TrailBlazers at Rockets

Portland (10-8) at Houston (12-7) 8:30 pm EST

<u>Portland Trail Blazers </u>
Record: 10 - 8 ( .556)
Standings: Third, Pacific
At Home: 10 - 2
On Road: 0 - 6

PPG: 89.3 Opp PPG: 90.9
FG%: .440 Opp FG%: .458
RPG: 43.1 Opp RPG: 39.2

<u>Houston Rockets </u>
Record: 12 - 7 ( .632)
Standings: Third, Midwest
At Home: 7 - 1
On Road: 5 - 6

PPG: 88.0 Opp PPG: 84.4
FG%: .427 Opp FG%: .390
RPG: 42.7 Opp RPG: 39.3

Probable Starters
vs. Jim Jackson/Rasheed Wallace
vs. Kelvin Cato/Zach Randolph
vs. Yao Ming/Dale Davis
vs. Steve Francis/Damon Stoudamire
vs. Cuttino Mobley/Wesley Person

TrailBlazers Outlook - Trail_Blazer76
With the recent loss of Bonzi Wells, the Blazers must rely less on outside shooting, and more on owning the post. Rasheed Wallace and Zach Randolph will need to team up on Yao early in the game (offensively). Hopefully this will tire him out and get him into early foul trouble. Furthermore, with Yao out of the picture the Rockets will rely on the outside shot and Franchise's penetration. In the first instance we will easily outrebound their missed shots. In the second Sheed, Randolph, and Davis will be there to clog up the lane, and contest Stevie's paint shots.

Concerning our guards, Mouse and Mcinnis, they will basically be a defensive non-factor. Stoudamire will simply need to encourge Rasheed to play the post. Francis and Mobley are going to get their points. Rather than stopping them, Mouse and Mcinnis will need to respond offensively, playing a Dallas-style game of outscoring one's opponent.


Rockets Outlook - dexter
Our offensive gameplan is simple. Get the Yao Ming on the low block. The Rockets are as a team finally starting to realize that when you get Yao Ming active downlow, you win games. The Blazers will try to go after Yao Ming tonight on defense in hopes of getting him in foul trouble. It will key for him to stay out of it. The Rockets must also do a good job tonight of shooting the ball. Yao Ming will get doubled almost every time down the court so our perimeter players must step up and make open shots.

The defensive match-ups tonight will be very crutial. The Blazers start in essence three big men(Wallace, Davis, Randolph). Wallace will be classified as the small forward so Jim Jackson will have the job of guarding him up. Jackson needs to keep Wallace on the outside and not let him go to work down low. The key person we have to stop tonight is Zach Randolph who is having a stellar year averaging 20 and 10 a game. Since they are starting three big men, the Rockets as a team must do a fantastic job of defensive rebounding. With the size advantage against us we need to limit them to one shot and only one shot.



Game Prediction - Trail_Blazer76
Blazers get their first road win tonight. Final Score: 102-97

Game Prediction - dexter
Rockets extend their home record to 8-1. Final Score: 92-87

Here is the link to the thread in the other forum: http://www.justbball.com/forums/showthread...5256#post135256