The Portland Trail Blazers will host the Dallas Mavericks at Moda Center on Wednesday evening.

Everything has been coming up Portland (43-27) recently, as the Trail Blazers have won four of their last five contests. The Blazers most recently took down the Indiana Pacers behind a 30-point, 15-assist night from Damian Lillard. Lillard's strong play has been vital to the team's success, as he is averaging a team-best 26.2 points and 6.6 assists per game. Big man Jusuf Nurkic has also continued to thrive as a Blazer, averaging over a block and a steal per game to go with 15.4 points and 10.4 rebounds. The Blazers' strong recent play has catapulted them to fourth in the Western Conference, where they sit 1.5 games behind the Houston Rockets.


Dallas (28-42), meanwhile, has fallen apart since the All-Star break. The Mavericks have gone just 2-11 since returning from the break, eliminating the once-promising team from playoff contention. The Mavericks are scoring a league-worst 104.6 points per game since the start of March. Dallas's stagnant offense can be partially attributed to general inefficiency. The Mavs rank 27th league-wide in field goal percentage and only 24th in scoring. Rookie star Luka Doncic has run into individual problems, shooting just 39.6 percent from the field and 22 percent from three in the month thus far.