Portland Trail Blazers vs. New Orleans Pelicans
April 6, 2014--Portland, OR-- This mad scramble for the ball happened with 4:14 to play Sunday as the Trail Blazers hosted New Orleans at Moda Center. The Blazers were leading 96-85 at the time. Bruce Ely/The Oregonian
The New Orleans Pelicans are in Portland tonight for their first meeting of the season with the Trail Blazers.
Before the game tips off tonight at 7 p.m. in the Moda Center (TV: Comcast Sports Net; Radio KPOJ 620 AM) here's a look around the web at the latest news and notes from both teams:
* The Oregonian's Douglas Perry has an interesting look at how the development of professional athletes has become highly modernized and monetized:
Every aspect of elite athletics has been revolutionized in the past few decades based on the principle of kaizen. And thanks to scientific advances, top-level sports continues to rapidly evolve, as competition gets ever tougher, salaries ever bigger, the stakes ever greater.
* Joe Freeman of The Oregonian previews the matchup with the Pelicans and the absurd numbers from third-year big man Anthony Davis:
Davis, the versatile third-year player out of Kentucky, has emerged as one of the NBA's best. In eight games, he's recorded at least 20 points and 10 rebounds twice, including three 25-point, 10-rebound, six-block outings. ... It's the most 25-10-6 games in one season in the NBA since Dwight Howard had three in 2009-10. No player has had more than three since 1999-2000, when Alonzo Mourning had eight 25-10-6 games and Shaquille O'Neal had five.
* LaMarcus Aldridge is questionable and Nicolas Batum is doubtful heading into tonight's game:
Batum
against the Denver Nuggets last Sunday and has missed the last three games. Aldridge missed Saturday's game with a
earlier this season.
Aldridge said he "felt like death" when he showed up at the Trail Blazers practice facility Friday morning and the team's medical staff sent him home.
* Nakia Hogan of Nola.com and The Times-Picayune reports that Pelicans center Omer Asik is questionable for tonight's game with a back injury:
If Asik, who is averaging 9.0 points, 10 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, can't play, the Pelicans likely would start 7 feet 2 backup Alexis Ajinca. They could also go with a smaller lineup by inserting sharpshooting 6-10 forward Ryan Anderson into the lineup at power forward and sliding Anthony Davis to center.
Either way, the Pelicans would be missing one of their top defenders and rebounders if Asik can't play. With Asik in the lineup this season, opposing teams have shot just 41.4 percent on shots taken within the restricted area.
*
Columnist Jimmy Smith, NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune writes that New Orleans sports fans are missing out on greatness when they fail to pack the arena to watch Anthony Davis:
Third-year Pelicans forward Anthony Davis is a transcendent example of excellence in his profession, the likes of which New Orleans has never experienced, and I'm including the wondrous exploits of former Hornets All-Star Chris Paul.
And though there's a solid base of returning loyalists who attend Pelicans' games, and despite the implausibly inflated attendance figures announced, it's almost embarrassing that so many seats remain unoccupied for these early home games.
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Erik Gunderson of The Columbia has a preview of the Pelicans matchup where he notes the weak link in the New Orleans starting lineup
:
So far the Pelicans starting line-up is allowing 98.3 points per 100 possessions, a very good rating. But although New Orleans has played great, the play of shooting guard Eric Gordon is a troubling question.
The Pelicans matched Gordon's max contract offer from the Suns in the summer of 2012. He had an okay season last year in 63 games, the most he's played in a season for New Orleans. And if Austin Rivers keeps on playing efficient basketball and Gordon keeps up his sub 33-percent shooting from the field and 24 percent three-point shooting, the pressure might mount on Williams to make a switch.
* In the land of fake standings Portland's stock is on the rise, ESPN's Marc Stein ranks the Blazers fifth in his latest power rankings moving them up from ninth last week. While Yahoo's Marc Spears puts the Blazers at No. 7 making a five spot jump in Spears' rankings after a 3-0 week.
* If you don't know about YouTube user Dawk Ins, I cannot recommend that page more enthusiastically. It's always a good place to find high quality full length highlights for NBA stars. The latest from Dawk Ins includes every basket and assist from Damian Lillard's 28 point, 10 assist game against the Nets:
* At Blazersedge.com, Chris Lucia analyzes the four key parts of the Pelicans' offense:
Overall, the Pelicans are a pretty good three-point shooting team, though their attempts from outside are fairly limited. They get up 87.6 field goals per game, though, which is good for No. 2 in the league in attempts, and they are a top-6 team in field goal percentage. The Pelicans don't get to the free throw line often, but they don't turn the ball over often, either, and they score more points in the paint than any other team in the league. Their ball movement is solid, and Evans and Holiday are particularly dangerous when taking the ball to the hole and finding open teammates.
-- Mike Richman | @mikegrich