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Gametime 4 pm Pacific Time
CSN
After victory in Chicago and a night off the Blazers travel to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the SeventySixers. We haven't played Philadelphia this year and they made a big change over the summer by bringing Elton Brand from the Clippers. If you haven't see the Sixers this year you can get a look at NBA TVs Philadelphia team preview by clicking here. It hasn't been a good year for the Sixers. They'd had hoped bringing in Elton Brand from LA would make the team a lot better. It didn't, and it cost Mo Cheeks his job as coach. The team replaced him with Tony DiLeo. Then Brand got hurt on December 17 in a game with Milwaukie. He fractured his shoulder and has been out of the lineup since and isn't expected back for another week or two.
Things are looking better these days though and the Sixers, who have a 17-20 record on the season, will bring a four game win streak into their game with Portland. Their last win was a fifteen point victory Sunday night over the Atlanta Hawks, 109-94. This is another one of those games the Blazers SHOULD win, but this is a road game AND the SIxers new coach has the team playing well enough to where they might just ambush the men in scarlet and black.
As the trade deadline approaches rumors are starting to swirl around disenchanted Sixers center Samuel Dalembert. Philadelphia center Samuel Dalembert isn't thrilled with his role on the team and doesn't feel like he's contributing to their play. "I love this team and city. I wouldn't see myself playing anywhere else. But I don't know about anyone else. We have a good nucleus on this team and it has been like that since I have been here," Dalembert said. "We just need to figure out what we want to do on both ends of the court." He is averaging career-lows in minutes, points, and rebounds.
The problem with moving Dalembert is the trade kicker. If the 76ers do decide they wanted to move Dalembert, his contract states that a 15% jump will be taken into effect on the overall dollar amount. If a trade would come about, the team accepting Dalembert would have to pay the remaining $23 million on top of the kicker for the next two years left on his contract. For a guy who is averaging less than 25 minutes and playing inconsistent basketball that could be a huge risk.
Sixers GM Ed Stefanski said, "We're on the phones a lot, learning what other teams are looking for and seeing if there's anything out there that makes sense for us," Stefanski said. Stefanski didn't reveal who he has been shopping, but point guard Andre Miller is another prime target. He has played well and is in the final season of his contract.
Our Blazers, fueled by Travis Outlaw with aseason-high of 33 points, and Greg Oden who added 17 points and 13 rebounds to led the Portland Trail Blazers to a 109-95 victory over the Chicago Bulls Monday night. Not a bad way to start the road trip. We face four teams on this trip who all have records under.500. On paper you'd think that would make things easier, but sometimes this young Blazer team just doesn't step up to the plate against what they percieve as lesser competition. I'm hoping we come home with a three and one record for the trip. And I'm picking the Blazers to beat the Sixers.
UPDATE: Just heard Nate on Courside say Rudy will probably not play against the Sixers due to an injured foot, and may miss the next game as well.
Projected starters
Portland Trailblazers
Steve Blake -PG
Brandon Roy-SG
Nic Batum-SF
LaMarcus Aldridge-PF
Greg Oden-Center
Projected starters
Philadelphia SeventySixers
Andre Miller-PG
Willie Green-SG
Thaddeus Young-PF
Andre Igoudala-SF
Samuel Dalembert-Center
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PREDICTIONS
PHILADELPHIA
MaxaMillion711
Qyintel's Dog
DMKPDX
PORTLAND
ucatchtrout
BlazerFanInVegas
tester551
CTC
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billyjoejack
discovery69
Fitz303
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S@bonis29
blazabala30
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DarthBlazer
BentleyCntlGT
mykar
