@ <font color="red">Portland Trail Blazers (2-0)</font> @ <font color="purple">Toronto Raptors (2-0)</font> Time: 12:30 P.M. Place: Air Canada Centre TV: RSN Previous Games <font color="blue">Los Angeles 81</font> @ <font color="red">Portland 94</font> <font color="Blue">Detroit 89</font> @ <font color="purple">Toronto 101</font> Streaks <font color="red">Portland</font>: Won 2 <font color="purple">Toronto</font>: Won 2 Head Coaches <u>Maurice Cheeks</u> / <u>Sam Mitchell</u> Projected Starting Lineups <u>Damon Stoudamire</u> / <u>Rafer Alston</u> <u>Derek Anderson</u> / <u>Vince Carter</u> <u>Shareef Abdur-Rahim</u> / <u>Jalen Rose</u> <u>Zach Randolph</u> / <u>Chris Bosh</u> <u>Theo Ratliff</u> / <u>Loren Woods</u> Sixth Men <u>Darius Miles</u> / <u>Donyell Marshall</u> Injury Report <font color="red">Portland Trail Blazers</font> -Joel Przybilla ; Out -Qyntel Woods ; Suspended <font color="Purple">Toronto Raptors</font> -Alvin Williams ; I.L. -Jerome Moiso ; I.L. -Pape Sow ; I.L. Players To Watch <u>Zach Randolph</u> / <u>Chris Bosh</u> Keys To The Game <font color="red">Portland Trail Blazers</font> -Transition Defense. This will be a key for all the teams that play Toronto this year. In the first 2 game's the Raptors have scored easy baskets against 2 of the best defense's in the league. Portland are a quick and athletic team, so they should be able to keep up. -Bench Points. The bench is capable of scoring points, and that's going to be important against Toronto. Looks for Darius Miles and Nick Van Exel to have good game's. -Penetration. The Blazers are a quick team, so they have to get into the lane so they can get to the line and draw fouls. <font color="Purple">Toronto Raptors</font> -Run, Run, Run. The Raptors have been phenominal so far on the break, which has lead to easy shots, and high FG %. -Bench Points. The bench was nothing short of amazing against Detroit on friday, and they will probably have to play good again against another pretty decent bench in Portland. -Be aggressive. Drive into the lane to create foul trouble on Randolph and ESPECIALLY Ratliff. The man is a blocking machine, and the only way to get him on foul trouble is to go straight at him and create contact. Look for Bosh to be agressive and get Randolph into foul trouble like he did against Rasheed Wallace. Prediction After two strong wins against championship contender's, the Raps are coming into this game with a load of confidence. They will be on their own home court, and I think that will give them the edge. I predict the Raptors by 7.
I watched both the Raps and Portland last night. The Portland commentators said that the Raps will be the hardest team to beat on this road trip were goin on. Theo Ratliff is playing like defensive player of the year and the rest of the team is playing uptempo, fastbreak ball. Being and Blazer and Raptor fan.....it's gonna be a fun game.
I saw the houston game and the raps killed it...missed the detroit game, but heard the bench killed it...i predict the raps are gonna win this one....
raptors by 5 i say if we can keep shareef and zach under control, if not i expect blazers to win by 8
Great Preview, we need to keep SAR to a below average performance and hold Zach down We dominate them at SG, 6th man and PG but the got the front court advantage. Bosh is coming into his own playing PF is a lot better for him than playing C. Bosh is dominating, my prediction is Raptors by 10+.
Good preview, but you forgot the biggest key to the game for the Raps...Interior Defense! Bosh was owned by Randolph in the preseason, and him along with Marshall, Bonner and Woods, need to contain Z-BO and Abdur-Rahim.
Lets not forget Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson and Nick Van Exel.... Blazers have best bench in the league I say
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MaxaMillion711:</div><div class="quote_post">Lets not forget Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson and Nick Van Exel.... Blazers have best bench in the league I say</div> Ahh, I don't agree with that....Memphis, Mavericks, Lakers, and Sixers all have better benches IMO.
^ not the sixers...and probably not the lakers raps will drop this game in a close call...but rebound to hammer sac-town
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 02civic:</div><div class="quote_post">^ not the sixers...and probably not the lakers raps will drop this game in a close call...but rebound to hammer sac-town</div> Sixers Bench: Glenn Robinson, Willie Green, Samuel Dalembert, Kyle Korver, John Salmons Even without Big Dog, they have a better bench than the Blazers Well maybe not the Lakers bench, but they do have pretty good depth close to the talent of the Blazers Lakers Bench (Projected Bench when Divac is back): Chris Mihm, Devean George, Caron Butler, Medvedenko, Sasha Vujavic --- Anyways my prediction: Raptors by 6; 97-91. Carter comes out with his best of game of the season, dropping 27 Points, 6 Dimes and 4 Boards with 2 Blocks. Randolph will have Bosh's number once again, but he won't man handle him.
The Raptors should have no problem winning this one. It looks as if Carter should have a breakout game; it's due now. If Carter scores 25 or more, the Raps should have no problem taking this one. Toronto over Portland: 99-92.
i think the raptors will win this after they beat 2 championship calibre teams, hopefully they will keep up the intensity even though portland isnt as good as houston or detroit... this mite b a letdown becuz the players always get up to play the big games, and not show up for games against the lower-tier teams EDIT: When i said lower-tier i meant lower then the teams raptors have faced already, but portland is a good team
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">Ahh, I don't agree with that....Memphis, Mavericks, Lakers, and Sixers all have better benches IMO.</div> lakers? blazers most deffo have a deeper bench then the lakers. who off the laker bench is so good? brian grant, devean george? blazers got, ruben, darius, nick van exl. much better bench imo. anyways...this will be an interesting game. it'll be interesting to see how we match up with their bench. bosh has been playing like a man possessed, and we have yet to see a real offensive breakout from vince yet. if shareef or anderson are the ones guarding him, i expect vince to have a pretty huge game. rafer's perimeter D has been nice and solid...he should do a good job at containing stoudamire..nick the quick is always hard to slow down. they've got a lot of weapons, but if the raps keep playing the way they have been...a win is very possible
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dj_premium_plus:</div><div class="quote_post">lakers? blazers most deffo have a deeper bench then the lakers. who off the laker bench is so good? brian grant, devean george? blazers got, ruben, darius, nick van exl. much better bench imo. </div> I responded to that above...
whoops...missed that post. but caron starts. and with vlade injured (which will prolly be another few weeks according to him) mihm starts too. oh well...either way, you recinded
Props to Bobcats for the nice preview .. If we somehow could contain Zach, and keep Damon and Nick infront of us with contested jumpshots, we should be able to win by 5.
Our bench is good this year, but there are bette our bench is so much better compared to last year. This year we got Palacio, Mo Pete, Bonner, 'Yell and Williams and Lamond Murray.
Hmmm....this is an interesting one. There is no way that Zack-Rach is gonna manhandle us again (atleast, I hope so). If they can contain him, that is all the Raptors need. They have enormous confidence right now and if they just keep feeding off the crowd's energy and Skip/Vince's excellent passing/fastbreak abilites, this one is going to be somewhat run-away win. But the man once again will be Chris Bosh. Vince will have a 18-20 point game and play overall once again but I think Chris Bosh and skip will shine through. If the Raptors play as a team again, there's no chance for Portland to beat. (Well actually they have a great chance since it is an unpreditable game but I certainly hope they think Toronto is going to be "cakewalk" like the Pistons did)
