Dec 12 VS LA Clippers Second night of back to back games. Blazers return home from Utah to take on the LA Clippers, who will arrive from LA after having a few days off. Gametime is 7 pm Pacific time. This will be the first regular season meeting between these two clubs. Coach and GM of the Clippers Mike Dunleavy is on the hotseat after starting the season with a 4-17 record. Sure, he's had some injury problems to deal with, but to say the Clippers start has been underwhelming is putting it mildly. This week the desparate Dunleavy even had Darius Miles in for a workout. http://www.clubblazers.com/blazers-discussion/miles-works-out-for-clippers-t1381.html That's reaching for the gutter Mike. How low can you go? Pretty clear indication of how bad things are in Clipperland. 4-17 out of the gate, injury problems and a terrible terrible bench. It was easy for the Celtics to pass on Darius because they had a deep bench. But a team in a situation like the Clips is just the kind of team that MIGHT take a flyer on Miles. After adding Baron Davis to the mix the Clips were expected to contend for a division title not a lottery pick. Dunleavy must have Donald Sterling rolling over in bed at night stewing over whether to keep him on the job or bite the bullet and fire him.....a move that would cost the notoriously cheap Sterling a load of dough. Friday nights game will mark the first visit of the season to the Rose Garden for ex-jailblazer Zach Randolph. No doubt we'll have a rowdy crowd Friday night in the Garden that will relish giving Zach the business whenever he touches the ball. When Randolph was asked recently by the Los Angeles Daily News about how it felt coming to LA to fill the shoes left behind by Elton Brand, Randolph laughed, then confidently said, "Shoot, he ain't better than me. He ain't better than me." Should be an easy win for the Blazers. I'm picking them by 8 points. Projected starters Portland Trailblazers Steve Blake -PG Brandon Roy-SG Nic Batum-SF LaMarcus Aldridge-PF Greg Oden-Center Projected starters Los Angeles Clippers Baron Davis-PG Eric Gordon-SG Al Thornton SF Marcus Camby-Center Zach Randolph-PF NOTE: Ricky Davis is suffering from tendonitis in his knee and is not expected to play again for the Clippers until after Christmas. Coach Mike Dunleavy told the LA Times he is hoping to have Center Chris Kaman available to play against Portland. Kaman has been out with a foot injury. Kaman had been starting at center prior to his injury. And Canby had been starting at power forward. I have to admit I found myself chuckling at the notion of the ever-so-humble Zach Randolph coming off the bench behind Camby and Kaman. I wonder what Dunleavy will do with his lineup when Kaman regains his health. As always there will be pregame, gametime, and postgame discussion of the game in the gameday forum http://www.clubblazers.com/blazers-gameday/dec-clippers-t1375.html Be sure to catch the video recap and hdtv highlights of the game at http://www.clubblazers.com/blazer-game-highlights/
You know....the Clippers look pretty good with their starting line up, should be a good game back in Portland. Right now Portland needs to find a way to stop the bleeding from the last 4 games.
