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(Drawing Nov 15, Game on November 18)

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By Andy Popp
GAME 11: Blazers @ New Orleans Hornets
November 13, 5PM; KGW
Portland Trail Blazers Schedule here

The Blazers tough schedule puts them in New Orleans tonight to battle the 7-0 Hornets. This game will conclude the Blazers' 4th back to back already in this young season, but they are 2-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. Tonight they try to make it 3-1.

All the standing up Monty Williams did on the sideline in Portland seems to be paying off, as the former Blazer assistant is off to a strong start as a NBA head coach. Monty has the Hornets playing hard-nosed defense, they are leading the league in points allowed (just over 90 per game).

The Hornets on paper.
Starting five: Chris Paul, David West, Trevor Ariza, Emeka Okafor, Marco Belinelli
Off the bench: Willie Green, Jason Smith, Quincy Pondexter, Jerryd Bayless

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Second game in as many days… how many minutes will Brandon Roy play? He logged 35 last night. The Minnesota Timberwolves interviewed Monty Williams for their head coach position last season.
Speaking of the Timberwolves, Lake Oswego High School standout Kevin Love had a 30/30 game last night. Jerryd Bayless has had some nice games for the Hornets recently. He has taken Marcus Thornton's minutes.

STRATEGY
The Hornets are not a particularly strong rebounding team. LaMarcus Alrdige and Marcus Camby need to take the rebounding edge, turn second chance opportunities into points. The bench: Rudy Fernandez and Wes Matthews need to combine for 20+ points. Take some pressure off the starting five.

LET'S GET RICH
To date: 3-3-1.
Blazers +4 tonight. I'll take the Hornets.

TRADE ME
Rudy Fernandez. Rudy had a good look at a game winning three last night but missed. Bummer.

NEXT 5
@ Memphis
Denver
Utah
New Orleans
@ New Jersey

BOTTOM LINE
The Hornets are a battle-tested team. Expect them to come out sharp with confidence and swagger. The Blazers need to take the wind out of their sails early.

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Andy Popp is a Portland native that loves sports and beer. You can contact Andy Popp at either andypopp@gmail.com or BlazersPipeline on Twitter. When he's not at PDX Pipeline, you can find him at lowposts.com.