The Trail Blazers hope to right their listing playoff hopes Wednesday night with a win over the L.A. Clippers at Staples Center.
It's the first of three meetings this season between Portland and the injury-ravaged Clippers (19-35), who have been without Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston all season and will be missing injured center Chris Kaman along with veteran guard Sam Cassell, the latter released Tuesday. A key matchup will be Portland's Travis Outlaw and Corey Maggette, who leads the Clippers with a 21.7-point scoring average.
The Clippers won six of seven meetings with the Blazers over the previous two seasons.
LAKERS 96, BLAZERS 83: Los Angeles won its ninth straight game Tuesday, coming from behind against a Portland team headed in the opposite direction. The Blazers (29-28) have lost eight of their last nine games and 15 of their last 21.
As was the case Sunday against Boston, Portland started strong, jumping to a 27-12 lead late in the first quarter. The Blazers still led 57-46 early in the third quarter and trailed 72-71 early in the final period when the Lakers (40-17) went on a 9-0 run to jump in front 81-71.
Portland had its second-worst field-goal percentage of the season (.361) and made only 12 of 42 shots in the second half.
