Oklahoma City @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 27, 2019 ) Oklahoma City 119, Portland 136

The Portland Trail Blazers are playing better with wins in four of their last six games and are confident enough in their ability to compete with the top teams in the league that they get upset when calls start going against them in winnable games. The Trail Blazers will try to bounce back from a frustrating loss when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

Portland coach Terry Stotts was ejected for the first time in his career for arguing with officials in a 136-113 loss to the Western Conference-best Los Angeles Lakers after Kent Bazemore was called for a phantom foul in the third quarter. "I'm not going to talk about the officiating," Stotts told reporters. "Obviously, I didn't agree with some of the calls, but there's no point in going into the frustration or my disagreements with the officiating. It doesn't do any good." Portland's latest surge includes a 136-119 win at home on Nov. 27 over the Thunder, who responded to that setback with wins in three of the next four games and battled to a 139-127 overtime victory over Minnesota on Friday. "I really respect and appreciate how hard our guys can play," Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan told reporters. "The attitude and the mindset to play all the way to the end, to find ways to keep themselves alive and to compete for the entire game."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Oklahoma, NBCS Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE THUNDER (9-12): Oklahoma City became the first team in 15 years to have five players score at least 20 points in a game as Chris Paul (30) led Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (29), Dennis Schroder (25), Steven Adams (22) and Danilo Gallinari (21). "It speaks more to their unselfishness as a group," Donovan told reporters. "We've got really good guys that try to play the right way, try to play together, and they try to move the ball. It wasn't a huge assist night for us but the moving the ball, the attacking and the playing downhill was good for us." Paul's 30 points marked a season high and came one game after he was held to four points on 2-of-9 shooting in a 107-100 loss to Indiana.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (9-14): Stotts' frustration on Friday extended beyond the calls on the floor as swingman Rodney Hood was lost for the season with a torn Achilles in the first quarter, joining a lengthy list of long-term injuries. "Just got to keep moving forward, we've got a season to play," Stotts told reporters. "As disappointing as it is to lose players to injuries, we have a team and we gotta just keep competing and playing. You don't have any other choice. You have disappointment for that player, that's why I don't think anyone is in there feeling sorry for us and the team." Hood is fifth on the team in scoring at an average of 11 points and is shooting 49.3 percent from 3-point range on the season.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Thunder G Deonte Burton missed Friday's game while serving a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team and is eligible to return Sunday.

2. Trail Blazers SG Gary Trent Jr. (hamstring) missed the last six games and remains day-to-day.

3. Portland, which knocked off Oklahoma City in five games in the first round of the playoffs last spring, took the first two meetings this season.

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 113, Thunder 109