Preview: Doncic and Mavs take on Lillard and Blazers

PORTLAND. Two shooters will be featured at the Moda Center Saturday at 9:00 pm as Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks take on Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Which means there could be another 50-point game.

Both Doncic and Lillard have impressive resumes. Now in his fifth season, Doncic is breaking virtually every franchise record imaginable while continuing to inform the league that he will be difficult to deal with no matter who is on the other side of the floor as a quarterback.

Doncic scored a career-high 50 points and added eight rebounds and 10 assists during a Dec. 23 game against the Houston Rockets. But two games later, he surpassed him with a triple-double the likes of which has never been seen in NBA history.

On December 27, against the New York Knicks, Doncic scored 60 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and had 10 assists. This marks the first time in league history that a player has recorded a triple-double with at least 60 points and at least 20 rebounds.

But Doncic was just getting started, as he finished the two games after that against San Antonio with 51 points, six rebounds and nine assists in the game. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has said his team is looking to keep the talented Mavs point guard to 50 points. .

Meanwhile, Lillard is also a giant when it comes to making 50-point games. In fact, the 11-year veteran from Weber State scored 50 points in the Blazers’ 119-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers last Thursday in Portland.

This is the 15th game of Lillard’s career with 50 points, second most of any player behind James Harden (23), as Lillard was the sixth pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Lillard also joins Stephen Curry and Harden as the only players to have 10 or more 50-point games in the last 10 seasons.

Lillard recently passed Clyde Drexler to become the Blazers’ all-time leading scorer with 18,328 points, tying for 76th.^th on the NBA permanent list. Lillard is just nine points behind Glen Rice (18,336), 37 points behind Julius Erving (18,364) and 54 points behind Tracy McGrady (18,381) for 73 points.^rd place in the list of the league’s top scorers.

*After Saturday’s game, the Mavs will play the Blazers again on Sunday in Portland before heading home on Wednesday to face Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks.

* Josh Green (right elbow sprain), Dorian Finney-Smith (right adductor sprain) and Maxi Kleber (right hamstring tear) will not play Saturday’s game, and Christian Wood (right ankle sprain) is questionable.

*Portland has three players averaging at least 20 points per game this season. And that’s Damian Lillard (28.2 ppg), Anferny Simons (22 ppg) and Jerami Grant (221.9 ppg). The Blazers have never finished a season in which three players averaged at least 20 points per game.

* The Mavs are 2-0 against the Blazers this season, and both games were played in Dallas. On November 12, Luka Doncic had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Mavs to a 117–112 win over the Blazers. Damian Lillard had 29 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists in that game. And on December 16, Doncic finished with 33 points, six rebounds and nine assists as the Mavs defeated the Blazers 130–110. Lillard scored 24 points in this competition.

*The Blazers are on a season-high five-game losing streak. Their most recent win came on January 2 during a 135–106 home win over the Detroit Pistons. Jerami Grant scored 36 points in that game for the Blazers.

* The Mavs are 1-2 on this five-game journey after losses to the Oklahoma City and Los Angeles Clippers and a double win over the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime.

DALLAS MAVERICS (24-19) to PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (19-22)

When: 21:00, Saturday

Where: Fashion Center, Portland

TV SET: Bally Sports Southwest

Radio: 97.1 FM Freak; 99.1 FM Zone MX (Spanish)

Twitter: @DwainPrice