for a long night against the Bucks.