Portland Trail Blazers Team Report - January 18

(Basketball News) - The struggling Portland Trail Blazers visit the streaking Sacramento Kings on Tuesday at ARCO Arena.

Portland has won two straight, three of four and four of the last six meetings in this series. The Blazers have won two of their last three trips to Sacramento.

The Blazers, who are finishing up their season-high six-game road trip, are just 7-15 in foreign buildings this season. Portland is just 1-4 on its current swing.

Portland has dropped three in a row, seven of eight and nine of its last 11 games overall. The Blazers suffered a 92-84 loss at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night at the Target Center.

Ruben Patterson scored 25 points and Nick Van Exel added 19 with eight assists for Portland in the defeat. Damon Stoudamire, who scored a career-high 54 points on Friday, finished the contest with 18, six rebounds and four assists.

The Trail Blazers played without leading scorer Zach Randolph, who is sidelined with a knee injury. Randolph’s knee seems to be worsening, pushing his return date back.

Meanwhile, Darius Miles’ bone bruised left knee is improving which gives him a slight chance of returning to the court for Portland on Tuesday. Miles is more likely to return on Wednesday against Cleveland. The Blazers are 1-5 since Miles went down.

Patterson has scored in double-digits in six of his last seven games. He is averaging 14.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in his last 10 contests.

Portland play two more tough games this week, as it hosts LeBron James and the Cavaliers on Wednesday and Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.

The Blazers will play the Cavs Wednesday for the second and final time this season. On December 15th, Cleveland crushed Portland, 112-88, at Gund Arena.

Portland has already suffered a pair of losses this season to the Timberwolves. Both contests were played at the Target Center.