Portland @ Oklahoma City preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 8, 2019 ) Oklahoma City 108, Portland 96

The Portland Trail Blazers will likely be without shooting guard CJ McCollum when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. McCollum departed Friday's 120-112 loss to the Dallas Mavericks with a sprained left ankle and coach Terry Stotts said afterward that he was still waiting to learn the severity.

McCollum was injured in the second quarter when he landed on the foot of Dallas forward Maxi Kleber and told reporters afterward that the next day is usually the worst after an ankle sprain. He left the arena without crutches but had the ankle wrapped so it would rank as no surprise if he does sit out the second side of a road back-to-back. Portland had a two-game winning streak halted Friday, while Oklahoma City went down 115-108 to the visiting Miami Heat for its third loss in four games. The Thunder trailed by as many as 22 points against the Heat after having game-high deficits of 32 to the Los Angeles Lakers last Saturday and 30 to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS Northwest, FS Oklahoma

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (18-25): McCollum's injury comes right as Portland was showing signs of emerging from a subpar first half and Stotts has been impressed with the fortitude his club has shown as other players such as Rodney Hood (Achilles) and Zach Collins (shoulder) went down. "It doesn't surprise me," Stotts said after the loss to Dallas. "We have a lot of fight and guys are competitive. They are pro basketball players, you kind of expect that." Star guard Damian Lillard almost was a scratch due to an upper respiratory illness but played and had 34 points and 10 assists for his eighth double-double of the season.

ABOUT THE THUNDER (23-19): Miami scored 40 first-quarter points and dictated play throughout the contest and that was hard for veteran point guard Chris Paul to swallow. "They were more physical," Paul told reporters. "They cut harder. They just beat us from the jump ball." Forward Danilo Gallinari continued his stellar shooting splurge by scoring 27 points for his fifth straight 20-point effort as well as making seven 3-pointers to stretch his franchise record of making three or more 3-pointers in a game to 12 straight contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Trail Blazers, who eliminated Oklahoma City from the playoffs last season on Lillard's famous 37-foot 3-pointer, are 2-1 against the Thunder this season after Oklahoma City swept the four regular-season meetings last season.

2. Oklahoma City C Steven Adams (knee) could miss his second straight contest, while F Abdel Nader (ankle) is slated to miss his third.

3. Portland F Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points against Dallas to become the 18th player in NBA history to reach 26,000 career points - his total is at 26,014.

PREDICTION: Thunder 110, Trail Blazers 106