NUGGETS PROBABLE STARTERS POS. NO. PLAYER HEIGHT WEIGHT PPG RPG APG NOTABLE [imgl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3706.jpg[/imgl] F 15 Carmelo Anthony 6-8, 230 31.3 5.7 4.0 Posted his 19th 30+ point game of the season with 33 points at Portland on 1/31. [imgl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3663.jpg[/imgl] F 30 Reggie Evans 6-8, 245 6.2 7.9 0.8 Had five points, eight rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes at Portland on 1/31. [imgl] http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles.../65x90/3084.jpg[/imgl] C 23 Marcus Camby 6-11, 235 12.2 12.2 3.0 Posted 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots in 35 minutes at Portland on 1/31. [IMGl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3835.jpg[/IMGl] G 1 J.R. Smith 6-6, 220 16.1 2.6 1.5 Started and totaled nine points in 27 minutes at Portland on 1/31. [imgl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3741.jpg[/imgl] G 25 Steve Blake 6-3, 172 4.7 1.7 3.2 Contributed five points, three rebounds and three assists in 39 minutes at Portland on 1/31. PROBABLE TRAIL BLAZERS STARTERS Position # Player Height Weight PPG RPG APG Last Game & Noteworthy [IMGl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3501.jpg[/IMGl] Forward #5 Ime Udoka 6-5 220 8.7 3.5 1.5 LAST GAME: Collected 11 points, two rebounds and a steal in 40 minutes ... NOTEWORTHY: Scored a career-high 21 points Jan. 27 at Memphis ... Marked first NBA double-double with 11 points and 10 boards Nov. 6 at L.A. Clippers. [IMGl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3531.jpg[/IMGl] Forward #50 Zach Randolph 6-9 258 23.7 10.5 1.9 LAST GAME: Tallied 26 points and a season-high 17 rebounds in 39 min ... NOTEWORTHY: Has 28 double-doubles (24 are 20-plus pts, 10-plus reb) ... Scored 30-plus points 11 times ... Scored a career-high 42 points Jan. 27 at Memphis ... 40 FG attempts in that game is a franchise record. [IMGl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3408.jpg[/IMGl] Center #10 Joel Przybilla 7-1 255 2.1 4.1 0.3 LAST GAME: Tied a season-high five blocks to go with two points, one rebound and one assist in 15 minutes ... NOTEWORTHY: Grabbed a season- high 11 rebounds Jan. 27 at Memphis ... Left the Golden State game on Nov. 3 with an abdominal injury, missing the next 13 games. [IMGl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/4134.jpg[/IMGl] Guard #7 Brandon Roy 6-6 229 14.9 4.3 3.3 LAST GAME: Hit for 25 points, four rebounds and eight assists in 37 minutes ... NOTEWORTHY: Scored 28 points Jan. 21 vs. Milwaukee ... Has scored double numbers in 21 of 27 games ... Counts two double-doubles ... Leads all rookies in scoring (14.9) , assists (3.3) and steals (1.30). [IMGl]http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/nba/profiles/players/65x90/3948.jpg[/IMGl] Guard #1 Jarrett Jack 6-3 197 12.2 2.4 5.4 LAST GAME: Finished with 14 points, two rebounds and eight assists in 37 minutes ... NOTEWORTHY: Has three double-doubles ... Registered 20 points and 10 assists Nov. 12 vs. Dallas ... Tallied 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists Dec. 10 at Toronto. NUGGETS RED CROSS REPORT OUT: Kenyon Martin underwent successful surgery on his right knee on 11/15 and will miss the remainder of the season. QUESTIONABLE: Allen Iverson suffered a right ankle sprain vs. Charlotte on 1/29 and did not travel with the team to Portland on 1/31. He is questionable for tonight?s game. TRAIL BLAZERS RED CROSS REPORT Darius Miles (right knee) and Sergio Rodriguez (left ankle) will not play ... Travis Outlaw (right ankle sprain) is day-to-day. TONIGHT'S MATCHUP BY THE NUMBERS KEY FOR TEAM STATISTICS: PPG Points Per Game (measures offense) OPG Opponents Points Per Game (measures defense) FG% % of All Shots Made (2's and 3's) 3PT% % of 3-Point Shots Made FT% % of Free Throws Made RPG Rebounds Per Game APG Assists Per Game SPG Steals Per Game BPG Blocks Per Game TO Turnovers Per Game ..............PPG.. OPG.. FG% 3PT% FT% RPG APG. SPG. BPG.. TO NUGGETS 105.5 103.8 .455.. .324 .750 43.9 22.9 8.47 4.84 16.6 BLAZERS... 93.3. 97.6 .447.. .332 .770 39.0 17.6 6.85 4.77 15.4
The bad news for the Nuggets is that they will have to win a few upsets on the road to get to a 5th or 6th seed. The good news is that the Nuggets do not have to have a 5th or 6th seed, a 7th or 8th seed is still a playoff berth. And the really good news is that the Nuggets have not played as many games as the the other top teams in the Conference, so if they get a big win tonight against the Trail Blazers their situation is not as bad as fans are thinking. Check this: Number of Losses Nuggets 21 Lakers 18 Jazz 17 Spurs 16 Rockets 16 Mavs 9 Suns 9 With almost half the season still to go, these gaps are not as big as people are thinking. The Nuggets still have time to get it together and compete with these teams. But they can not lose yet another home game tonight! A loss tonight puts the Nuggets in a real, serious hole.
Prediction: Nuggets 104 Trail Blazers 98 I predict Camby, Melo, and J.R. will all play well, and someone else (who knows who) will have a great game. Nene and Evans will be ok at least. It would be nice to see Melo continue to work on and hit some 3's.
