Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Mavericks Preview

Random Stuff


Jason Quick had a pretty cool article about the team off the court. Check it out here, below I have included my favorite part.

As the rest of the media horde listened, people starting trying to guess which player asked, but was not given, Roy's shoes.

"...Sebastian (Telfair)?" came one of the guesses.

"(Bleep) Sebastian," a disgusted voice said nearby.

That voice was Blazers guard Jerryd Bayless, whose locker is next to Roy's. There were a few "oohs" when he said it, and jokingly I turned to Bayless and said "Quote, unquote", playfully threatening to quote him.

"I don't care,'' Bayless said, cinching up his tie.

Later, I went back to Bayless and made sure I could quote him.

"As long as you don't use the cuss word,'' Bayless said.


After a HUGE win over the Lakers that was mired in controversy, the Blazers have maybe an even more important game tonight at the Rose Garden. The Dallas Mavericks roll into town, as the only western conference team that Blazers have not beat this year. Hopefully that streak ends tonight.


A bonus for the Blazers is swingman Josh Howard is out for tonight’s game, giving Dallas one less player to hurt us with. However, they did get Jason Terry back a week ago, and he seems to have picked up right where he left off. On the Blazers injury front, Rudy is out for tonight’s game along with Oden and Martell (no suprises). Bayless is a game time decision due to illness. He left practice early yesterday, so hopefully he is feeling good enough to go tonight. Nate has said he could use either Outlaw or Batum to play in Rudy’s place, but that will all depend on who the Mavs have out there on the court. Either way it will be interesting to see how the Blazers scramble tonight with a short lineup.


Keys to the Game


  1. Be Physical With Dirk
    1. Aldridge needs to body up on Dirk and not let him get easy and open looks. If he does, he will kill us the entire night. Force him to take tough shots right out the gate and don’t let him find a shooting rhythm.
  2. Defend the Pick and Roll
    1. Anyone who watched the Christmas day game versus the Mavs knows that we got hammered on their pick and rolls. We need to fight through the picks and look to rotate and help quickly so we don’t leave any of the shooters open.
  3. Play With the Same Aggressiveness and Energy As We Did Versus LA
    1. If the Blazers can harness that energy that was put forth last game versus LA, we could have a serious team on our hands. I hope this is the case tonight versus the Mavs.

With Denver dropping 8 of their last 12 and Utah winning their last 12 in a row, every game is huge for the Blazers. Utah has a difficult schedule remaining which includes 10 of their last 18 versus winning teams on the road. If we can keep up the momentum from the LA game going, then we have a legit shot at winning the division title, thus gaining home court advantage in the playoffs.


Gambler’s Corner


Portland -8

Over/Under 196


I am going with the Mavericks and the over. I think Portland will once again attempt to speed up the pace of the game, and get some easy baskets. Also, I think the Blazers will win, but I do not think it will be a blowout.

4 comments:

  1. I'm going with the Blazers and the over. C'mon Laker-esque blow out! And yeah, (bleep) Sebastian.

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  2. Haha...Im going with the Blazers and over. Fun game Monday. Should make the game against the Lakers on the 10th of April pretty interesting!

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  3. Dang I missed posting my pick last night, but I cannot believe the spread was 8! Wow thats a lot of points to be spotted against a tough western conference opponent...

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  4. That may be my least favorite photo ever. I am honestly creeped out by that family of Dirk faces...that whole family sucks....at face.

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