Portland Trail Blazers

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FiveThirtyEight gives the Portland Trail Blazers a 75 percent chance of making the playoffs, compare to 17 percent for the Memphis Grizzlies, six percent for the Phoenix Suns and two percent for the San Antonio Spurs following Sunday's games. The New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings were eliminated on Sunday. The Blazers are a half game behind the Grizzlies for the eighth seed with two games to play against the Mavericks on Tuesday and the Nets on Thursday. Memphis will play the Celtics on Tuesday and the Bucks on Thursday. The team that finishes in the eighth seed will have to be beaten twice by the ninth seed in the play-in scenario.

Members of the Portland Trail Blazers have tried to persuade Trevor Ariza to reconsider joining them for the NBA's restart, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports. Ariza opted out because of a one-month visitation window he had long scheduled with his son. Sources said the Blazers had to have previously applied for a hardship waiver or a late-arrival form for Ariza to be considered for entry into the bubble. Players on the Blazers were upset with the outcome. The idea of checking in with Ariza surfaced after players such as Zion Williamson and Montrezl Harrell were allowed to leave the campus for family matters. With his visitation dates changing, Ariza could have accompanied his team for most of the restart.

Damian Lillard sat for the Portland Trail Blazers' scrimmage against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday due to inflammation in his foot. An X-ray on his foot returned negative. "He does have some inflammation. I don't expect it to be a long-term thing," said Terry Stotts. The Blazers, who are 3.5 games out of the 8th seed, re-open the season against the Grizzlies on Friday.

Carmelo Anthony said he challenged himself to get his weight down to around 230-235 pounds in preparation to start at small forward for the Portland Trail Blazers. "I kind of challenged myself to get down to that weight where I feel comfortable with playing the 3, comfortable running around and utilizing things I can do within our system from playing the 3. That was a big motivation for me to come back at that exact weight or around that weight, 230, 235. I haven't seen 230, 235 since early, early in my career," said Anthony. The 36-year-old Anthony said he experimented with his diet while the league was suspended. Anthony did note that he's only lost five pounds from his usual playing weight. "I told him he looks like he lost weight, but he hasn't lost that many pounds. It's more so turning some of the fat into muscle and leaning out. But he's always around the same weight. He just carries it different," said CJ McCollum.