The Portland Trail Blazers seek their third winning streak of four or more games in the last six weeks as they travel to face the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
Portland earned its third consecutive win Wednesday with a 129-121 decision over the Washington Wizards on the road. Shaedon Sharpe led the way with a career-high 36 points on 13-of-26 shooting, highlighted by a surefire dunk of the year contender when he stole a pass in the backcourt, cocked his right hand as far back as it could go and windmilled over Washington’s Bilal Coulibaly.
“His scoring and his offense was incredible,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “I mean, it really was all three levels. He was incredible the entire time. I thought his defense was high-level as well. I really did. He got some really, really big rebounds for us, some big stops for us. He’s just so engaged.
“When you engage yourself defensively, it requires you to kind of get lost out there and focus in on what’s necessary. He’s just so gifted on the other end of the floor. The ball is going to come to him, whether it’s me calling a play for him or guys just finding him. I thought he just kind of got lost in the game and he was the best player on the floor.”
Most nights, the Blazers are paced offensively by veteran guard Anfernee Simons, who averages a team-high 18.7 points to go with five assists per game. Sharpe ranks second at 17.3 points per game while Deni Avdija averages 14.6 points.
For Brooklyn, top scorer Cam Thomas (24.7 ppg) is expected to make his return Friday after missing the last 24 games due to a hamstring injury suffered in a Jan. 2 win over Milwaukee.
The Nets enter Friday’s matchup having lost consecutive games and three of their last four overall. Brooklyn suffered a 129-121 home loss Wednesday night to Oklahoma City in which the Nets squandered a 14-point fourth quarter lead. Fourth-year center Day’Ron Sharpe led Brooklyn with a career-high 25 points, which included 2-of-3 shooting from the arc. The Nets took a franchise-record 61 3-point attempts and made 23 (37.7 percent).
“I don’t care about missed shots,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Some shots are going to go in, some shots aren’t going to go in. What I care about is lack of focus. If we don’t execute well and we turn it over or if we don’t communicate defensively and we don’t execute, that’s what is bad. If we’re taking the right shots and we’re missing them, it happens. For the same reason we made so many early on, I’m OK with our guys missing shots.”
The Nets’ woes were even more evident in Monday’s 107-99 loss to the Wizards that ended a six-game skid for Washington. Only four Nets reached double figures in the loss, with Ziaire Williams leading the way with 19 points.
Cameron Johnson has averaged 19.1 points in 43 appearances this season, while Nic Claxton and Keon Johnson each contribute 10.1 points per game.
