Re: GAME THREAD: BLAZERS @ GRIZZLIES - MARCH 11TH, 2014 - TUESDAY, 5:00 PM (PST), CSN
Should be a tough game tonight. In terms of personnel, we only have one clear cut, significant advantage over the Grizzlies. That's starting small forward. The rest of our starters are pretty even with theirs (just going by advanced stats) and their bench is WAY better than ours.
Lillard (PER = 19.0) vs. Conley (PER = 19.7): Conley may not be an all-star, but he's having his best season and is a better defender than Lillard.
Matthews (PER = 16.2) vs. Lee (PER = 15.8): Courney Lee was a GREAT pick up for the Grizz. He gives them the 3-point shooting they lacked in their starting line-up that spreads the court for ZBo and Gasol to operate down low. With Lee in the starting line up, the Grizzlies are 20-7 (compared to 14-18 at the time of the trade).
Aldridge (PER = 21.8) vs. Randolph (PER = 17.7): Just looking at the numbers, we should have an advantage here, and we will if Aldridge has a big game, but ZBo seems to always get up to play against his old team.
Lopez (PER = 17.4) vs. Gasol (PER = 17.5): This match up is a toss up, pretty much dead even. Gasol scores a little better and is a MUCH better passer, but Lopez is a better rebounder and surprisingly is blocking more shots per game than the defending DPOY.
Batum (PER = 15.4 ) vs. Prince (PER = 8.3): We have a HUGE advantage here and NEED to exploit it. Prince is a shadow of the player he once was. His shooting percentages are absolutely abysmal and, by far, the worst of his career. Apparently, he can't even shoot FTs anymore. His .571 FT% is nearly as bad as Dwight Howard's .551. We need a big game from Batum. He should look to be aggressive on offense and be more of a scoring threat tonight. A 20+ point game from Batum would go a long way toward getting the Blazers a win tonight.
Benches: Not even close, according to hoopsstas.com, Memphis has the 3rd best bench in the NBA. Mike Miller gives them 3-point shooting. With Courtney Lee starting, Tony Allen gives them a lock down wing defender coming off the bench. And, their front office has done a GREAT job snagging productive big men at bargain basement prices. Kosta Koufos is a 7-footer who has become a perennial PER = 17 center who started 81 games for a 57-win Denver team last year and would be starting on about 80% of NBA teams this year - and they got him for $3 million a year. John Leuer and Ed Davis give them two more solid 6'10" back up bigs. Throw in James Johnson, who is having a great year, and recently acquired Beno Udrih and they have a very deep bench that has great size, a lot of experience, and tough defense. I'm definitely suffering from a case of bench envy! If this game comes down to a battle of the benches, we don't stand a chance.
So, how do we win? As mentioned, we need a big SCORING game from Batum. We also need Aldridge to step up, take his match up with ZBo personally and both out score and out rebound Zach. The other two areas where the Blazers have an advantage is, surprisingly, rebounding, and not surprisingly, 3-point shooting. We are the second best offensive rebounding team in the league, but Memphis is the 7th best defensive rebounding team. We need to hold our own on the boards and if we can get extra possessions from offensive rebounds, it will make every thing else easier.
Even with the addition of Courtney Lee, Memphis is still dead last in the league in made 3-pointers per game at 5.1. Portland is 3rd in made 3-pointers at 9.4 per game. That's a huge advantage we need to exploit. Let's hope all of Lillard, Mattews, Batum, Mo and C.J. have it dialed in tonight.
Portland also holds a big advantage in FT%. We continue to lead the league with a team FT% of .821. Memphis is a very ordinary .750 (20th in the league). Our guys need to be aggressive attacking the basket to try to get in the bonus early. If the game is close, we have a chance to win this one at the line.
I expect another close game. Hopefully, we can reverse the recent trend and pull this one out at the end.
BNM
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BLAZERS' GAME NOTES 
