The Los Angeles Lakers will look to snap a two game home losing streak when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on New Years Eve. The Lakers ended a three game losing streak with a 103-88 win at New Orleans on Wednesday. The 76ers will look for their second straight win on the road tonight, as [...]
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Tuesday night the surging San Antonio Spurs will host the struggling Los Angeles Lakers. San Antonio comes in with a league-best record of 26-4, while the Lakers are just 21-9 after starting the season 8-0. The Spurs quickly bounced back after falling at Orlando 123-101 last Thursday with a 94-80 win over the Washington Wizards [...]
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The NBA is dishing out big time matchups this Christmas Day, but none is bigger than the game between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. While both teams are playing off the hype of this game, there is no question that they are going to bring their best in [...]
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We are one week away from, what could be, the biggest Christmas Day game ever! The Miami Heat (20-8) will be taking on the Los Angeles Lakers (20-7) in Los Angeles. As of December 18, the Heat are sporting an 11 game winning streak and have finally found their groove. LeBron James is dominating like he did in Cleveland, Chris Bosh is scoring like he did in Toronto, and Dwyane Wade is perfectly happy taking a (smaller) role in Miami. [...]
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Blazers: 8-11
Clippers: 4-16
Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, OR. 6:00 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM)
Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Brandon Roy (#7, 6′6″, Washington), SF Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass)
Projected Los Angeles Starting Lineup: PG Eric Bledsoe (#12, 6′1″, Kentucky), SG Eric Gordon (#10, 6′3″, Indiana), SF Al-Farouq Aminu (#3, 6′9″, Wake Forest), PF Blake Griffin (#32, 6′10″, Oklahoma), C DeAndre Jordan (#9, 6′11″, Texas A&M)
On the bright side, things can’t get much worse for Portland than they are now. The Blazers have lost six games in a row, five of which they blew late, including a few to pretty bad teams. They haven’t won a game since November 19, when they beat the Nuggets at home. The four-game road trip they just completed may well be the low point of the post-Jail Blazers era. The “fire Nate McMillan” talk is starting to become something a little more tangible than just a few disgruntled fans. There is legitimate concern right now as to whether the Blazers will even make the playoffs.
Friday’s abomination of a game against the Wizards was notable only for the return of Joel Przybilla, who played well in limited minutes, taking charges, going after rebounds and loose balls, and providing some much-needed (to put it mildly) added presence in the middle. The Vanilla Gorilla is sure to get a monstrous ovation from the home fans tonight, which could be the lift the Blazers need. Przybilla will also be crucial tonight, as the Blazers are going to need everything they’ve got against Blake Griffin. The 2009 No. 1 overall pick has been nothing short of beastly through the first quarter of the regular season, making a strong case for himself as Rookie of the Year. He made his NBA debut against Portland, and although the Blazers won that game, Griffin posted an impressive 20-and-14 line and had a couple of highlight-reel dunks. He’s only gotten more confident since then, and will likely be the main thing the Blazers have to worry about tonight. Third-year guard Eric Gordon has also played well for the Clippers, scoring at least 20 points in each of his last seven games. He will likely be Wesley Matthews’ defensive assignment tonight. Other than that, the Clippers are nothing to write home about, and their rotation issues concerning Baron Davis and, to a lesser extent, Chris Kaman, make them somewhat vulnerable.
This is a winnable game for Portland, but they can’t make the kinds of mistakes they’ve been making lately. Players besides Brandon Roy and Wesley Matthews need to step up offensively, and the team’s turnovers need to be cut drastically. Patty Mills played the first non-garbage-time minutes of his pro career on the road trip, and despite a few too many turnovers, he mostly acquitted himself fine. There’s a good chance we’ll see more of him tonight. Przybilla played well in his return on Friday, and should be key in the Blazers’ defensive effort, which has been lackluster of late. A win tonight wouldn’t tell us a lot, given the opponent, but it would certainly be a much-needed step in the right direction after one of the worst two-week stretches in the Blazers’ recent history.
Blazers: 5-2
Lakers: 6-0
Game Details: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA. 6:30 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM)
Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Brandon Roy (#7, 6′6″, Washington), SF Nicolas Batum (#88, 6′8″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass)
Projected Los Angeles Starting Lineup: PG Derek Fisher (#2, 6′1″, Arkansas – Little Rock), SG Kobe Bryant (#24, 6′6″, Lower Merion High School), SF Ron Artest (#15, 6′7″, St. John’s), PF Lamar Odom (#7, 6′10″, Rhode Island), C Pau Gasol (#16, 7′, Spain)
The Trail Blazers are already on their third back-to-back of the young season, and it’s not likely that any of the remaining 16 on their schedule will feature two games that are as much polar opposites as these. Last night, the Blazers played one of the league’s worst teams at home with a day of rest. Today, they play arguably the very best, at one of the toughest arenas in the league. Although they pulled out a double-digit win against the Raptors yesterday, their play wasn’t exactly encouraging. Despite stellar games from Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Nicolas Batum, the Blazers did an abysmal job of taking care of the ball for long stretches. In all honesty, they should have won by twice as much as they did. Needless to say, that kind of carelessness isn’t going to fly tonight.
The Lakers should need no introduction. They’re the two-time defending champions and, as scary as it is to think about, they may very well be even better than they were last year. The usually inconsistent Lamar Odom has been playing out of his mind this year, a development we can probably credit to his Team USA experience this summer. In terms of free-agent acquisitions, the Lakers quietly had one of the best offseasons of any team not named the Miami Heat. Former Blazer Steve Blake is an ideal fit for Phil Jackson’s triangle offense, a pass-first point guard who can hit threes when necessary. In Matt Barnes, Los Angeles has one of the most hard-nosed players in the league, a guy who absolutely thrives as a bench defender on good teams. And Theo Ratliff has proven to be a solid insurance policy for the injured Andrew Bynum. Which reminds me, the Lakers are this dominant without Bynum. Speaking of scary thoughts.
And then there are the regulars, the guys we know well. Kobe Bryant is still arguably the best player in the world. Pau Gasol is possibly the best big man in the game. Ron Artest is still a top-tier defensive stopper who can score when he has to. Derek Fisher is a defensive liability at his age, but there are very few guys you’d rather have taking the last shot in a close game. Shannon Brown and Sasha Vujacic are proven offensive sparkplugs off the bench. There are no weaknesses at all on this roster, and truth be told, I’m hard-pressed to think of a reason why they won’t three-peat as world champions.
Which isn’t to say Portland can’t beat them tonight, but it won’t be easy. The Blazers have matched up well against the Lakers in the past, but for the last few years this series has been one where the home team usually wins. Even more than usual, Marcus Camby cannot get into foul trouble early. The idea of Aldridge and Sean Marks trying to contain Gasol and Odom is enough to give any Blazers fan nightmares. Aldridge has put together a string of impressive games, and that needs to continue tonight. With Rudy Fernandez likely out again with back spasms, the Blazers’ second unit will have to step up dramatically in order to hang with one of the deepest benches in the league. Wesley Matthews has struggled for the last week, but he knows how to guard Kobe (see last year’s conference semifinals), and will very likely see some time defending him. Armon Johnson made five turnovers last night against Toronto, which is unacceptable, and the Lakers will make the Blazers pay if that happens again.
More than anything, though, the Blazers’ chances come down to Roy’s willingness to take over if necessary. In the loss to Oklahoma City on Thursday, he seemed hesitant to take control in the fourth quarter. Tonight, they’ll be going against one of the all-time great finishers, and he needs to be able to flip that switch. Regardless, this is by far the Blazers’ biggest challenge of the year so far, and will probably be one of the toughest games they have all year. For every other game, we’ve been able to say, “if the Blazers do everything right, there’s no reason they shouldn’t come away with a win.” When it’s the Lakers, the Blazers have to not make any mistakes in order to even have a shot. Los Angeles just has too many weapons. Handing the defending champions their first loss of the season would be a monumental statement, but even just not embarrassing themselves would be an acceptable outcome for Portland.
Email me | Twitter: @ripcityproject | @shighkin
Blazers: 1-0
Clippers: 0-0
Game Details: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA. 7:30PM. TV: CSN/ESPN. Radio: 95.5 FM (KXTG)
Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Brandon Roy (#7, 6′6″, Washington), SF Nicolas Batum (#88, 6′8″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass)
Projected Los Angeles Starting Lineup: PG Baron Davis (#5, 6′3″, UCLA), SG Eric Gordon (#10, 6′3″, Indiana), SF Ryan Gomes (#15, 6′7″, Providence), PF Blake Griffin (#32, 6′10″, Oklahoma), C Chris Kaman (#35, 7′0″, Central Michigan)
In last night’s season opener against the Suns (recap), the Trail Blazers looked for the most part like a team that had certain things figured out. Impressive Blazer debuts from Armon Johnson and Wesley Matthews laid to rest (at least for now) some of the questions about the team’s backup point guard rotation, and also went a long way in explaining why Jerryd Bayless was expendable. Brandon Roy looked more or less like himself, a relief to those who watched him struggle in the preseason. Nicolas Batum had a phenomenal night, pulling down 11 rebounds and scoring 19 points, including three 3-pointers during the team’s 18-1 run to close the game. Andre Miller and Marcus Camby had solid games. Hell, even Fabricio Oberto was decent in the three minutes he played at the end of the first quarter.
Tonight, the Blazers open a four-game road trip at the Staples Center against the Clippers. The Clippers, like the Suns, can be lumped into the group of teams in the Western Conference that could be vying for one of the back two playoff spots if everything goes right for them. With the Mike Dunleavy era mercifully over, the Clippers are breaking in new coach Vinny Del Negro. Eric Gordon is fast establishing himself as one of the best young 2-guards in the west; Chris Kaman is a physical presence in the middle who should be able to go toe-to-toe with Camby; and Baron Davis is still a solid facilitator.
And oh yeah, there’s that Blake Griffin guy. The 2009 No. 1 overall pick makes his regular-season debut tonight after missing his rookie season with a knee injury (sound familiar?). In the preseason, he’s been more or less as good as we thought he’d be, and he and Kaman together are going to make the Blazers work a lot harder inside than the Suns did. LaMarcus Aldridge had plenty of open looks last night with the undersized and defensively-challenged Hedo Turkoglu guarding him–don’t expect him to have it nearly as easy tonight. He tended last night to fall back on his jumper, which isn’t going to work with a rebounding threat like Griffin on the floor. His best bet could be to attack the basket and try to get the inexperienced Griffin in foul trouble. Oberto did a fine job in limited minutes last night, but this game will be the first one in which the Blazers realize how much they miss having Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla healthy.
The good news for Portland is that the Clippers don’t really have a bench to speak of. Rookies Eric Bledsoe and Al-Farouq Aminu have plenty of talent, but they’re not expected to contribute right away. The Blazers’ second unit last night–especially Matthews and Johnson–showed last night that they’re more than capable of playing as a unit as well as subbing in with the starting five, and nobody on the Clippers’ bench is going to make them work as much as Jared Dudley and Channing Frye did.
Email me | Twitter: @ripcityproject | @shighkin