Buried under the Lakers/Celtics EPIC, Suns/Spurs rivalry, Dwight’s Superman shirt, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Doris Burke’s return to NBA color commentary and LeBron’s chalk shoes…the Blazers will make another Christmas Day appearance. No worries, we have our own attention getter. The Blazers will don red and the Mavericks will wear their green alternates to truly up the Christmas theme. Gotta sell those tickets.
(PS, is it just me or did Christmas Day really whore itself out to the NBA this year. 5 games? Remember when 3 was a ton? Now we have 5?!?!)
To the game, tonight starts a tough 5-game stretch for the Blazers. They will be tested and it all starts with Dallas. Win, lose or draw we know that the Blazers will grow during this stretch. Against all of these teams the Blazers will have to play physical, they will have to play smart and they will have to play aggressive. Against the top teams in the NBA, we’ve by all means been inconsistent in these areas.
In the Mavs, the Blazers face another team they will have to fend off to make the playoffs. Seeing as how these two teams will only square off 3 times instead of 4, every game means that much more. Looking way down the line the tiebreaker would be a nice cushion.
This is Portland’s first matchup with the Rick Carlisle led Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas comes into this game surging. Well…..kind of. They have won 14 of their last 18 and seem to be hitting their stride. But then again they only played 6 above-.500 teams during that stretch and recently got ramsacked by the Nets. I’m sensing Dallas has evolved into a more defensive minded squad. Rick Carlisle has opted to start Devean George and Erick Dampier, both who are offensive liabilities but both who play hard defensively and are scrappy. Dallas is one of the top teams in the league at defending field goals. Teams shoot a bad percentage against Dallas. They hold their opponents to 43% from the field (5th in the L) and 33% from behind the arc (6th in the L). Considering the Blazers have been relying on their jump shots lately, this could be an issue. Portland will have to match Dallas’ energy and intensity from the start. Offensively they have 4 guys. Dirk, Josh Howard, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry off the bench. It’s not a bad 4-some but the drop off is mighty steep. Bass, Diop and Singleton will all get their points off energy or rebounds and angles to the basket. I’m not sure Dallas will want to throw it in the post to them time after time. Jose Juan Barea….come on. If we let him come in and beat us….yeah.
Keys to success:
- Energy! Set a tone from the start. The Rose Garden should be rocking. Put them on their heels early. If you saw the game in New Jersey if you set a tone early and get them on their heels they are in trouble. But if you let them dig-in and get comfortable and then get a rhythm and a spark things are headed south. When they aren’t ready to play they can be beaten with ease.Let’s not give them a choice by starting the game off great.
- Be aggressive. Too many times against top teams we’ve either been out-aggressived or out-physicaled or we’ve played 3 ok quarters before pulling it out in the 4th. I think it’s time we step up to the plate and attack.
- Make Jason Kidd a scorer. They are 3-6 when he scores in double figures and 0-2 when he drops over 20. I want him shooting jumpers damnit.
- Take away one of their scoring options. Terry, Dirk or Howard one of them can’t get their average. And in a lineup with Dampier and George it should be all the easier.
- Don’t let Dampier be a factor. Keep him off the boards we don’t need another Nene incident. Don’t let him block shots either, keep him a non-factor on both ends.
- Second unit go…to….work. Our benches better is way, way better than their benches better. This is a game where our depth should really come in handy. Go to work second unit.