Blazers vs Suns

[Trail_Blazer76]

vs

<font color="Red">Blazers: 16-20 (Lost 2)</font> <font color="DarkOrange">Suns: 12-26 (Lost 6)</font>

<font color="Red">By Trail_Blazer 76</font>

When: Thursday, January 15th
Where: Rose Garden
Time: 10:00pm ET

Probable Starters

Damon Stoudamire/Leandro Barbosa

Jeff Mcinnis/Joe Johnson

Qyntel Woods/Shawn Marion

Zach Randolph/Amare Stoudemire

Dale Davis/Jake Voskuhl

Key Matchup
Zach Randolph vs Amare Stoudemire

This will be a great preview of a potential future rivalry, as these are two of the best young power forwards in the league. In Amare's abscence Zach has stolen some of his thunder, look for Amare to play more agressively than normal, particularly on the defensive end. Zach has made claimed that: "There is nobody that can stop me", so he will most likely refrain from taking any jumpers and spend the whole game in the paint. Both will play physical and attempt to out-do the other on the offensive end.

X-factors
<u>DA & JJ</u>

Derek Anderson cannot go 0-10 in this game. The Blazers are relying heavily on bench scoring, and most of it will need to come from him. If his outside shot is falling, it's over because there is no way that they can double team Zach. Ideally, on-court leadership comes from a pg or at least a starter, but DA will need to be vocal and keep all Blazer tempers under control.

Joe Johnson is very underrated as a scorer, and needs to prove that tonight. The loss of Marbury leaves a huge gap in their offense, so JJ will not only need to pick up his scoring, but not settle for outside shots. Going to the hole can get the Blazers main scorer (Z-Bo) into early foul trouble, and get the Suns free points at the charity stripe.

<font color="Red"> The Trail to Victory</font>

The Blazers are struggling more than any team of their ability level. They have lost two in a row, and only won three of their last 10. However, now that the suns have lost Marbury there offense has suffered a significant loss of penetration. The Blazers will need to limit the Suns' outside shooting, and prevent easy point in the paint. The main focus should be preventing Marion's fast break points, and maintaining Amare in the post.

<font color="DarkOrange">Outshine the Opposition</font>

Believe it or not the Suns have a good chance of winning this one. In his 4 starts as a Sun Leandro Barbosa has shown that he can be a potent scorer, averaging 15.3 ppg. He has a size advantage on Damon, and the Suns will need to exploit this mismatch whenever possible. Defensively, the focus is obvious: contain Zach Randolph. Normally Amare would put his heart and soul into this, but he was just recently re-activated and might need some assistance.

<font color="Red">***Trail_Blazer76's Prediction***</font>

Both teams are struggling, but the Suns have lost seven in a row. Regardless of how "hungry" they are for this win, the Blazers are excellent at home (14-5).

Blazers by 7.

 

[Mamba]

Nice Preview, I think this game could actually go down to the wire, with Amare and Randolph going down at all game, i think Randolph's team prevails though and he drops 25 while Stoudamire drops 27

 

[~Fatality~]

Should be a good game. I think that any team playing the Suns will win.

Trailblazers by 6.

 

[starman85]

Excellent preview TB. I think Amare will win the edge in rebounding while Zach will lead in scoring, simply because he's option numero uno, while Amare is still the 2nd option to Marion.

If the Suns play smart, they'll open to a quick pace, hoping that their four guys(Leandro, Joe, Shawn, Amare) can score often and quickly and put the Blazers in a hole. However, Mike D'Antoni's gotta make sure they stick with it at the end. The Suns are a young team that isn't comfortable with the lead, and the Blazers often thrive on being comeback cats.

If the Suns top four can have solid games, and keep their lead, I think the Suns can pull of the W, but if they fail to take advantage early, the Blazers will win.

 

[GatorsowntheNCAA]

Blazers by 12. Blazers are tough at home and the Suns are playing some really bad ball.

 

[Sasha]

Nice preview! I take the Blazers on this one, simply because Marbury is no longer with the Suns, and Amare's play is not yet 100%. That leaves a whole lot open on the offensive side, they will be struggling to get points.

Blazers by 9!

 

[Ice]

The Blazers are playing great ball at home, I expect them to take this in a close one.

 

[Ming637]

Good preview. I think Blazers will win 87-86 in a close one.

 

[Rave]

Great preview as always TB, as my opinion always seems to be I'll speak of whom I think has the advantage on certain aspects. Match up wise for both zone and man to man as well as offense and defense I believe in general, that the Suns have the upper hand and will take this one. I say Suns by 11.

 

[mike18946]

My word,I havn't seen this many replies in a Blazer forum since Damon stoudamaire and Rasheed Wallace were cought by the cops with their bag of drugs in the back of their crack machine car.

Back to the topic in hand,Blazers by 11

 

[nikebasketball]

Great preview Trail_Blazer76.

This should be an interesting matchup.

I predict the Blazers by 5.

 

[Trail_Blazer76]

It's halftime and the Blazers are down by 9, 56-47. The Suns are actually following on of my Keys to the game; using Leandro Barbosa's size against stoudamire. Barbosa already has 12 points at the half, while Damon has 5.

Also, Starman85 was correct when he said:

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Amare will win the edge in rebounding while Zach will lead in scoring</div>

Thus far Randolph is outscoring Stoudemire 16-12, and Stoudemire is outboarding Randolph 8-6. Hopefully the Blazers can make a comeback.

 

[Trail_Blazer76]

Well we lost, and Starman's prediction was falsified in the final minute of the game! Randolph outboarded Stoudemire by 2, and Stoudemire scored one more than Randolph. As for Barbosa he cooled off in the second half, only scoring 4.

For some reason DA started this game, and shot okay.

See it all in the Box Score