Blazers and Clippers Face Off In LA

I hope that the Portland Trail Blazers had a good three days off, because they're back in action tonight against the LA Clippers at STAPLES Center, who have made news for the last 24 hours in trading away Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons for players and picks. Tipoff tonight is scheduled for 7:30 PM Pacific Time.

Right now, it is unknown for the Clippers who will be starting tonight. It seems unlikely that the new players the Clippers got, Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, and Boban Marjanovic, will be suited up and ready to go tonight. Not only that, but many of the Clippers are out due to injuries, which had been plaguing this team most of the season and it's why they're sitting near the bottom of the playoff picture of the Western Conference.

Despite all that, the Clippers have been able to manage a few wins while being down a couple men. They got big back-to-back wins against the Grizzlies and the Pelicans, respectively, on their latest road trip. Right now, they're hovering around .500 but with the trade of Griffin, it's widely expected that the Clippers will drop a few games below .500 and fall out of the playoff picture for good.

As for this game, the Blazers are hoping to get revenge after a close loss to the Clippers back on October 26 in Portland. Not only that, but the Blazers are playing back-to-back, as they'll be home tomorrow night against the Bulls, in a game I will be attending. But for right now, the mindset for this Blazers team is to get through LA unscathed.

Currently, the Blazers have won five of their last six games and currently have won two straight going into tonight. Their most recent win was a 107-93 win over the Mavericks in Dallas on Friday night. They spent the weekend most likely in LA getting prepared for this matchup. The Blazers' leader Damian Lillard scored 29 points in the win over the Mavericks while Ed Davis put up a season-high 15 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

This is a game that the Blazers, despite what has happened with the Clippers lately, have to take like they are still a serious threat in the West. The Blazers have had a good streak of wins, but they're still sitting near the bottom of the playoff picture and could fall out of win with a couple of bad games, and there's no doubt that the Clippers are viewing the latest news as a wake-up call.

I expect Damian Lillard to be what he always is in this game: A leader and a difference-maker. I expect CJ McCollum to put in a nice effort tonight, and I expect the bench to produce like they did in this current hot streak that they're having.

For the Clippers, winning two straight on the road doesn't matter at this point and now that Blake Griffin is out of the picture, both DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams are going to have to step up and step up big. I believe they can do that, but against a tough team like Portland, it's going to be very hard.

It's hard to see who wins this game, but for Portland, they're the ones riding the hotter hand, and if they go into LA and get good production from their starters and their bench, I see that they pull off the win. Therefore, I believe they'll go into LA and take a game away from the Clippers tonight.