Portland Trail Blazers host the reeling Detroit Pistons

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Tonight at 7:00 p.m. PST, the Portland Trail Blazers welcome the Detroit Pistons. The Trail Blazers picked up an impressive (and important) win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday and have now won six of their last seven games. The Pistons are trending downward, losing their last eight games but have been fairly competitive on a nightly basis. The game can be seen on CSNNW and heard on Rip City Radio 620 AM.



Now that the Trail Blazers have a win under their belt without Matthews, the focus must be on the remainder of the season. The acquisition of Afflalo is more important now that Matthews is out and hopefully we will see Afflalo return to his old form. He had a great defensive performance on Wednesday against James Harden but his offense still continues to lag behind. Afflalo was only 2-13 from the field against the Rockets. Luckily, he’s had help from his teammates, including a re-energized Batum.

Since the All-Star break, the return of Batum has been evident. His contributions are vital in the absence of Matthews. He was also called upon to help on Harden and did a great job. Not to beat a dead horse, but losing Matthews was a huge blow for the Trail Blazers. We will be talking about his injury and it’s impact for the rest of the season. It is on the rest of team to make sure we “forget” Matthews’ injury and focus on the postseason.

The Pistons are struggling but gaining moral victories along the way. On their current eight game losing streak, they have not lost a game by more than 10 points. They battled the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night losing a close game 105-98. Everyone thought the acquisition of Jackson would help fill the void at point guard left by Jennings who, like Matthews, went down for the season with an Achilles injury.

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The opposite has occurred since trading for Jackson. The Pistons are only 1-9 since Jackson has joined the team. Jackson had voiced his problems with playing backup point guard in Oklahoma City and does have the talent to be a starting point guard. However; early in this experiment, things are not going how he or the Pistons thought. His play has been very inconsistent and he really struggled against a not-very-good Los Angeles Lakers team recently, where he had two points, two rebounds, and three assists in 22 minutes.

For tonight’s game, the focus will be on the inside as the Pistons roll when Monroe and Drummond are involved. The Trail Blazers had tremendous games from Aldridge and Lopez on Wednesday and they will need to do it again tonight. Aldridge had 26 points and 14 rebounds while Lopez had a surprising double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Monroe and Drummond are a load to handle inside as both are averaging a double-double on the season, 16.0 points and 10.5 for Monroe and 13.1 points and 13.4 rebounds for Drummond. When you face productive big men, foul trouble is a concern but both Aldridge and Lopez have only reached five fouls twice this season.

Defense is definitely important for the Trail Blazers to secure the win tonight. They held the Pistons to their second-worst shooting percentage of the season (35.1 percent) in their first meeting on December 9th. The Trail Blazers won that game 98-86 and I believe a similar outcome is in line for tonight.

Next: Trail Blazers demolish Pistons in landslide victory