WHO: Brooklyn Nets (38-36) at Portland Trail Blazers (45-27) WHAT: The Nets are back in 6th in the East with a big win this weekend over the Lakers; tonight they take on Damian Lillard, who is playing as well as anyone these days, and looking to get to .500 on this 7-game road trip. WHERE: Moda Center, Portland, OR WHEN: 10:00 p.m. EST HOW: YES, NBCSNW; NBA TV; NBA League Pass THE STORY: Game Preview The last time we saw the Blazers, Jusuf Nurkic and Enes Kanter destroyed the Nets frontline, combining for 46 points and 21 rebounds. If Enes Kanter could play every game against the Nets he’d be a hall of famer. My guy is averaging 21.2 points and 12 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game during his four matchups with Brooklyn this season. A backup center should not scare me this much. And to make it worse, the Bosnian Beast starts in front of him. Both are bona fide Net Killers and if they can’t be neutralized there’s a good chance Brooklyn will be going home with an L in this one. I mean, the Nets allowed JaVale McGee to put up 33 and 20 against them, gotta be better than that. For more on the Blazers check out Blazers Edge:<doc-sep>The Portland Trail Blazers have an opportunity to clinch a spot in the 2019 NBA Playoffs and finish a four-game homestand undefeated when they host the Brooklyn Nets Monday night at the Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. SERIES NOTES ALL TIME: Trail Blazers lead, 63-24 IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 36-7 AT THE NETS: Trail Blazers lead, 27-17 LAST PORTLAND WIN: 113-91, 2/21/19 (Brooklyn) LAST NETS WIN: 101-97, 11/10/17 (Portland) CURRENT WIN STREAK: Two (Portland) GAME NOTES • Monday’s game is the second and final meeting between the Trail Blazers and the Nets during the 2018-19 season. Portland leads the season series, 1-0. • LAST MEETING: The Trail Blazers outscored the Nets in the paint, 66-50, and outrebounded them, 60-49, in a 113-99 victory in Brooklyn on Feb. 21. Jusuf Nurkic led the Trail Blazers with 27 points (10-15 FG, 7-8 FT), 12 rebounds and three blocks while Allen Crabbe scored 17 points (7-13 FG, 3-8 3-PT) off the bench to lead the Nets. • CRASHING THE GLASS: The Trail Blazers rank fifth in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game for the season (11.5) while the Nets are 11th (10.7). The Trail Blazers rank fourth in second chance points (14.5) while Brooklyn is 11th (13.6). • Playing in his first game for the Trail Blazers, Enes Kanter had 18 points (8-9 FG, 2-2 FT) and nine rebounds against Brooklyn on Feb. 21. In four total games against the Nets this season, Kanter has averaged 21.3 points and 12.0 rebounds. • Damian Lillard logged 13 points (5-21 FG, 2-9 3-PT, 1-1 FT), eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals against the Nets on Feb. 21. In his last eight games against Brooklyn, Lillard has scored at least 33 points four times. • Jusuf Nurkic has scored 20-plus points in three straight games against Brooklyn, averaging 25.7 points and 10.7 rebounds in those contests. • Al-Farouq Aminu had a double-double of 11 points (4-6 FG, 3-4 3-PT) and 10 rebounds at Brooklyn on Feb. 21. • D’Angelo Russell recorded 14 points (4-16 FG, 2-9 3-PT, 4-6 FT), four rebounds and eight assists against the Trail Blazers on Feb. 21. He has scored at least 21 points in four of his last six games against Portland, averaging 18.2 points and 4.8 assists in that span. • Ed Davis had 15 points (6-7 FG, 3-3 FT), 10 rebounds and one assist against the Trail Blazers on Feb. 21. • CONNECTION: Brooklyn guards Allen Crabbe (2013-17) and Shabazz Napier (2016-18) and Brooklyn center Ed Davis (2015-18) all spent multiple seasons with the Trail Blazers. • CONNECTION: Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic and Nets guard Dzanan Musa played together for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification in September of 2018. INJURY NOTES Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum will miss his fourth game with a popliteus strain in his left knee. For the Nets, Allen Crabbe (right knee), Dzanan Musa (G League), Theo Pinson (G League) and Alan Williams (G League) are out. BROADCAST NOTES Monday's game can be seen locally on NBC Sports Northwest with Kevin Calabro, Lamar Hurd and Brooke Olzendam. NBC Sports Northwest also streams 76 live games during the 2018-19 Trail Blazers season. Brian Wheeler and Michael Holton will have the call on Rip City Radio 620 AM and on all of the stations on the Trail Blazers Radio Network.<doc-sep>The Brooklyn Nets came up short in two overtimes in Portland on Monday night, dropping a 148-144 final to the Trail Blazers. The Nets held a 10-point fourth-quarter lead before the Blazers inched back and tied the game with 3.5 seconds remaining. D'Angelo Russell forced a second extra period with his basket with 8.8 seconds to go in the first overtime, but the Blazers scored the first seven points of the second overtime to take a 139-132 lead with less than a minute remaining. Brooklyn made it a single-possession game on a Joe Harris 3-pointer that cut it to 143-140 with 36.2 seconds remaining, but the Blazers connected on their free throws to close the game out. Russell led the Nets with 39 points — his third 30-point game in Brooklyn's last four — plus nine rebounds and eight assists. Dinwiddie had 22 points, DeMarre Carroll had 18 and Caris LeVert scored 16 with seven assists. Jared Dudley scored 15 points, Harris had 13 points and eight rebounds, Jarrett Allen scored 10 with eight rebounds and Ed Davis grabbed 14 rebounds in his return to Portland. The Nets went into halftime tied with the Blazers at 62 after a nip-and-tuck second quarter. Portland had the biggest surge of the first half with a 15-2 run in the first quarter that took the Blazers from a six-point deficit to a 25-18 lead and ultimately a 31-27 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The Blazers had their biggest lead of the second quarter at 33-27 after Zach Collins scored in the paint 30 seconds into the quarter. But Dudley followed with a four-point play for the Nets, who soon after had the game tied at 35. That was the first of four ties in the second quarter. The Nets went up 60-59 on a Dinwiddie 3-pointer with 42.9 seconds to go in the quarter, but Seth Curry matched it for Portland. Two LeVert free throws with 20.8 seconds remaining tied the game at 62. By the middle of the third quarter, the game had seen 10 lead changes and eight ties. With an 8-2 run, the Blazers matched their biggest lead of the game to that point, 95-88. Davis closed the quarter with two free throws to make it a 95-90 game going into the fourth. That was the start of an 8-0 run that carried into the fourth and was capped by two Dinwiddie baskets to wipe out the deficit. Dinwiddie ended up scoring eight points in the first five minutes of the quarter as the Nets turned a five-point deficit into a six-point lead with seven minutes to go. But Brooklyn wasn't done there. After Enes Kanter scored for Portland, the Nets rattled off another six in a row from Davis, Russell and LeVert, extending it to a 22-7 quarter-opening run and going up 112-102 midway through the quarter. Portland chipped away at that lead, closing within a point on two Damian Lillard free throws with 1:13 remaining. The Nets were up 120-117 after Allena and Russell each made 1-of-2 from the line. A Lillard drive got the Blazers within 120-119, and after a Russell turnover Curry made 1-of-2 from the line with 3.5 seconds to go to send the game to overtime. In the first overtime, Dinwiddie's 3-pointer tied the game at 128 with 1:29 to go and the Nets and Blazers traded scores from there, with Russell's drive knotting the score again at 132 with 8.8 seconds to go. UP NEXT The Nets wrap up their seven-game road trip in Philadelphia on Thursday. They'll be back in Brooklyn on Saturday to host the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center.<doc-sep>
Two teams fighting for playoff positioning will go head-to-head when the Portland Trail Blazers host the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. Entering the evening, the Nets sit at sixth in the East while the Blazers are fourth in the West, but both hold slim leads over the teams immediately behind them in the standings. The game between the two teams is the second - and final - of the season, as the Blazers pulled out a 113-99 victory over the Nets in Brooklyn back in February. How to watch Nets at Blazers Date: Monday, March 25 Monday, March 25 Time: 10:00 p.m. ET 10:00 p.m. ET Location: Moda Center -- Portland, Oregon Moda Center -- Portland, Oregon TV: NBA TV NBA TV Streaming: fuboTV (try it free) fuboTV (try it free) Live stats: GameTracker GameTracker Odds: Blazers -6.5 Odds and analysis Check Sportsline's NBA pick sheet for all your daily odds. Storylines Nets: Every game for the Nets counts at this point in the season, as they are in a fight for position with several other teams in the East. Though the sit sixth currently, with a couple of losses in a row they could find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. It's urgency time for Brooklyn. Blazers: The Blazers aren't in danger of dropping out of the playoff picture in the West, but things are so tight that every game is important for seeding, especially if they want to have homecourt advantage in the first round. Game prediction, pick The Blazers are the best bet in this one, as they are a great team within the friendly confines of the Moda Center (28-9 on the season). The Nets, on the other hand, are a below .500 (17-20) road team, which doesn't bode well for them in Portland.