Post by DiamondThief on Feb 24, 2015 14:35:34 GMT -8
San Antonio Spurs at Portland Trail Blazers
What: The Spurs are in the Rose City for the final time this season to take on the Blazers.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. (PT).
Spurs Media: TV - FSSW - WOAI 1200AM.
Blazers Media: TV - KGW; Radio - Radio - Rip City Radio 620 AM.
National Media: TV - ESPN.
Previous: Dec. 15 - Blazers 108, Spurs 95. Dec. 19 - Blazers 129, Spurs 119 (3OT). Jan. 16 - Spurs 110, Blazers 96.
Schedule: N/A.
Note: The Blazers can win the season and potential playoff seeding tiebreaker with a win in this game.
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The Spurs are 34-22, 14-15 on the road and 18-17 in Western Conference play. They are coming off a 90-81 road loss to the Jazz on Feb. 23. They are scoring 100.5 points per game (12th in the NBA) and allowing 97.2 (5th). The Spurs, who have lost their last three, are fourth in the Southwest Division and seventh in the Western Conference.
The Blazers are 36-19, 23-6 at home and 18-13 in Western Conference play. They are coming off a 98-92 home loss to the Grizzlies on Feb. 22. They are averaging 101.9 (9th in the NBA) and allowing 97.2 (5th). The Blazers, who are 4-3 in their last seven games, are first in the Northwest Division and fourth in the Western Conference.
Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge; Spurs' Tim Duncan
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
PROJECTED STARTERS
SF - 2 Kawhi Leonard
PF - 21 Tim Duncan
C - 22 Tiago Splitter
SG -14 Danny Green
PG - 9 Tony Parker
RESERVES
G - 20 Manu Ginobli; 5 Cory Joseph; 8 Patty Mills
F - 1 Kyle Anderson; 11 Jeff Ayers; Marco Belinelli; 15 Matt Bonner; 55 Reggie Williams
C - 16 Aron Baynes; 33 Boris Diaw
INJURY REPORT
no injuries reported
HEAD COACH
Gregg Popovich
STATISTICAL LEADERS (per game)
Points - Kawhi Leonard 14.8
Rebounds - Tim Duncan 9.8
Assists - Tony Parker 5.0
Blocks - Tim Duncan 1.9
Steals - Kawhi Leonard 2.0
FG - Tim Duncan 49.5%
FT - Tony Parker 81.9%
3pt - Danny Green 38.8%
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
PROJECTED STARTERS
SF - 88 Nicolas Batum
PF - 12 LaMarcus Aldridge
C - 42 Robin Lopez
SG - 2 Wesley Matthews
PG - 0 Damian Lillard
RESERVES
G - 4 Arron Afflalo; 5 Steve Blake; 23 Allen Crabbe; 3 CJ McCollum
F - 33 Alonzo Gee; 1 Dorell Wright
C - 35 Chris Kaman; 11 Meyers Leonard
INJURY REPORT
F - 12 LaMarcus Aldridge (right thumb sprain) - probable
C - 19 Joel Freeland (shoulder) - out
HEAD COACH
Terry Stotts
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Points - LaMarcus Aldridge 23.4
Rebounds - LaMarcus Aldridge 10.3
Assists - Damian Lillard 6.2
Blocks - Robin Lopez 1.6
Steals - Damian Lillard 1.4
FG - Meyers Leonard 54.2%
FT - LaMarcus Aldridge 87.1%
3pt - Wesley Matthews 39.2%
ANGI'S TAKE
The Spurs are looking to climb in the Western Conference playoff race and a win over the Blazers would go a long way. The Blazers are looking to secure at least the fourth seed and a win over the Spurs and over the Thunder on Feb. 27 could go a long way. They can win two season series over likely playoff teams in a span of three days. Green has been solid for the Spurs, averaging 23.0 points over the past two games against the Blazers. Duncan, who never seems to age, has a 11.0 rebounding average over the Blazers. Kawhi Leonard, last year's finals MVP has a 21.5 scoring mark. Former Blazer Mills scored 18 in the Jan. 16 match up. Parker is not flashy, but he puts up consistent numbers. The Spurs are a deep team featuring the likes of Splitter, Ginobli, Diaw and Belinelli, and are very well coached. The Spurs outrebounded the Blazers, 49-32 on Jan. 16. For the Blazers, Lillard is averaging 29.7 points against the Spurs this season, including a career-high 43 in his team's triple-overtime win on Dec. 19. He 10 rebounds in the game on Jan. 16. Aldridge has recorded 26.3 points and 12.7 rebounds against them. McCollum and Meyers Leonard scored 17 and 12 points, respectively, in the Jan. 16 match up. McCollum may not see minutes in this one with the addition of Afflalo, who registered 8 points and 4 rebounds in his Blazers debut on Feb. 22. Blake hit 4-4 from three point range in the third quarter of the Blazers loss to the Grizzlies in that game. The Blazers can win this if they take care of the ball, control the battle of the boards and shoot at least 47 percent. Matchup to watch: Tim Duncan vs. LaMarcus Aldridge.
OFFICIALS
Joe Crawford, Kevin Cutler, Kane Fitzgerald.
QUOTEABLE
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on having Kawhi Leonard in the lineup "I think that has a lot to do with a group. A team feeds off of each other and he has been an obvious important part of how we do things. Everything fits better together."
Blazers coach Terry Stotts following the loss on Jan. 16: "San Antonio looked like the team that won the championship. Obviously getting Leonard back and Patty Mills and Parker, none of those guys played last time we played them and all three of them made an impact on the game."
FEATURED TWEETS
EXTRA
The Blazers will hold a memorial for the late Jerome Kersey on March 2 at 4 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The location is fitting since Kersey's Blazers teams played at the coliseum until his last year in Portland, 1994-95, before moving to the then-Rose Garden the following season.
MATCH UP MEME
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Graphic courtesy of David.