Portland Trail Blazers-Dallas Mavericks NBA preview
On Friday night Portland Trail Blazers will be hosting a match against Dallas Mavericks here at Rose Garden. Portland, 28-31 are struggling on the 11th spot in Western Conference and it seems that they are not ready to throw in the towel just
yet.
They are 20-11 at home, winning 11 of first 12 games on their turf. The most recent victory was against Golden State Warriors as Blazers handed a 118-110 defeat to the visitors.
Jamal Crawford had a career night as he tallied a game high 34 points. He has been striving to find his role in Portland since he joined them as a free agent before season and the 11 year veteran was contended to see things finally turning around his favour.
"I envisioned more nights like this when I first came here, but everything happens for a reason and better late than never.”
Forward J.J. Hickson also rekindled the fire as he posted his 2nd consecutive double-double with 23 points and 13 boards. Hickson and Jamal stepped up for the team when Blazers were short on options; they have lost a number of players to injuries.
LaMarcus Aldridge (right hip), Elliot Williams (left shoulder) and Shawne Williams (left foot) will not be participating in the upcoming match. However Portland’s 1st unit’s performance in the last match cushioned the injury riddled team.
Wesley Matthews and Raymond Felton both are in the groove and are producing solid numbers on the court.
They will be up against Dallas for the 2nd team in this shortened season. Dallas took the 1st contest by a score of 97-94 in double overtime. Mavs are 22-30 in all regular season meeting against Portland.
Dallas are running a successful show in contrast to Blazers. They are currently on the 6th playoff spot and coincidently they too have trounced Golden State, 112-103 on Thursday.
They have recently witnessed the departure of veteran Lamar Odom and it turned out to be in their favour as they grabbed their 3rd straight victory with 6 players in double figure index.
Odom and the Mavs mutually agreed on Monday to part ways and the final straw was the exchange between the player and owner Mark Cuban during last Saturday 94-89 loss at Memphis.
The veteran’s departure is the least of their problems; they are currently in a 3 way tie for the 6th place in Western Conference with Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets.
Jason Terry, averaging 14.9 points per game concurred that.
"We've got a lot of veterans in here and we've been through worse than that," Terry said when asked about Odom's departure. "We wish him the best in his future endeavours, but that's now all in the past and we are focused on the job at hand, and that's making
the playoffs."
Now Dirk Nowitzki and company will be visiting the Blazers and both teams will be fighting for their survival, Portland to stay in the playoff picture and Mavs to cling on to 6th spot. It can be hoped that the match will be exciting and will go
down the line.
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