Atlanta @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 30, 2017 ) Portland 89, Atlanta 104

The Portland Trail Blazers did not have Damian Lillard last weekend when they suffered a surprising loss at Atlanta, but get a chance at revenge Friday when the struggling Hawks come to town with the All-Star guard back in the lineup. Lillard, who missed five games with a hamstring injury, returned Tuesday and scored 25 points - including six 3-pointers - in 33 minutes in a 127-110 loss at Cleveland.

“My conditioning was pretty good,” Lillard told the media after Tuesday’s game, citing he was not happy with committing seven turnovers. “My timing was a little bit off with some of my passes but everything else, I felt pretty good.” The Trail Blazers face an Atlanta team that not only has the NBA’s worst record, but owns one of the worst losses of the season in Tuesday’s 104-103 meltdown at Phoenix. The Hawks led by 10 points with 2 ½ minutes to go, only to trail by three with six seconds left before Dennis Schroder inexplicably drove for a layup with less than one second remaining. “I think we’ll learn from it,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters afterward. “There are lots of mental mistakes from all of us. We can get better.”

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

ABOUT THE HAWKS (10-27): Atlanta came into Phoenix riding its hottest streak of the season, having won three of its previous four games. Ersan Ilyasova led the Hawks with 21 points against the Suns, his third 20 point-plus outing in his past five games to raise his scoring average to 11.4 points per game. The Hawks have averaged 58.3 points in the second half in their past six games, scoring 30 points or more in the fourth quarter four times in that stretch.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (19-18): Despite losing five of its past eight games, Portland is tied with New Orleans for seventh place in the Western Conference. Lillard, who is tied for seventh in the NBA in scoring at 25.2 points per game entering Thursday, averaged 24 in two matchups against the Hawks last season. Jusuf Nurkic scored 23 points against Cleveland and is 15-for-25 from the field in his past two games after going 10-for-35 in the previous three contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Hawks rallied from 11 points down in the third quarter to beat the Blazers 104-89 in Atlanta last Saturday, as Schroder scored 18 of his 22 points after halftime.

2. The Trail Blazers are the only team in the NBA with a .500 or better overall record but a losing record at home (8-10).

3. Atlanta has forced 21 turnovers in each of its past two games and rank sixth in the NBA in steals per game (8.6).

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 112, Hawks 96