Portland (20-44) at Cleveland (36-29) 7:30 pm EST
CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers have been struggling
offensively, but they will not be receiving any sympathy cards from
the Portland Trail Blazers.
The fading Cavaliers look to stay afloat in the Eastern
Conference playoff race Friday when they hook up with the
struggling Trail Blazers for the second time this season.
Cleveland endured a painful late-season collapse en route to
missing the playoffs last year and has rekindled some of those
memories of late.
The Cavaliers have dropped three straight games - averaging 84.0
points in that stretch - following Tuesday's 91-87 defeat vs.
Dallas in which they scored a season-low eight points in the
third quarter.
LeBron James collected 36 points and 12 rebounds and Zydrunas
Ilgauskas added 17 and 13 for Cleveland, which sits in
fourth-place in the standings, two games ahead of Washington.
The Cavaliers look to get their four-game road trip off to a
good start against a Trail Blazers team that is only 6-27 away
from home this season.
Portland managed a franchise record-low five points in the
fourth quarter in its ugly 78-65 loss to New Jersey on
Wednesday. Zach Randolph scored 24 points to lead the Trail
Blazers, who somehow managed to regress offensively from
Tuesday's 95-66 setback to Chicago.
The Blazers recorded an 89-87 triumph over the Cavaliers on
January 15 to snap a three-game losing streak in the series.