Tonight at 5:00 p.m. PST, the Portland Trail Blazers play their second game of a back-to-back against the Memphis Grizzlies. Now on a three game losing streak for the first time since mid-January, the Trail Blazers continue to struggle on the road. The Grizzlies have a one and a half game lead over the Rockets for second place in the Western Conference and have won all three games against the Trail Blazers this season. The game can be seen on CSNNW and the radio call will be on Rip City Radio 620 AM.
The Trail Blazers have not lost four in a row in more than a year. After struggles on the road, the Trail Blazers have gone from a hot team to a cold, confusing team. How can you explain losses to sub-.500 teams like the Heat and Magic? The chances of the tides changing tonight are very slim as the Trail Blazers have yet to beat the Grizzlies this season.
This will be the fourth and final regular season game between these teams. The Grizzlies blew out the Trail Blazers in the first matchup (112-99) in late November. The last two games have been close, with a total point differential of 10 points. The first game in Memphis, the Grizzlies pulled out a 102-98 win where five Grizzlies scored in double figures. The third game was played about a month ago and the Grizzlies won again (98-92) when the starters carried the team.
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How will the Trail Blazers fare tonight? I don’t like their chances since they are on the second game of a back-t0-back and are 0-3 against the Grizzlies. However; this is also the second game of a back-to-back for the Grizzlies. The Trail Blazers have won nine of 14 games on the second half of a back-to-back while the Grizzlies have won nine of 16. The upper hand still has to go to the Grizzlies since they have won the previous three games and eight of the last nine against the Trail Blazers overall.
It’s not all bad news for the Trail Blazers. They actually have a better record at this point in the season than they did last season. Through 67 games last season, the Trail Blazers were 43-24. Not a lot better but we’ll take any good news at this point. Dan Sheldon from Comcast SportsNet also has some uplifting news for Rip City:
The Blazers lost in Orlando last year and then won 9 of the final 10 games to end the season.
— Dan Sheldon (@DanSheldonVoice) March 21, 2015
The Trail Blazers actually match up pretty well against the Grizzlies offensively, but their problem has been efficiency. In three games, they are shooting an average of 39.7 percent from the field. That is their worst shooting percentage against any team this season. On the other end, the Grizzlies are shooting 50.4 percent from the floor against the Trail Blazers.
Defending Gasol will be key for the Trail Blazers tonight. He has averaged 20.7 points while dishing out 6.3 assists assists this season against the Trail Blazers. Aldridge has elevated his play despite the challenges of his team. Over the last three games, he has averaged 29.7 points which is 6.1 more points than his season average.
They must also keep Randolph off the boards and find a way to cool off Lee. Randolph is pulling down 12.3 boards per game against the Trail Blazers. Lee has helped his team in each game against Portland, scoring 16.3 points per game on 56.7 percent shooting. Aldridge will have to do a better job keeping Randolph off the glass and Afflalo will have to defend Lee well, especially beyond the arc where he is 8-12 in the season series.