Jan 12th vs Chicago Gametime 5:30 pm Pacific Time KGW TV Channel 8 The Blazers beat the pants off the Bulls when Chicago visted the Rose Garden on November 19. In a game the Bulls would like to forget we won easily by a score of 116-74. But if you'd like to relive that night you can click here and catch an NBA TV recap of the game and some great highlights by DMKPDX. The Bulls, like many NBA teams have had some injury problems. Forward Luol Deng has recently missed some games with a sprained ankle. Deng had hoped to play Friday against the Wizards, but was unable to play in that game, or Saturday against the Thunder. His status is day to day, so I don't know if he will be available for duty Monday night against the Blazers. So I'm showing the same lineup for the Bulls they've used the last few games without him. Another member of the Bulls walking wounded who has often been mentioned in connection with trade rumors and the Portland Trailblazers is getting ready to return to the hardwood. Kirk Hinrich won't be available to play for Monday nights game with the Blazers but is hoping to be able to play Thursday against Cleveland. Hinrichs return is ahead of schedule, and he said he was anxious to return after shooting jumpers before the game on Saturday. The Bulls who are looking to get Hinrich back into the starting lineup as soon as possible are also wanting to create some more minutes for swingman Thabo Sefolosha. If this happens it will likely come at the expense of veteran Larry Hughes, who is expecting a trade. Chicago was hoping to get their first three game winning streak of the season Saturday night when the OKC Thunder game to town. Unfortunately for the Bulls their own fans booed them as they lost in overtime to the NBAs worst team 109-98. The Bulls are led by leading scorer Ben Gordon, who has been averaging 21 points per game for them. Its been a dissapointing season for them and they bring a 16-21 record in to Monday nights game against the Trailblazers who are 22-14 after beating Golden State 113-100 on Saturday night. I'm picking the Blazers to roll over the Bulls with a seven or eight point victory. Brandon Roy is back and that of course is good news for our team. Well, I guess the other good news is that the team gets to leave town and maybe escape some of the controversy over the Darious Miles situation that has been hanging over the team the last few days. There is always so much going on during the NBA season that there is always a new story. A few days, a few more stories, a few games and maybe we can go back to paying attention to the games that are being played on the basketball floor rather than the ones being played out behind the scenes. But before we let the Miles thing go I want to point out that there has never, ever been one single credible MEDICAL doctor that has gone on record to say his knees are sound and capable of holding up under the rigors of professional basketball. If you've never seen them, I have to tell you that the detail of todays MRI and Xray exams are nothing short of amazing. There is no way that the doctors who examined him missed anything. If they say his knee is going to fail if he plays on it I doubt they are mistaken. When it will fail is anybodys guess. I suppose its Miles perogative to play on the darn thing until it does break. I have to wonder though, what does he possibly hope to gain by all this besides crutches and knee replacement surgery. Its not like anyone is throwing any more 48 million dollar contracts his way these days. Projected starters Portland Trailblazers Steve Blake -PG Brandon Roy-SG Nic Batum-SF LaMarcus Aldridge-PF Greg Oden-Center Projected starters Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose-PG Ben Gordon-SG Larry Hughes-SF Tyrus Thomas-PF Drew Gooden-Center Still plenty of time to click here, enter the contest and WIN A FREE BLAZER JERSEY.
I am putting my ESPN Streak For The Cash on the line with this game in favor of the Blazers. So I'll be invested in this one. Especially since I can watch this one on TV and not a crappy Internet stream.
