Memphis @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 27, 2017 ) Memphis 109, Portland 112

Damian Lillard is on a scoring spree and the Portland star looks to top 30 points for the fifth straight game when the Trail Blazers host the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. Lillard is averaging 34.3 points during his run, and tallied 36 points in Portland's 103-99 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

Lillard also recorded a season-best 13 assists against Oklahoma City as he outplayed reigning MVP Russell Westbrook. "I go into every game with the same attitude, but obviously when you're playing against a former MVP, you want to embrace that challenge," Lillard said after the performance. "You know that if you don't, he's going to take your lunch. If I don't step up, how's my team going to step up?" Memphis limps into the Pacific Northwest after suffering a dreadful 107-102 road loss against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. "We just waited too long to have that sense of urgency to win the game," Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley said afterwards. "We have to be better, especially on the second game of a back-to-back against a young team. We didn't start the way we wanted to. It's very tough. You can't spot anybody in this league points. People are too talented. Teams are too good. Unfortunately, we just didn't have what it took early on."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Memphis), NBCS Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (6-4): Conley topped 20 points in back-to-back games in Los Angeles - 22 in a win over the Clippers before 23 versus the Lakers -- and has seen mixed results from a roster in transition. "I have been pleased with our effort. I think our team is learning," Conley said. "We still have a very long way to go, we have a lot of young guys who are learning the game. We are trying to do our best to bring everybody up to speed but we are going to have nights where we don't seem to have everything going for us." One newcomer who is thriving is veteran guard Tyreke Evans, who has posted three straight 20-point outings and is averaging 26 points on 59.2 percent shooting during the hot stretch.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (6-4): Lillard (27.1) and shooting guard CJ McCollum (22.1) are both averaging over 20 points per game and Portland is also receiving solid offensive play from center Jusuf Nurkic. The 7-footer is averaging 16 points and 7.8 rebounds and played especially well over the past three games while averaging 24 points, eight rebounds and 3.3 assists and shooting 60.4 percent from the field. Valuable power forward Al-Farouq Aminu is expected to miss two more weeks with an ankle injury so the Trail Blazers are looking for players like Ed Davis (6.8 points, 8.3 rebounds), Noah Vonleh (2.0 points, 3.7 rebounds) and rookie Caleb Swanigan (3.6 points, 3.4 rebounds) to step up their contributions.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Trail Blazers went 2-1 against the Grizzlies last season behind McCollum, who averaged 26.3 points and shot 57.4 percent from the field.

2. Memphis C Marc Gasol had 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Lakers for his fifth double-double of the season.

3. Portland swingman Evan Turner is averaging just 4.8 points on 9-of-26 shooting over the past four games.

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 113, Grizzlies 109