Trail Blazers @ Kings

Who will WIN this matchup?

Portland Trail Blazers (21-16)

@ Sacramento Kings (19-17)

Current odds:

Portland Trail Blazers: (-115)

Sacramento Kings: (+105)

• The line for this game is Portland by 1 point.

• Portland shooting guard CJ McCollum is coming off his third-highest scoring output of the season and looks for another strong performance when the Trail Blazers visit the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. McCollum scored 35 points on 13-of-18 shooting as the Trail Blazers steamrolled the visiting Philadelphia 76ers 129-95 on Sunday. McCollum, who has two 40-point efforts this season, was just 37-of-104 shooting over the previous six games before breaking out of his slump in a big way.

• Sacramento missed a chance to win No. 20 when it was outscored 18-4 over the final 4 1/2 minutes of a 121-114 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. “This is one we should have closed out and we didn’t,” Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield said afterward. “We had our minds on going into 2019 with 20 wins but we have more work to do. We can’t just be happy with where we are at right now.”

• Center Jusuf Nurkic put together three straight strong efforts and is averaging 20.7 points on 25-of-43 shooting and 9.7 rebounds during the stretch. “He’s been more effective in the paint, more effective finishing,” Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters of Nurkic. “He finished three baskets with his left hand (on Sunday). We’ve been working with him on that, our assistants have been working with him on that.” Star point guard Damian Lillard scored just 15 points in the easy win over Philadelphia as the Trail Blazers shot 59 percent from the field – including 12-of-22 from 3-point range – and owned a 59-36 rebounding edge.

• Point guard De’Aaron Fox continues to make his mark as a scorer and his 26-point outing against the Lakers marked his sixth effort of 25 or more points in the past 13 games. Fox is a big reason why the improving Kings are two games above .500 but he realizes it isn’t too early to fret about letting games slip away in the tightly bunched Western Conference. “Trying to get into the playoffs in this conference, you really start thinking about the ones you let slip,” Fox told reporters after Sunday’s blown lead.

•  The Trail Blazers won the past three meetings by an average of 15.7 points.

• Lillard averaged 31.8 points and seven assists in last season’s four meetings with the Kings.

• Sacramento SG Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 21 points against the Lakers and topped 20 in three of the past four games.