The Grizzlies return home from a 2-2 West Coast road trip to face playoff-positioning rival the Portland Trailblazers at FedExForum tonight. I’ll be on hand and will be tweeting from press row. Until then, a few thoughts on tonight’s game. And if you read to the bottom — or even just scroll down — you’ll find info on a ticket giveaway for Wednesday’s game with the Charlotte Bobcats.
1. Revenge Game: This has been a season of bad losses and good wins for the inconsistent Grizzlies, and the team’s November 16th home loss to a Blazers team then playing without its best player, Brandon Roy, constituted one of the bad losses. The Grizzlies have a chance to avenge that loss tonight, and with the team two games behind the Blazers in the race for the Western conference’s final playoff spot, a win tonight would give the team a big boost as it tries to get back in the post-season picture. Both teams have been a little wobbly since that game, the Blazers going 5-7 since, and the Grizzlies slightly better at 6-6. The Grizzlies may be helped by the Blazers coming in on the second night of back-to-back road games (having lost to the San Antonio Spurs last night), while the Grizzlies have had a day’s rest.
2. Two-Guard Tumult: Both teams are undergoing some complications at their two guard position, with transitions that started around the time of the previous meeting. That November game was the Blazers first of three without Roy, whose long-festering knee issues have taken a bad turn. Roy’s been playing the past few weeks, but not well. In his last five games, he’s averaging only 16 points on 35% shooting and tweaked his knee again last night in San Antonio. Roy’s availability and effectiveness are both a mystery heading into tonight’s game.
In Roy’s absence back in November, free agent Wesley Matthews stepped up and provided what, at the time, was a career performance for Portland, scoring 30 points on 11-19 shooting. But that performance proved to be a launching pad for Matthews, who has stayed in the starting lineup even with Roy back (replacing a slumping Nicholas Batum at small forward) while averaging 21 points over the past five games. Before the first meeting with the Grizzlies, Matthews hadn’t hit more than two three-pointers in a game. Since, he’s done so four times, including equaling the career-high five he set against the Grizzlies twice more.
