Post by DiamondThief on Mar 9, 2015 19:54:17 GMT -8
Houston Rockets at Portland Trail Blazers
What: The Rockets visit Rip City for the final game between the teams this season.
When: Wednesday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. (PT).
Rockets Media: TV - ROOT. Radio - 790 AM.
Blazers Media: TV - KGW. Radio - Rip City Radio 620 AM.
National Media: TV - ESPN.
Previous: Dec. 22 - Rockets 110, Blazers 95. Feb. 8 - Blazers 109, Rockets 98.
Schedule: N/A.
Note: The winner of this game will win the season series and potential playoff seeding tiebreaker.
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The Rockets are 43-20, 19-11 on the road and 24-14 in conference games. They are coming off a 114-100 road win over the Nuggets on March 5. They are scoring 103.3 points (5th in the NBA) and allowing 99.7 (15th). The Rockets, who have won seven of their last nine, are second in the Southwest Division and third in the Western Conference.
The Blazers are 41-20, 26-6 at home and 23-14 in conference games. They are coming off a 121-113 road loss to the Timberwolves on May 7. They are averaging 102.4 points (7th in the NBA) and allowing 97.4 (9th). The Blazers, who have won nine of their last 13, are first in the Northwest Division and third in the Western Conference.
Rockets' Patrick Beverley; Blazers' Damian Lillard
HOUSTON ROCKETS
PROJECTED STARTERS
SF - 1 Trevor Ariza
PF - 20 Donatas Motijunas
C - 8 Joey Dorsey
SG - 13 James Harden
PG - 2 Patrick Beverley
RESERVES
G - 33 Corey Brewer; 0 Isaiah Canaan; 3 Nick Johnson; 9 Pablo Prigioni; 31 Jason Terry
F - 6 Terrence Jones; 16 Kostas Papanikolaou; 5 Josh Smith
C - 15 Clint Capela
INJURY REPORT
F - 16 Kostas Papanikolaou (ankle) - questionable
C - 12 Dwight Howard (ankle) - out
HEAD COACH
Kevin McHale
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Points - James Harden 27.1
Rebounds - Dwight Howard 11.0
Assists - James Harden 7.1
Blocks - Terrence Jones 2.0
Steals - James Harden 1.9
FG - Dwight Howard 57.5%
FT - James Harden 86.8%
3pt - Jason Terry 38.3%
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
PROJECTED STARTERS
SF - 88 Nicolas Batum
PF - 12 LaMarcus Aldridge
C - 42 Robin Lopez
SG - 4 Arron Afflalo
PG - 0 Damian Lillard
RESERVES
G - 5 Steve Blake; 23 Allen Crabbe; 3 CJ McCollum
F - 33 Alonzo Gee; 1 Dorell Wright
C - 19 Joel Freeland; 35 Chris Kaman; 11 Meyers Leonard
INJURY REPORT
G - 2 Wesley Matthews (achilles) - out
HEAD COACH
Terry Stotts
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Points - LaMarcus Aldridge 23.2
Rebounds - LaMarcus Aldridge 10.5
Assists - Damian Lillard 6.2
Blocks - Robin Lopez 1.6
Steals - Damian Lillard 1.4
FG - Meyers Leonard 52.3%
FT - LaMarcus Aldridge 86.8%
3pt - Wesley Matthews 38.9%
NOTE: We use a different standard than the NBA for the individual statistical leaders. Our leaders apply to players who have played at least half their teams' games this season; in this case, roughly 30 games.
ANGI'S TAKE
There's no love lost between these teams and that will not change any time soon. The teams have split the series thus far and this is the final game. The winner win the season series. The Rockets feature Harden and, like him or not or like his beard or not, he is the league's leading scorer. He scored 45 in the Feb. 10 loss to the Blazers. Beverley is quick and considered a good defender, but Lillard got the better of him during the playoff series between the teams last season. Montijunas is a solid player and is improving, but no match for Aldridge. Ariza is a capable small forward but Is not the player he once was. Smith scored 16 points off the bench in the Feb. 10 match up. Aldridge scored 24 for the Blazers last time out against the Rockets and Lillard added 23. Afflalo will start out on Harden, but the defensive assignment will likely be by committee. Don't be surprised to see Batum spend some time covering him, or perhaps Gee. Lopez should have a field day inside against any of Houston's bigs. McCollum and Leonard each scored 12 points against the Rockets. The Blazers will need some of that bench scoring in this one. Kaman could be an x-factor. The Blazers can win this if they limit the Rockets to just thee players in double figures, as they did in the last game. Limiting their turnovers to 11 or fewer could also be a key in this one. Matchup to watch: James Harden at Arron Afflalo.
OFFICIALS
Tony Brothers, Eli Roe, Sean Wright.
QUOTABLE
Rockets' Harden on falling behind early and losing the the Blazers on Feb. 10: "We can't put ourselves in that situation. We played really well in the second half and we played much harder. Against a good team like Portland we've got to do that for all four quarters."
Blazers' Lillard on the team's Feb. 10 win over the Rockets: "We had great effort from everybody top to bottom that came into the game and that was a huge part of why we were able to win."
FEATURED TWEETS
EXTRA
Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett is concerned about the Trail Blazers Courtside's bobblehead of LaMarcus Aldridge.
MATCH UP MEME
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Graphic courtesy of David.