Game #41 /Cavaliers @ Portland / Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013/ 10 pm ET

[UncleDrew]

Wed, Jan 16 Cleveland @ Portland 10:00 pm



Cavaliers-Trail Blazers Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON (STATS Writer) | The Associated Press – 18 hours ago

SERIES AT A GLANCE

Game 1: Final
Portland118 @ Cleveland117 Final

Game 2: Wed, Jan 16 10:00 PM ET
Cleveland @ Portland

Pregame

The Portland Trail Blazers have been competitive in each of their last three games but they've been on the losing end each time.
A visit from the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers might give the Blazers a chance to avoid a season high-tying fourth consecutive defeat Wednesday night.

Portland's last three games have been decided by a combined 14 points and its latest defeat was one of its more agonizing this season. The Blazers (20-18) gave up Wilson Chandler's tiebreaking 3-pointer with 14.9 seconds left in overtime and fell 115-111 in Denver on Tuesday.

Portland's Wesley Matthews hit a tying 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining in regulation in his team's first loss in six overtime games. LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points, giving him a combined 61 after he was held to a season-low seven in Friday's loss at Golden State. The Blazers haven't lost four in a row since Nov. 25-30.

"It was a tremendous game," coach Terry Stotts said. "I think for the most part, both teams played pretty well. Third quarter turnovers hurt us. Their transition hurt us. We got better as the game went on but that hurt us early."

The Blazers have won four in a row over the Cavaliers (9-31) but played a double-overtime thriller in the most recent matchup Dec. 1 in Cleveland.

Nicolas Batum hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in a 118-117 victory, and Damian Lillard was among three players to top 20 points with a team-best 24. Batum (22) and Aldridge (21) were the others.
Portland has had a much easier time at home against the Cavaliers lately, winning the past two matchups by a combined 61 points. Aldridge had 28 points and Matthews scored 24 in a 98-78 victory at the Rose Garden on Jan. 8, 2012.

The Blazers are seeking to bounce back on their own floor after having a nine-game home win streak snapped Sunday with an 87-83 loss to Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City.

The Cavaliers head into Portland having dropped four straight on the road and eight of 10 overall. They're allowing an average of 105.4 points in their last 10 after giving up 96.0 in their previous nine.
Cleveland scored its most points of the season Monday, but also surrendered its most in a 124-118 loss in Sacramento. Rookie Dion Waiters led the Cavs with a career-high 33 points.

"I'm just doing what I know I can do and staying confident about it. I'm just taking what the defense gives me," said Waiters, who had 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting against Portland in December.
Cleveland's leading scorer Kyrie Irving missed that game because of a broken finger and doesn't head into this matchup after one of his better performances. Irving, averaging 23.0 points, had 15 on 6-of-19 shooting against Sacramento.

He had a team-best 21 points in the visit to Portland last January.
Aldridge has 20 or more points in each of his last four matchups against Cleveland and Matthews is averaging 20.0 over his last four.

TEAM COMPARISON

Team Record Standings PF PA Road/Home Streak L10
Portland 20-18 3rd Northwest/8th Western 97.1 99.2 13-5 Home L 3 6-4
Cleveland 9-31 5th Central/14th Eastern 95.0 100.7 5-19 Road L 3 2-8




Coaches

Byron Scott


Terry Stotts


Our 2012 starting CLEEEEEEEVELAAAAND CAVALIERS!!


Kyrie Irving #2


CJ Miles #0


Alonzo Gee #33


Tristan Thompson #13


Tyler Zeller #40
(Courtesy of Cratylus on 1/9/13)

Cavs Bench

Dion Waiters #3


Boobie Gibson #1


Omri Casspi #36 (I DEMAND TO BE TRADED!)


Jeremy Pargo #8


Luke "Sam" Walton #4


Jon Leuer #30


Shaun Livingston #14


Kevin Jones #5


INJURED

Anderson Varejao #17


Starting Trailblazers

Damian Lillard #0


Wesley Matthews #2


Nicolas Batum #88


LaMarcus Aldridge #12


J.J. Hickson #21


And their bench..

Ronnie Price #24


Will Barton #5


Victor Claver #18


Joel Freeland #19

[Rob]

Dion is starting?

[UncleDrew]

Sorry, I made this the other day...

[wuck]

Don't be sorry about posting a game thread ahead of time.

[I.K.W.T]

Luke Harangody plays for the Celtics now.

[3 Ball...GOT IT]

I honestly hope Hickson drops 20-10

[Sawduzt]

Lillard vs Irving is going to be fun to watch. Thompson guarding Aldridge will give us a gauge on how far his man defense has improved, i've been impreseed by his abiltiy to hold his own from being backed down by bigger guys recently, but aldridges face up game is a totally different assignment.

Zeller might have a good game if hickson keeps up his opponent PER rating he has this season

[UDcleveland]

Tyler Zeller #40

Zeller isn't intimidating enough to be the ghostbusters version of the Stay Puft marshmallow man. He's more like...



It screams "score on me"

[Numbers Guy]

Stopped looking after the pitbull

[UncleDrew]

Stopped looking after the pitbull

Wow...really, man? You're going to trash me on my game thread? Really? I try to switch things up and try to make improvements every thread I do. Cut me some fucking slack.

[Cratylus]

Zeller isn't intimidating enough to be the ghostbusters version of the Stay Puft marshmallow man. He's more like...



It screams "score on me"

And THAT is the exact image I had in mind when I thought of Zeller being the Stay Puft marshmallow man. Soft, white, non-intimidating, and usually getting toasted.

[AuxiliaryPie]

Stopped looking after the pitbull

its a catchy song. and the video is basically a soft core porno, isnt that what the cheerleader section is for??

[CavsFan_23]

Wow...really, man? You're going to trash me on my game thread? Really? I try to switch things up and try to make improvements every thread I do. Cut me some fucking slack.

For the record I liked your thread buddy

[UncleDrew]

I'm really hoping this game thread starts picking up near game time, last thread I had...ton of people posted in it around this time.

[wuck]

I'm really hoping this game thread starts picking up near game time, last thread I had...ton of people posted in it around this time.

Late-night road games typically attract less traffic. Don't take it personal.