Los Angeles @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 18, 2018 ) Portland 122, L.A. Clippers 109

The Los Angeles Clippers are surging toward the top eight in the Western Conference with wins in three straight, but the schedule is not getting any easier down the stretch. The Clippers will try to push it to four in a row when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.

Los Angeles sits one game behind the eighth-place Utah Jazz in a tightly-packed group led by the Trail Blazers, who occupy the No. 3 spot. The Clippers used an 18-0 run in the fourth quarter to skip past the Phoenix Suns in a 111-99 win on Wednesday and spent the night watching the rest of the scores from around the league. "Of course everybody is caught into that right now," Los Angeles guard Austin Rivers told reporters. "I think teams that aren't even in the race are caught up in it right now because they just want to see. So, we're watching. We know who lost tonight. We know who won tonight. We're not caught up in it, but we're definitely keeping an eye on it." Portland is keeping an eye on it as well and is suddenly looking vulnerable with losses in three of the last five games, including a stunning 108-103 setback at the lowly Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), NBCS Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (41-34): Los Angeles only has one road game left on the schedule after Friday -- at Utah on Thursday -- but will play six of its final seven games against teams with winning records. "Every game is do-or-die for us," center DeAndre Jordan told the Los Angeles Times. "Every game we drop, it's going to be tougher and tougher for us to extend our season, like I keep saying. We still got a chance and I think we're still optimistic in this locker room. But we've got to take care of business." Jordan is doing his part by averaging 17.3 rebounds while shooting 64.1 percent from the floor in March.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (46-29): Portland won 13 straight prior to the current lull and beat a pair of playoff teams on the road at Oklahoma City and New Orleans before suffering the letdown in Memphis. "We had leads and let them come back in the game; didn't sustain it," shooting guard CJ McCollum told reporters. "We didn't sustain our brand of basketball, gave up some easy points, gave up some second chance opportunities, and they competed, battled and won the game." McCollum scored 42 points on 16-of-25 shooting in the loss while All-Star point guard Damian Lillard missed the game following the birth of his child.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Blazers PG Wade Baldwin IV made his second appearance of the season on Wednesday and scored 15 points in 21 minutes off the bench.

2. Clippers PG Milos Teodosic (foot) sat out Wednesday and is day-to-day.

3. Los Angeles won 104-103 at Portland on Oct. 26 but lost the two meetings at home.

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 112, Clippers 109