San Antonio Spurs @ Portland Trailblazers
Rose Garden12/13/12, 9:30pm Spurs Time
TV: TNT - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI
The San Antonio Spurs travel to Portland to take on the Trailblazers in a SEGABABA. Coverage starts at 9:30pm central time in the lovely city of Portland, Oregon. Now time for a little quiz....No, wait! THIS has happened before!
Strange happenings in Spurs land. The last time the Spurs traveled to Portland was one month ago and it was a SEGABABA. Now the Spurs travel to Portland and it is a SEGABABA. It is also a FIGASENI. The last FIGASENI resulted in a $250,000 fine. SEGABABAs and FIGASENIs. FIGASENIs and SEGABABAs. Winter is coming.
History repeats itself and we are damned to relive it if we refuse to learn from it. Will the Spurs suffer another financial loss from resting their core players? Will the team lose a squeaker on an opponent's court, far from home? Will Popovich send his elite core home to rest after going 4-0 in the dreaded FIASENI, again? Although the commissioner made a fool of himself for his last ruling on the Silver and Black, is he willing to lose more face again? So many questions left to be answered and so many left to be asked. The only sure bet in this unfolding drama is that this team and the ornery coach could care less. With that being said, on to the game.
Battle of Position
Point Guard: Tony Parker vs Damian Lillard
Lillard may win rookie of the year. Tony, if he plays, is a Finals MVP.
Advantage: Tony
Shooting Guard: Gary Neal vs Sasha Pavlovich
Gary "MF'ing" Neal dropped 27 on the Blazers last game. Pavlovich started his first game of the season at Toronto. In 42 minutes he scored 10 points.
Advantage:Neal
Small Forward: Kawhi Leonard Danny Green vs Victor Claver
Danny Green is tied for 7th in the league for 3's made per game and 3Pt%. So far Victor Claver shoots 3's at 0%.
Advantage: Green
Power Forward: Tim vs Aldridge
Last time in Portland, Tim connected on 7-12 FG, made 8-9 FTs, grabbed 9 boards and had 3 blocks in 32 minutes of play. Aldridge made 12-26 FG, 5-6 FTs, 7 boards, 4 assists and 4 blocks in 41 minutes.
Advantage: Draw
Center: DeJuan Blair vs J.J. Hickson
Blair didn't play against J.J. Hickson this year. Hickson put up 14 rebounds and 13 points on Tiago and Diaw.
Advantage: Hickson
Bench Mob: Manu, Tiago, DeColo, Diaw, Mills, Anderson, Bonner, Joseph vs some rookies
Spurs clearly have the numbers and skills at all positions off the bench.
Advantage: Manu
MOJO? YES, MOJO
Lineups
Starters |
Lineups
Starters Head Coach Terry Stotts |
Portland Trailblazers perspective can be found here: Blazersedge
Go here for San Antonio Spurs Tickets. Our partner TiqIQ has teamed up with SeatCrunch to bring you great deals on Spurs tickets. Use the code "SAVE" for free FedEx shipping (or equal $14 value). Check out the deals here, at SeatCrunch.
Game Prediction: Spurs by 3, Vegas says Spurs by 7.5
*Note, Spurs have won in Portland 1 in the past 7 games.
Game Previewers Prediction Records & how many points off per prediction
Joe deLarios 6-0 (-1, 3, 5, 0, 1, 6)
Wes Thorne 6-1* (-1, 0, 23, 2, -8*,1, 28) *@MIA
Racm 1-3 (-25, -14, -5, 15)
Stijl 1-1 (-12, 11)
Fred 1-1 (3,-8)
CapHill 1-0 (13)
As always Tony must dominate Fisher, and NBA league pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Almost every Spurs game will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area. Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate.