Oklahoma City @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 30, 2019 ) Portland 102, Oklahoma City 99

The Portland Trail Blazers have played more road games (13) than anybody in the league by a pretty good margin, and they can finally set their sights on a solid stretch of home affairs beginning Wednesday against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blazers capped a 2-4 road trip with a 117-94 victory at Chicago on Monday and they hope the rout can be a springboard to improved play at home, where they are just 1-4.

Carmelo Anthony had his best game since signing with Portland by producing 25 points as the team posted its most lopsided win of the season. "Vintage," Blazers guard CJ McCollum told reporters of Anthony's performance. "We pulled out some old, good wine in there. Getting to his spots, hitting 3s, he got a dunk and he was talking like he always does on defense." One of Portland's many road games resulted in a win at Oklahoma City on Oct. 30. The Thunder opened their current two-game road trip with a 100-97 victory at Golden State on Monday.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Oklahoma, NBC Sports Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE THUNDER (6-10): Dennis Schroder led a balanced attack with 22 points in Monday's victory as Oklahoma City picked up its first road victory in seven tries. "Nice. I didn't even know this was our first road win," point guard Chris Paul, who capped a 20-point effort with a basket in the final minute, told reporters. "That's sickening. That was crazy. ... We'll take it, keep on moving." Center Nerlens Noel chipped in nine points, five rebounds and five blocked shots after missing the previous game with an illness.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (6-12): McCollum scored 21 points at Chicago and Damian Lillard had 13 and 12 assists as they enjoyed the team's most complete effort of the season. "I think it was just a fun game," Lillard told reporters. "We did a lot of things well. They are a good offensive rebounding team, and we limited that. We got deflections, we communicated. We just had great energy on both ends of the floor." Anthony is averaging 16 points and 5.3 rebounds in four games since joining the team.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Thunder C Steven Adams is 13-for-16 from the floor over the last two games.

2. Blazers C Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 12 rebounds in 22 minutes Monday after missing the previous two games with a hip issue.

3. Oklahoma City won its last two games at Portland in the regular season but lost all three visits during the first round of the playoffs in the spring.

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 113, Thunder 104