The Portland Trail Blazers nearly pulled off an upset to beat the Houston Rockets in Texas on Thursday night, but ended up falling when Chris Paul's game-winning bank shot with 0.8 left on the clock ended a 17-0 Blazers run and gave them the loss. They did all this without All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, who was missing the game due to a sprained ankle suffered in the team's previous game against the Dallas Mavericks.
According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, the Blazers point guard is expected to return to the lineup for Saturday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs and end his absence at just one game.
After losing two games in a row, the Blazers, currently third in the West with a 48-31 and three games left in the season, lead the Utah Jazz by two games and the San Antonio Spurs by three games for the number three seed in the West. With matchups against the Spurs, Jazz, and Nuggets still remaining, Portland has it's work cut out for them to try and lock up their seed and keep home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Lillard is averaging 26.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 3.1 three-pointers per game on 43.8 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc.
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